April 15, 2018 at 11:30 am

Holding Pieces of the Moon and Mars on Earth

by twistedsifter

holding piece of mars and moon on earth in your hand 1 Holding Pieces of the Moon and Mars on Earth

Photograph by Sarah Hörst

 

Sarah Hörst, an Assistant Prof of Planetary Science at Johns Hopkins University, recently got to hold a piece of the moon and mars in her hand and shared her excitement on Twitter:
 

 

For those curious, Sarah also took time to answer some of the most common questions:

– The black one is the Martian one, the gray one is the moon
– The martian one landed on Earth after something smacked into Mars and sent rocks flying through space and all the way to Earth!
– They were able to tell it was from Mars by the rock’s chemical composition and isotopes
– You can read more about the Martian meteorite here
– The two rocks now have their own Twitter account

 

holding piece of mars and moon on earth in your hand 3 Holding Pieces of the Moon and Mars on Earth

Photograph by Sarah Hörst

 

holding piece of mars and moon on earth in your hand 2 Holding Pieces of the Moon and Mars on Earth

Photograph by Sarah Hörst