Good as Gold

A meteor exploded above Sutter's Mill, California--site of the 1848 California gold rush--on April 22, 2012, triggering a new rush as scientists and collectors poured in to gather the pieces. These tiny fragments, weighing just a few grams, were collected from a parking lot near the historic mill. Analysis showed that the original asteroid that hit Earth's atmosphere was older than Earth itself. It split away from a larger body tens of thousands of years ago, and it contained many of the chemical building blocks of life. [Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute)/Eric James (NASA/ARC)]