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Pieces of the Sky

Pieces of the Sky
Pieces of the Sky We glimpse the ancient past through rocks that have survived their fall through Earth's atmosphere. Some of these meteorites, a type called carbonaceous chondrites, contain material virtually unaltered since the formation of our solar system. In this sample from the Allende meteorite, which fell in 1969, the 0.5-millimeter spherical chondrules appear in a dark, carbon-rich matrix. Some carbonaceous chondrites contain complex organiC molecules, including amino acids, the building blocks of carbon-based life. John L. Berkley