Meteorite Found in Africa Preserves Evidence of Long-Lost Massive Protoplanet

Key facts

• A meteorite named NWA 12774 was discovered in the Sahara Desert.
• The meteorite is believed to be a fragment of a destroyed protoplanet.
• This discovery offers the strongest evidence to date of a large planetary body that formed and was destroyed in the early Solar System.

The Northwest Africa (NWA) 12774, an angrite meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert, likely in Mauritania, appears to be a fragment of a vanished protoplanet. This finding offers the strongest evidence yet that a large planetary body formed and was later destroyed during the Solar System's chaotic infancy. The discovery provides new insights into the early formation and destruction of planetary bodies within our solar system.