YOUNGSTERS got the chance to reach for the stars and learn more about the universe —by inspecting objects which are billions of years old.

Students at Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe, were lucky enough to get their hands on rare samples of moon rocks and meteorites during a series of special lessons.

The samples, provided by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), included a 1.2 billion-year-old piece of Mars rock and a 4.3 billion-year-old nickel meteorite.

It is unlikely that students will ever get the chance to hold an object older than this, as Earth itself was formed 4.6 billion years ago.

STFC’s chief executive officer, Dr Brian Bowsher, said: “We are thrilled to be able to offer this unique opportunity to young people.

“It is not often they will be able to see close-up, and actually touch, such important fragments of science history.

“We hope this experience will encourage the students to take up a career in science.”

The lunar samples were collected in the late 1960s and early 1970s during some of NASA’s first manned space missions to the Moon.

Samples like the ones in the pack tell scientists a great deal about the planets from which they originate, but experts say there is still so much to learn.

The main aim of the STFC is to encourage students around the country to become the next generation of astronomers.