16 - Diogenite Meteorite (NWA) also called; “The Philosopher's Stone”

Diogenite Meteorite (NWA) also called; “The Philosopher's Stone” A enormous piece of a diogenite meteorite from the deep crust of vesta shows fine-grained yellow-green orthopyroxene grains surrounded by fine-grained material interspersed with pale-orange weathering products. Polished to a mirror finish on the cut face. Weight: ca. 8.2 kilo. HISTORY: – The diogenite rocks were born billions of years ago, through geological activity deep within the bowels of asteroid Vesta. This asteroid is one of the largest in our asteroid belt, and was one of the targets of the highly successful NASA DAWN mission. Colossal impacts on Vesta excavated these plutonic rocks scattering them across our Solar System. – This meteorite was found in Morocco in Northwest Africa in 2013 by nomads tending camels and is a spectacular example of such a rock. A single 20 kilogram meteorite, though largely broken into small pieces, was excavated by the nomads. – The meteorite is normally very brittle and fragile and tends to break into small fragments. This one was the same, with 90% of the known material being the size of crumbs and gravel, however a few larger pieces were found intact and, when cut and polished, show stunningly beautiful translucent green crystals of orthopyroxene. LOCATION: Marocco, North West African grid of the Sahara Desert Size: ca. 22 x 17.5 x 16.5 cm. PROVENANCE: NWA 817, Diogenites Meteorite Dutch Private Collection NOTE: – Diogenites are one of the three main types of stony achondrite meteorites, Howardites, Eucrites and Diogenites. Diogenites are named for Diogenes, an ancient Greek philosopher who was the first to suggest an outer space origin for meteorites in the 4th century BC. – In Western science this idea was dismissed until 1803. on the 26th of April 1803 a meteorite fell in the vicinity of L'Aigle, Normandy. A shower of little stones was witnessed by so many people that it could not be denied. One of the most remarkable achievements of planetary science is the identification of Vesta as the origin of HED meteorites. – The Hubble Telescope transmitted spectroscopic data from Vesta to Earth. This spectrum acts as a fingerprint and is the only one in the solar system that matches that of HED meteorites; it corresponds to the mineralogical composition of diogenites. Scientists were hesitant to confirm this finding due to the vast distance between Earth and Vesta. However, the Dawn space probe confirmed many of the characteristics that had been predicted based on meteorite research.