Asteroid found, followed and foraged for the first time.

For the first time, an asteroid has been identified in space, watched as it entered Earth's atmosphere, and pieces found and recovered.

It is hoped that knowing which area of space the asteroid came from, and then being able to study the material will lead to increased knowledge of where these asteroids originate from and how they are formed.

47 pieces (a total of nearly five kilos) of the 2008 TC3 asteroid was recovered after it had exploded high in the atmosphere. Usually when asteroids explode so high, it is blasted to smithereens and sizable pieces are very rare.

For the full story and more images of the difficult recovery see website: http://asima.seti.org/

image credit: P. Jenniskens, SETI Institute.