It doesn't look like much, but a 1.7 kilogram rock discovered by a team from Curtin University on New Year's Eve could help solve the mystery of how the solar system was created.

The meteorite, estimated to be 4.5 billion years old, is older than earth itself and one of just 20 in the world recovered after being tracked entering the earth's orbit.

It was found buried half a metre in the ground at Lake Eyre in South Australia by a team from Curtin University's Desert Fireball Network, which spent an exhausting three days trekking through the remote lake's mud looking for it.

Curtin University Professor Phil Bland said the meteorite first entered the earth's atmosphere on November 27 as an 80 kilogram fireball travelling at 14 kilometres a second.