14 - NWA Stone ‘Chondrite’ Meteorite

NWA Stone ‘Chondrite’ Meteorite Looking as fresh as if it fell quite recently, this stony meteorite is almost completely covered in its original dark charcoal fusion crust showing the effects of 'rapid cooling'. This extremely aesthetic example displays deep ridges and thumbprint-like depressions known as regmaglypts, caused by burning and melting during the meteorite's descent through the atmosphere. Weight: ca. 25.45 kilo. LOCATION: North West African grid of the Sahara Desert. Size: ca. 32 x 23 x 20 cm. CERTIFICATE: This Chondrite meteorite, comes with a certificate of meteorite identification from the University of Alberta and is signed by dr. Christopher Herd, professor and curator of the University of Alberta Meteorite Collection. NOTE: – This "Chondrite" meteorite was also found in the North West African grid of the Sahara Desert, one of the largest documented meteorite showers of all time. The meteorite is a breccia, a rock composed of many small inclusions that have experienced different degrees of metamorphic heating within its parent asteroid. Some material (primitive type-3 chondrite fragments) largely escaped heating and still retain unmetamorphosed textures and compositions; other materials (type-6 chondrite fragments) have been extensively heated and recrystallized. – Most stony meteorites are sectioned for collectors, so it is quite rare to find a complete example such as the present specimen. This unique specimen was found in the Sahara Desert and is designated as an Unclassified NWA meteorite. It is magnetic, as are all stony meteorites that do not come from planets, and is probably an Ordinary Chondrite with chondrules. – To keep track of different meteorite specimens a nomenclature system had to be created, and this resulted in meteorites being named by a panel of scientists for the locality from where the meteorites were recovered. Meteorites are named after towns, cities and counties as well as lakes, rivers, mountains, streams and more. Where there is no distinct geographic feature — say in a desert — meteorites are named after the designated collection appended with specific number. For example a meteorite with the number NWA 500 is the 500th meteorite to be recovered, analyzed and published following its recovery in the North West African grid of the Sahara Desert.