The Murchison meteorite is named after the place where it fell to Earth, some 160 km north of Melbourne in Australia, on 28 September 1969. It belongs to a group of meteorites that come from primordial bodies such as asteroids, which are known as chondrites. Some of these are characterised by the presence of a matrix made up principally of carbon. More than 70 different amino acids have been identified among the carbon compounds of the Murchison meteorite. In addition, the meteorite also contains minuscule presolar grains and nanodiamonds that were formed long before our Sun came into existence. The information provided by the presolar grains in the Murchison meteorite are of fundamental importance to our understanding of the elements in the Solar System and the evolution of the stars.
