A meteor lights up the sky over Westminster and Wolverhampton

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Most meteorites burn up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground or disintegrate on contact with the ground. While there was initial optimism that this meteorite could be found intact, analysis has extinguished that hope.

Recovered meteorites, if found quickly, could shed light on the mysteries of the universe and also help answer questions about the origin of the solar system, as well as the formation of Earth as we know it.

Dr Luke Daly, a leading meteorite expert and lecturer in Planetary Geosciences at the University of Glasgow, told The Telegraph: ‘We’ve been going over the numbers all morning. Unfortunately, everything seems to have burned up in the atmosphere at about 39km – so there are no meteorites at all. Earth, unfortunately.

Charlotte Bays, a PhD student at the Natural History Museum and secretary of the UK’s Fireball Alliance, told The Telegraph that there are no plans to track down any possible remnants of the meteorite after the findings.

“Early analysis indicates that the space rocks that caused the fireball burned up high in the atmosphere, so it is very unlikely that any meteorites could have reached Earth,” she said.

“In this case, we do not plan to send any meteorite recovery teams at this time.”

Dr. Daly was instrumental in finding, preserving and studying the Winchcombe meteorite, which landed on a family driveway in early 2021.

Dr. Richard Greenwood, a senior researcher at the Open University, who also helped find Winchcombe, told The Telegraph: “Unfortunately, preliminary information indicates that it burned up high in the atmosphere. This is fairly common.”

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