| D'Orbigny meteorite | |
|---|---|
 A fragment of the D'Orbigny meteorite | |
| Type | Stony |
| Class | Achondrite [1] |
| Group | Angrite [1] |
| Country | Argentina [1] |
| Region | Buenos Aires [1] |
| Coordinates | 37°40′S61°39′W / 37.667°S 61.650°W [2] |
| Observed fall | No |
| Found date | 1979-09 [1] |
| TKW | 16.55 kilograms (36.5 lb) [1] |
D'Orbigny meteorite was found near Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 1979. It is the largest angrite found to date. [3]
D'Orbigny was found by a farm worker who hit it while plowing a corn field. [2] Not realising its significance he gave it to the landowner who stored it for about twenty years until reading an article on meteorites prompted him to have it analysed. [3]
As of January 2012 [update] fragments of the meteorite were on sale for US$500/g. [4]
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A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star; astronomers call the brightest examples "bolides". Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite. Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an impact crater.
An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effect. When large objects impact terrestrial planets such as the Earth, there can be significant physical and biospheric consequences, though atmospheres mitigate many surface impacts through atmospheric entry. Impact craters and structures are dominant landforms on many of the Solar System's solid objects and present the strongest empirical evidence for their frequency and scale.
The Willamette Meteorite, officially named Willamette and originally known as Tomanowos by the Clackamas Chinook Native American tribe, is an iron-nickel meteorite found in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the largest meteorite found in the United States and the sixth largest in the world. There was no impact crater at the discovery site; researchers believe the meteorite landed in what is now Canada or Montana, and was transported as a glacial erratic to the Willamette Valley during the Missoula Floods at the end of the last Ice Age. It has long been held sacred by indigenous peoples of the Willamette Valley, including the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (CTGRC).
Tataouine is a city in southern Tunisia. It is the capital of the Tataouine Governorate. The below-ground "cave dwellings" of the native Berber population, designed for coolness and protection, render the city and the area around it as a tourist and film makers' attraction. Nearby fortified settlements (ksars), manifestations of Berber architecture, such as Ksar Ouled Soltane, Chenini, Douiret, and Ksar Hadada, are popular tourist sites.
The Sylacauga meteorite fell on November 30, 1954, at 12:46 local time in Oak Grove, Alabama, near Sylacauga, in the United States. It is also commonly called the Hodges meteorite because a fragment of it struck Ann Elizabeth Fowler Hodges (1920–1972).
Angrites are a rare group of achondrites consisting mostly of Al-Ti bearing diopside, hedenbergite, olivine, anorthite and troilite with minor traces of phosphate and metals. The group is named for the Angra dos Reis meteorite. They are the oldest igneous rocks, with crystallization ages of around 4.56 billion years. Angrites are subdivided into two main groups, the quenched and plutonic angrites. The quenched angrites cooled rapidly upon the surface of the angrite parent body (APB), whereas the plutonic angrites cooled slower, deeper in the crust. The APB is thought to have been a similar size to the asteroid 4 Vesta.
Meteorite hunting is the search for meteorites. A person engaged in the search for meteorites is known as a meteorite hunter. Meteorite hunters may be amateurs who search on the weekends and after work, or professionals who recover meteorites for a living. Both frequently use tools such as metal detectors or magnets to discover the meteorites.
Abee is an enstatite chondrite meteorite that fell on 9 June 1952 in Alberta, Canada.
The Chinga meteorite is an iron meteorite. It is structurally an ataxite with very rare kamacite lamella. The meteoric iron is a part of the lamella taenite. The total chemical composition is 82.8% iron, 16.6% nickel, and the rest mostly cobalt and phosphorus.
The Novato meteorite is an ordinary chondrite which entered the Earth's atmosphere and broke up over Northern California at 19:44 Pacific Time on 17 October 2012. The falling bolide created a bright fireball and sonic booms and fragmented into smaller pieces as the intense friction of passing through the atmosphere heated it and absorbed its kinetic energy. The meteoroid was about 35 centimeters (14 in) across.
The Nantan meteorite is an iron meteorite that belongs to the IAB group and the MG subgroup.
The Zakłodzie meteorite is a stony-iron meteorite found in Poland in 1998. Its mass is 8.68 kilograms (19.1 lb). It is composed predominantly from enstatite and meteoric iron. Currently classified as an ungrouped enstatite achondrite its classification is still an ongoing scientific debate.
The Richardton meteorite is a 90 kilograms (200 lb) H5 Ordinary chondrite that was seen to fall at 21:48 on 30 June 1918 between Mott, North Dakota and Richardton, North Dakota, United States.
The Bellsbank meteorite is a hexahedrite iron meteorite with abundant schreibersite. It is classified as a member of the IIG group. It was found in Bellsbank, South Africa in 1955.
This is a glossary of terms used in meteoritics, the science of meteorites.
Northwest Africa 7034 is a Martian meteorite believed to be the second oldest yet discovered. It is estimated to be two billion years old and contains the most water of any Martian meteorite found on Earth. Although it is from Mars it does not fit into any of the three SNC meteorite categories, and forms a new Martian meteorite group named "Martian ". Nicknamed "Black Beauty", it was purchased in Morocco and a slice of it was donated to the University of New Mexico by its American owner. The image of the original NWA 7034 was photographed in 2012 by Carl Agee, University of New Mexico.
Block Island meteorite, officially named Meridiani Planum 006 shortened as MP 006, was found on Mars by the Opportunity rover on July 17, 2009. It is about 67 centimetres (26 in) across.
IIAB meteorites are a group of iron meteorites. Their structural classification ranges from hexahedrites to octahedrites. IIABs have the lowest concentration of nickel of all iron meteorite groups. Most iron meteorites are derived from the metallic planetary cores of their respective parent bodies, but in the case of the IIABs the metallic magma separated to form not only this meteorite group but also the IIG group.
Fifteen pieces of the Kainsaz meteorite were seen to fall near Kainsaz, Muslyumovo, Tatarstan on September 13, 1937. The largest weighed 102.5 kilograms (226 lb), the total weight was ~200 kilograms (440 lb). As of January 2013 pieces were on sale for ~US$100/g. Kainsaz is the only observed fall in Tatarstan.
The Braunschweig meteorite is a 1.3 kilograms meteorite that hit Melverode, a suburb in Braunschweig, Germany, at around 2:05 AM on 23 April 2013. It hit the concrete pavement in front of the home of Erhard Seemann, breaking into hundreds of fragments on impact, the largest of which is 214 grams. The meteorite created a small impact crater in the concrete, with a diameter of 7 cm (2.8 in) and a depth of 3 cm (1.2 in).