© Photo by P.A. Hunt, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada.Photo 2:Photomicrograph in crossed polars of a portion of a polished thin section of the Tagish Lake Meteorite. The bright areas A-E are preserved high temperature silicate (olivine, pyroxene) 'chondrules' in a dark matrix of clay, serpentine, magnetite, sulphide, carbonate and phosphate etc. Object 'D' is approximately 0.3mm across.
New research into a meteorite that crashed into northern British Columbia nine years ago is revealing startling clues that could help unravel the origins of life on Earth.
Parts of the Tagish Lake meteorite were found on a frozen lake near the Yukon border in January, 2000, after it fell to Earth in a spectacular blue-green fireball that was seen for hundreds of kilometres.
Researchers recovered parts of the still-frozen meteorite after an extensive search. Since then, scientists have repeatedly tried to unlock the clues that the rare 4.5 billion-year-old carbon and water rich meteorite has long been suspected to contain.