California meteorite reveals secrets thanks to crowdsourcing (+video)

This is where history begins to blur. The weathering of the meteorite fragments suggested the space rock was only 50,000 to 90,000 years old when it hit Earth — basically a blink of an eye in the solar system's nearly-5-billion-year history. This is fortunate, as Jenniskens' team discovered carbonaceous chondrites are fragile and begin to break up around that time frame.

The team suspects the meteor that hit Earth may be a fragment from a larger asteroid.

Blast through the atmosphere

In all, 77 fragments were found from the Sutter's Mill meteorite. These totalled less than 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) of material. But the meteor weighed about 88,200 pounds (40,000 kilograms) when it hit the atmosphere.

"Quite a lot of material was lost," Jenniskens said.

The meteor's speed clocked in at 17.8 miles (28.6 kilometers) a second, which is faster than any previously recorded meteorite fall. After hitting a peak brightness about 35 miles (56 kilometers) above the ground, the meteor broke apart at an altitude of roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers.)

The atmosphere did a number to the outside of the meteorite bits, which were heavily damaged by the time they got into Jenniskens' lab. However, the interior was better preserved.

Only a handful of the fragments have been analyzed so far, but early results show that carbonaceous chondrites are highly complex.

The meteorite is a breccia, meaning that it's a coalition of different kinds of material. By examining the meteorite with X-rays, the researchers were able to separate out several different components.

The scientists also saw changes in the composition of fragments recovered before and after a large rainstorm that took place two days after the fireball was seen. The mineral oldhamite, for example, dissolved in the fragments exposed to moisture.

"This thing is diverse, even on a small scale," Jenniskens said.

But just how diverse will be a matter for future research. There's still a drawer full of meteorites that have barely been touched since they were first delivered to the lab. As such, Jenniskens anticipates this one meteorite event will deliver years of research to his team.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

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