Fresh from space: Giant 18kg meteorite untouched by human hand discovered in the frozen wastes of Antarctica

• Find is the largest in 25 years in the area - and researchers spotted it against the whiteness of Antartica from 50m away
  
• Team discovered 425 meteorites during 40 day expedition 
  
• Meteorite has yet to be aged as team is still thawing it out
  

By MARK PRIGG

PUBLISHED: 14:10 GMT, 1 March 2013 | UPDATED: 21:22 GMT, 1 March 2013

It is one of the world's most virginal, untouched landscapes.

Yet while surveying the bleak whiteness of eastern Antarctica, researchers on an expedition to hunt for small fragments of meteorites were stunned to spot a dark blot on the landscape.

On further inspection, they realised they had found a giant 18kg (40-pound) meteorite poking out from the ice sheet - the largest found in the area in 25 years.

They described their find as 'special', and hope it could help explain how the solar system formed. 

'To find something this large was very exciting for us - you can see it from very far away,' said Vinciane Debaille, a geologist from Université Libre de Bruxelles, who led the Belgian team during the expedition. 

'That’s why we look for meteorites in Antarctica, because you can easily find the black spots on the white snow - but when it’s huge like that you can see it from 50m away or more.'

The meteorite is unusual as the fusion crust – the meteorite’s outer casing - was eroded, allowing the scientists to inspect the rock underneath.

The Brussels-based International Polar Foundation said Thursday the meteorite is an 'ordinary chondrite,' the most common meteorite. 

'This meteorite was a very unexpected find for us, not only due to its weight, but because we don’t normally find such large meteorites in Antarctica', 

'This is the biggest meteorite found in East Antarctica for 25 years, so it’s a very special discovery for us, only made possible by the existence and location of Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.'

The rock was was discovered Jan. 28, and is undergoing a special thawing process in Japan so water won't penetrate it before it is studied. 

The eight members of the SAMBA project, from Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) and Tokyo University  were searching for meteorites scattered across the Nansen Ice Field on January 28, when they found the 18kg ordinary chondrite.

The team discovered a total of 425 meteorites, with a total weight of 75kg during the 40 day expedition, at an altitude of 2,900m, 140km south of Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research base.

While this is the largest found in eastern Antarctica since 1988, a 21.5-kilo (47.5-pound) meteorite was found on the continent in 2005, according to the Meteoritical Bulletin Database.

FULL STORY + PICS + VIDEOu: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2286593/Researchers-...