We have heard a number of theories about comets and meteorites seeding life here on earth, and recently we saw even more evidence of outside interference. According to The Meteoritical Society, last July the Maritain Tissint meteorite (see photo to right) crashed in the Moroccan desert:
At about 2 am local time on July 18, 2011, a bright fireball was observed by several people in the region of the Oued Drâa valley, east of Tata, Morocco. One eyewitness, Mr Aznid Lhou, reported that it was at first yellow in color, and then turned green illuminating all the area before it appeared to split into two parts. Two sonic booms were heard over the valley. In October 2011, nomads began to find very fresh, fusion-crusted stones in a remote area of the Oued Drâa intermittent watershed, centered about 50 km ESE of Tata and 48 km SSW of Tissint village, in the vicinity of the Oued El Gsaïb drainage and also near El Ga’ïdat plateau known as Hmadat Boû Rba’ ine. The largest stones were recovered in the El Ga’ïdat plateau, whereas the smallest one (a few grams) closer to the El Aglâb Mountains. One 47 g crusted stone was documented as being found at 29°28.917’ N, 7°36.674’ W.
Are such meteorites odd? Not really, though eye-witness stories of such landings are odd. And this particular lot of rocks is pretty sizable, with one meteorite fragment weighing more than 2 pounds. Back in 2001, a Discover Magazine article noted that "...up to 5 percent of the rocks launched from Mars land on Earth within 10 million years. Many arrive much sooner— some within a few years." Moreover, one scientific team noted that "...50 billion Martian rocks landed on Earth during the first 500 million years of the solar system. Of those, about 20,000 rocks struck Earth within a decade. And throughout the subsequent 4 billion years, as many as 5 billion more Martian meteoroids journeyed our way. If life ever existed on Mars, it's quite possible that it contaminated Earth repeatedly." This is an impressive amount of material littering the Earth.
Interestingly enough, you can now buy the Tissint meteorite as well as many other just like it. Of course, a piece of the Tissint meteorite will cost about 10 times the price of gold. In fact, it is not too hard to find a place selling meteorites. Check out Galactic Stone and Ironworks, where you can purchase various meteorite specimens. For example, to the right is the Bensour meteorite fragments on sale for $6 apiece. According to the sellers, the meteorite has a similar story to the Tissint meteorite:In February of 2002, nomads in the remote Saharan desert near the Moroccan-Algerian border saw a shower of meteorites rain down. These meteorites turned out to be a beautiful LL6 chondrite that is well-known for it's dark black crust and contrasting light-grey matrix with metal flecks.