The Ivuna meteorite © NHM

The Natural History Museum has taken delivery of a rare meteorite that scientists believe could reveal the secrets of the birth of the solar system.

The rare satsuma-sized meteorite - called Ivuna – was given star treatment courtesy of British Airways on its journey from a private collection in the USA to the Natural History Museum on Thursday June 19 2008. The museum holds one of the biggest and best meteorite collections in the world.

Ivuna landed on Earth near Ivuna, Tanzania, on December 16 1938. It was one of four meteorites, including the Orgueil meteorite, in which scientists Bartholomew Nagy and George Claus claimed to have found evidence of primitive extraterrestrial fossils.

Although this claim was later discredited, the discovery in 2001 of the presence of simple amino acids, glycine and beta-alanine by other experts led scientists to suggest the meteorite could help answer whether the chemical building blocks for life came from the stars.

“Ivuna is a real-life time capsule that means we can look at the very first steps of how our solar system formed,” said Dr Caroline Smith, meteorite curator at the Natural History Museum.

Dr Caroline Smith, meteorite curator, with the Ivuna meteorite. © NHM

“We hold one of the most comprehensive meteorite collections in the world, yet Ivuna has been a missing piece in the jigsaw. If we can better understand the complex processes that occurred in our solar system over 4.5 billion years ago, we can apply this to other stellar systems where planets are forming today.”

Only last week scientists at Imperial College confirmed that a meteorite called Murchison contains extra-terrestrial molecules that are the precursors to DNA and RNA.

Boasting a chemical make-up that matches the sun, Ivuna is one of nine out of 35,000 meteorites (0.03%) known to science that have this solar composition. It is also arguably the best example - being the most significant recent fall and in optimum condition having been kept in a nitrogen atmosphere for the past 25 years.

In addition to being used for research, Ivuna will be a star specimen in a new meteorites gallery, which the museum is planning for the near future.

The museum's collection of more than 1,880 meteorites includes fragments of two others that have solar composition. The collection includes 700 grammes of Orgueil, which fell in 1864 but is not suitable for many scientific investigations as it has been contaminated while on Earth. The museum also holds a small amount (less than three grammes) of a meteorite named Alais, which fell in 1806.

Most meteorites found on Earth are believed to be fragments of asteroids - ancient rocks that formed during the creation of the solar system about 4.56 billion years ago.

About 1,000 meteorites land every year ranging from the size of a football to a washing machine. It is very rare to see a meteorite land, but people frequently see meteors falling through the sky, which are often described as shooting stars.

The Ivuna flight is part of a long-term partnership with British Airways, which gives free flights to museum scientists enabling them to carry out important fieldwork around the world.