A meteorite is to be uplifted in Chaco Province, north Argentina, on September 11, 2016.
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A team lifts the meteorite from its hole at the site where a meteor shower hit some 4000 years ago.
But further investigation by scientists will determine if it actually is, as some reports have already claimed, the second largest intact meteor discovered on Earth. Given it was discovered in a place renowned for being struck with iron meteorites, it seems likely the object will prove to have celestial origins.
The largest meteorite ever found is a 66-ton meteorite in Namibia called the Hoba.
The meteorite weighing over 30 tonnes was found in the town of Gancedo, 1,085 km north of capital Buenos Aires, Mario Vesconi, president of the Astronomy Association of Chaco, said on Monday. Some reports are describing it as the second largest meteorite ever discovered, and, yep, you only have to look at the footage to see that it’s certainly one big rock.
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Explorers made the discovery on Saturday while scouring an area called Campo del Cielo [Field of the skies], which astronomers say was hit by a meteor shower some 4,000 years ago. The Hoba meteorite is estimated to weigh more than 132,000 pounds (60,000 kilograms).
