Pupils over the moon with their lessons (From Bury Times)

Pupils over the moon with their lessons

10:00am Thursday 24th February 2011 in News

LESSONS at Holy Cross College are really out of this world.

Rare samples of moon rock — believed to be worth £7 million — have been on display at the college.

They were taken from several sites on the moon’s surface during the later Apollo missions, which took place during the 1970s.

Several larger meteorites, which landed on Earth over a period of time, were also loaned to the college.

They included a sample of a meteorite from Mars, which fell near Abu Hommos, in Egypt, in 1911.

Physics students learned all about the moon rock and meteorites during lessons last week.

They have now been returned to the Science And Technology Facilities Council.

Professor Keith Mason, chief executive of the council, said: “It’s incredible to think when you hold a meteorite, you are handling something that may have travelled millions of miles to fall on the Earth.

“It is amazing that almost 40 years after the lunar samples were collected, scientists are still not sure how the moon was formed.”