04.10 Russian Meteorite as Old as Solar System � Scientist

MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti) � The meteorite that exploded above a Russian city in February was about 4.56 billion years old � as old as the Solar System itself, a Russian scientist said Friday.

Mikhail Marov of the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry said scientists had determined the meteorite�s age by observing the amount of radioactive isotopes and their decay byproducts, a technique called radiometric dating.

�The age of the Chelyabinsk meteorite � 4.56 billion years � almost coincides with the age of our solar system. This means that we have encountered the so-called