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Murchison & Aguas Zarcas:
Valuable to Collectors and Science

Meteorite collectors and dealers are often asked whether they have Aguas Zarcas for sale, or even if they have Murchison for sale. Few meteorites inspire as much intrigue as these two. Murchison is a stone meteorite that fell on September 28, 1969 in Australia. The fireball was seen streaking through the sky before breaking up into three pieces. The impact produced a cloud of smoke that was witnessed by locals for miles, as well as a strong tremor. Several meteorite specimens were found on the road, while the largest piece, weighing 680 grams, crashed through a roof into some hay.

Murchison is classified as a CM2; a carbonaceous chondrite of the Mighei group, which are distinguished by small chondrules and an abundance of hydrated minerals, or minerals that include water or hydroxyl. Murchison resembles Aguas Zarcas,  which contains amino acids. Both meteorites are in incredibly high demand due to the scarcity of the material available and their scientific value.

Murchison: One of the Most Studied of All Meteorites

In January of 2020, scientists found that the material found in Murchison is potentially 7 billion years old, which would make it the oldest material on Earth. Famously difficult to acquire, this stone meteorite contains common amino acids like glycine, alanine, and glutamic acid.

Aguas Zarcas: Costa Rica Witnessed Fall

Aguas Zarcas, meaning “clear and pure water” in Spanish, fell on April 23, 2019 in Costa Rica. The fireball that produced the meteorite was witnessed by many locals and was captured on cameras belonging to the National Seismological Network. Aguas Zarcas is a carbonaceous chondrite and being heavily studied by scientists. Understanding the composition of these meteorites is key for answering questions about the kinds of material that were present at the dawn of the solar system.

Though similar, Aguas Zarcas differs from Murchison in that it’s a fresher fall, meaning that scientists are able to use more precise and modern techniques to analyze the compounds found in the stone. Furthermore, it’s the largest CM-type meteorite recovered after Murchison. This gives scientists a “second chance” to study a Murchison-like meteorite and one that has its own unique points of intrigue. In addition, the fall is so fresh it’s relatively free from terrestrial contamination.

Where to Find Aguas Zarcas and Murchison?

Several pieces of the Aguas Zarcas meteorite were donated to Arizona State University for study, where Dr. Laurence Garvie led its classification. ASU now holds and curates the type specimen material in a special nitrogen cabinet. Pieces of Murchison and Aguas Zarcas are on display worldwide. Aguas Zarcas is for sale on our website to the public. Notoriously difficult to find, Murchison is seldom offered on the market; however, we have a few crumbs of Murchison for sale. Please email our sales manager at sales@aerolite.org to inquire.

Photo credit: Jon Taylor/CC-BY-SA-2.0

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ASTEROID VESTA

Asteroids are mysterious remnants from the formation of the Solar System, approximately 4.6 billion years ago. One of these asteroids is called Vesta, after the Roman goddess of the hearth and home. Meteorites from asteroid Vesta are referred to as HEDs: howardites, eucrites, and diogenites. Vesta is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, which is located somewhere between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. It’s so large, in fact, it can be seen from Earth.

Vesta was discovered in 1807 by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers, after whom the lunar crater “Olbers” is named. Olbers put forth the theory that the asteroid belt was composed of leftover material from an ancient planet that had been destroyed. Olbers was also responsible for the discovery of Pallas, which was only the second asteroid to be discovered after Ceres.

METEORITES FROM VESTA

Howardites, eucrites, and diogenites are meteorites that have all originated from Vesta. These are fascinating to collectors and scientists because we rarely are able to identify where meteorites come from. To have a known, physical sample from Vesta to study is extremely valuable to planetary scientists. Furthermore, for collectors, having the opportunity to own a piece of a scientifically significant meteorite is exciting.

HED METEORITES

The meteorites from Vesta we call howardites are regoliths, which means they’re made up of pieces of meteorites that hit Vesta and mixed with rocks on Vesta’s surface. In fact, the word “howardite” derives from Greek words meaning “stone” and “blanket,” referring to rocks found on the surface.

On the other hand, eucrites are basalt, or cooled lava that once flowed on Vesta. They take their name from the Greek word “eukritos,” meaning “easily distinguished.” This refers to their being light in weight and interior. Ecurites are difficult to spot and thus are incredibly rare. Diogenites are also thought to come from lava, but these rocks formed when the lava cooled slowly underground. These meteorites take their name from the Greek philosopher Diogenes of Apollonia, who believed the universe was a living substance and our atmosphere was intelligent and the atmosphere was the source of all being.

WHAT ARE HED METEORITES WORTH?

Meteorites from Vesta are valuable to planetary research. Recently, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx craft found meteorites from Vesta on the surface of asteroid Bennu. Understanding how these rocky worlds formed will ultimately inform what we believe about our early Solar System and the origins of Earth. We didn’t even know what Vesta looked like until NASA’s Dawn spacecraft dropped in on it, and we can look forward to learning much from the HEDs found here on Earth. In the meantime, you can add Vesta to your personal collection.

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THE FAMOUS SIKHOTE-ALIN METEORITE

The Sikhote-Alin iron meteorite is a very-well known witnessed fall. Coupled with its fame as a large iron meteorite fall, Sikhote-Alin is a favorite among meteorite collectors for the variety of characteristics they display. In general, iron meteorites often have fantastically different shapes caused by their flight through our atmosphere.

The Sikhote-Alin meteorite fall is one of the largest in recorded history. Scientists estimate that its mass was approximately 220,000 lbs (100,000 kg) before it entered Earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, these massive meteorites left impact craters, some as big as 85 feet across and 20 feet deep.

Sikhote-Alin Iron Meteorite Properties

Generally, Sikhote-Alin iron meteorites fall under two categories: individual specimens and shrapnel or fragments. It’s believed that individual specimens broke off from the main object early in the meteorite’s descent. These meteorites often display regmaglypts, which resemble thumbprints on the surface of iron meteorites. Other Sikhote-Alin individuals have flow lines and rollover lips, caused by atmospheric ablation, or even are oriented. The rarest of Sikhote-Alin iron meteorites display all of these traits and are seldom seen on the market.

Shrapnel fragments are special in their own right, too. For instance, because these pieces exploded during flight, they often have a unique, “torn” appearance. Unclean fragment specimens display a rich natural patina, which they acquired during their time on Earth’s surface.

Sikhote-Alin Mountain Region

In addition to being a fascinating meteorite, Sikhote-Alin is the name of a mountain range in Russia of cultural and scientific importance. These mountains were the closest geological feature to the place where the meteorites fell. The Sikhote-Alin mountain region was the subject of Vladimir Arsenyev’s 1923 book, Dersu Uzala, which was later adapted into an award-winning film directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Furthermore, UNESCO placed the “Central Sikhote-Alin” on the World Heritage List, as the home of several endangered species, such as the scaly-sided merganser, the Blakiston’s fish-owl, and the Amur tiger.

Sikhote-Alin Meteorite Worth

Sikhote-Alin meteorites are valuable additions to private and institutional collections. For example, a large specimen is displayed at the famous Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Other museum-grade pieces are displayed in Moscow, the UK, and in other museum collections across the world.

Additionally, Sikhote-Alin meteorites are also available for sale for private collectors. To view available inventory, visit our iron meteorites page!

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NEW MINERAL FOUND IN LUANR METEORITE

Earlier this week, news broke of a new mineral called donwilhelmsite that was discovered inside a lunar meteorite. The researchers that made this discovery, a team from Europe, believe this new information will help us better understand what happens when geological material is exposed to the extreme pressures of Earth’s mantle.

The lunar meteorite containing this strange new mineral is Oued Awlitis 001, a lunar meteorite found in Western Sahara by a group of meteorite hunters who stopped by the side of the road to cook dinner following an unsuccessful trip to Morocco. The first piece was found by a gentleman searching for firewood; an additional 50.5-gram piece, which fit perfectly onto the main stone, was later found.

Oued Awlitis is classified as a lunar anorthositic melt rock; anorthosite is an igneous rock – molten lava or magma that has solidified – composed mostly of plagioclase feldspar. Anorthositic rocks are widely studied because geologists still don’t fully understand how they form. Lunar anorthosites come from the light-colored areas of the Moon and are some of the Moon’s oldest rocks. Scientists believe these rocks were created when feldspar, a rock-forming mineral, floated to the top of a magma ocean that surrounded the Moon at its beginning.

Research on lunar meteorites tries to explain how and when the Moon formed and what it’s made of. We actually know very little about how the Solar System formed, though the theory that the planets formed from a Solar Nebula is well-established and widely accepted. Meteorites are a key to unlocking details about how exactly these events transpired; samples collected from the Moon by the Apollo and Luna missions were the first steps towards unlocking these mysteries.

Donwilhelmsite, the new mineral just discovered, is named after Don Edward Wilhelms, a geologist who contributed to the study and mapping of the Moon and helped train Apollo astronauts in geology. He and astronaut Harrison Schmidt – the only geologist sent to the Moon – were employees of the United States Geological Survey.

Meteorites, from the Moon or elsewhere, can contain amino acids, minerals – like donwilhelmsite – and even water. Water, scientists agree, is essential to life as we know it and some meteorites have been found to contain water molecules. A recent study on the ultra-rare Martian meteorite NWA 7034 – commonly known as “Black Beauty” – has found that it contains microscopic water-bearing minerals.

These new findings are incredibly valuable to the understanding of how Mars was formed and what happened immediately after its formation. Further research on donwilhelmsite and meteorites promises to reveal more information about our own planet; the materials found in meteorites are similar to those found on Earth and can tell us more about regions we can’t easily study.

Image credit: Ludovic Ferrière, NHM Vienna.

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ASTEROID 16 PSYCHE
The value of asteroid research and iron meteorites

Asteroid 16 Psyche has made headlines after a report in Extreme Tech estimated its value at shocking $10,000 quadrillion dollars. Psyche is a large asteroid named after the Greek mythological figure and is thought to be the exposed core of a “protoplanet,” material that hypothetically would have eventually formed a planet. NASA’s Psyche mission will visit the asteroid in 2026 and will spend over 21 months in orbit to map and study Psyche’s properties and composition. This mission will confirm, among other things, whether the asteroid is actually the core of a planet-sized object. 

Asteroids, by definition, are objects orbiting around the Sun that do not have a tail of gas or dust, at which point they’d be called a comet. Asteroids range in size; the largest was Ceres, which earned the designation of “dwarf planet” in 2006. Ceres, named after the Roman goddess, was first observed in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi. When another astronomer, Heinrich Olbers, discovered Pallas, the second-largest asteroid in the asteroid belt, it was decided that these objects needed to be placed in their own categories. The term “asteroid” is derived from Greek and means “star-like” and “star-shaped,” since scientists at the time found them indistinguishable from stars aside from their rapid movement. 

Asteroids are significant to our research for the exploration and settlement of space for several reasons, one of them being that some asteroids pose a potential threat to Earth. These are monitored and tracked by space agencies worldwide, and scientists are working to develop asteroid impact avoidance strategies. 

Asteroid mining is also a major topic of discussion and refers to the extraction of raw material for use on Earth and in space. Asteroids like Psyche, which are composed almost entirely of nickel and iron, could be very valuable far into the future. However, most conversations about asteroid mining focus on those closer to Earth known to contain water or water ice, which can be converted to fuel or used by human colonies in space.

What Asteroid Psyche Can Teach us

Studying an asteroid like Psyche can also tell us about the core of our own planet, which we can’t easily study. Iron meteorites are also valuable for this reason; it’s believed that most iron meteorites originated in the cores of large asteroids. They are almost entirely made up of nickel-iron, the primary component of Earth’s core. 

Most iron meteorites display Widmanstätten patterns, which are crystalline alloy structures that are the result of liquid metal that has cooled over a long period of time. Gibeon, an iron that fell in Namibia, is a meteorite that exhibits an outstanding Widmanstätten, which makes them very desirable. Iron meteorites display other features, like flowlines, thumbprints, and orientation. Sikhote-Alin, the famous meteorite that fell in Russia in 1947, is characterized by regmaglypts caused by ablation as the meteorite hurtled through Earth’s atmosphere. 

Asteroids have fascinated scientists for decades. There’s no limit to what we can do with the information analysts will uncover in the future. As we look forward to NASA’s Psyche mission, we can look to iron meteorites here on Earth to continue to develop hypotheses about what we might discover about the asteroids in the solar system.

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WATER IN METEORITES?

NASA’s announcement and what it means for meteorite studies

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made an enthralling announcement on Monday, October 26 sure to captivate the imaginations of scientists and space enthusiasts alike. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, commonly known as SOFIA, “…confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon.” This is a major scientific discovery, as it implies that we might find water everywhere on the Moon and not just in cold, shadowy regions.

The area SOFIA detected water in is called the Clavius Crater, one of the largest lunar craters we can see from Earth and namesake of the fictional lunar administrative facility, Clavius Base, in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Researchers are working on theories to explain how water got there and ways humans can use it in future space exploration missions. Some scientists posit that micrometeorites, tiny meteorites measuring less than a millimeter in size, may have deposited water molecules on the lunar surface. Others believe a process involving solar wind and a chemical reaction with the minerals on the Moon’s surface may have created hydroxyl groups – entities that contain an oxygen atom bonded to a hydrogen atom – which was then converted to water by radiation. 

Why Water Matters

What can scientists do with this information? Well, water is essential to life as we know it and its presence outside Earth is key to uncovering whether extraterrestrial life exists and if it does, how it came to be. Scientists have been able to confirm that some planetary bodies, like asteroid Vesta, contain water. The presence of water on Vesta and other planets/asteroids are a clue for scientists trying to determine where water on Earth originated. Finding water sources on the Moon and Mars will be an instrumental aspect of future deep space exploration missions, as water can be converted into fuel and would dramatically decrease launch costs.

Explaining how water came to be in the solar system not only impacts our future, it tells us about how it was formed, how organic life came to be, and gives us an idea of what Earth was like in its infancy. For example, a study published in Science Advances in 2018 stated that liquid water and organic compounds were found in salt crystals from two meteorites, Zag and Monahans. Meteorites that contain salt crystals are imperative to planetary research because the compounds trapped in them shed light on the origins of organic life in space. These compounds also tell a story about where in the solar system these meteorites came from. Zag, for example, is suspected to have originated from Ceres, a dwarf planet, and the asteroid Hebe.

Impact on Meteorites

The salt crystals found in Zag are called halites, and can only be seen using highly specialized equipment and techniques in a controlled laboratory environment. However, their presence underscores the importance of meteorite studies in planetary science. Collectors looking for something that contributed to our understanding of the cosmos would be thrilled to own a piece of Zag. As technology becomes more sophisticated and investigative techniques improve, we can expect the scientific community to continue to dazzle us with what they uncover about the world around us, where we’re going, and where we came from. 

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Triumph for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx on Asteroid Bennu

What do we hope to learn from asteroid Bennu? 

Incredible things happen in outer space all the time; stars explode, pulsars pump beams of radiation and radio waves into the cosmos, asteroids hurtle into other asteroids and planetary bodies, and supermassive black holes feed on entire galaxies. Most of these things happen without our knowledge or involvement, but on Tuesday, October 20, a small spacecraft named after the Egyptian god of the underworld, Osiris, briefly touched and collected a small sample from an oddly-shaped asteroid, Bunnu. 

The asteroid was named after an ancient Egyptian mythological bird-deity by a 9 year-old-boy in a NASA “Name the Asteroid” competition. The Bennu bird is associated with the sun, creation, and rebirth; an appropriate moniker, given that scientists believe that the asteroid is made up of material left over from when the solar system was created. 

Why is Bennu Important?

Bennu’s orbit lies somewhere between those of Earth and Mars, one of the reasons the OSIRIS-Rex team chose to study it; it’s classified as a near-Earth asteroid, which means it might one day come too close to Earth for comfort. Amazingly enough, researchers also believe Bennu may have inherited some material from Vesta, another asteroid under heavy study from academics. 

Vesta is the second most massive body on the asteroid belt and is even occasionally visible from Earth with the naked eye. Vesta is also one of the only surviving rocky protoplanets, a term that describes matter which is thought to be developing into a planet. Studying asteroids like Bennu and Vesta can reveal valuable information about how planets in our solar system formed, especially Earth. Aside from its connection to Vesta, scientists are also interested in Bennu because it may house organic compounds and wet clays – an indication that Bennu might very closely resemble what primordial Earth looked like. 

The sample the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected won’t arrive back to Earth until 2023, but the team has mechanisms in place that will enable them to study the sample remotely, primarily to determine how much material they were actually able to collect. There’s a chance the spacecraft didn’t collect a large enough sample or collect anything at all. If that’s the case, then the team will attempt another TAG (touch-and-go) maneuver at a different site. 

What Can We Hope to Discover?

Among other things, scientists hope the return sample will contain pieces of rock that match the kind found on Vesta for further study. These rocks, called pyroxene, are Vesta’s signature and are clearly identifiable on Bennu’s surface because of their bright color and physical characteristics. While we haven’t identified any meteorites from Bennu yet, meteorite specialists have identified meteorites they believe to have been pieces of asteroid Vesta. For example, NWA 7831, is primarily composed of a type of pyroxene called orthopyroxene, a green-colored material that occurs in igneous rocks and rare meteorites. This is extremely rare material, and missions like OSIRIS-REx are sure to answer some of the questions we still have about meteorites. 

Did you know that you can own meteorites from asteroid Vesta? Aerolite has pieces that start at $25.00. Click here to view available inventory!

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Watch Geoff on Disney+!

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CRADLES OF LIFE

Vital to planetary studies, meteorite craters also inform our view of life on Earth

One of the most fascinating aspects of planetary science is the number of geographical features shared by Earth and its sibling planets in our galaxy and beyond. Like our own, other planets have oceans, mountains, valleys, and even craters, which we associate with meteorites. Experts in geography define craters as “bowl-like depressions,” caused by violent collisions between celestial bodies or from volcanic eruptions.

Meteorite impact craters are important to researchers studying how planets and galaxies are formed. For example, they can tell scientists the approximate weight of the impactor and about how fast it was coming in. Craters can also reveal a lot about how old a planetary body is; the Moon, for example, has many “astroblemes”—meaning “star wounds”—across the central part of its farside, which is an indicator that region is older than the Moon’s smoother areas with fewer craters.

Craters also naturally excavate into the body’s crust and can provide scientists with primitive core samples and clues about the planet’s structure. Massive meteorites that hit the surface of Europa (one of Jupiter’s moons), for example, left large craters that punched through enough of the moon’s crust that researchers were able to estimate the depth of its ice shell. Further, data about the diameter and depth of the craters on Europa also clued scientists into the possibility of an ocean or warm ice layer below the ice shell.

As much as craters can tell us about a planet’s past, they are also useful as sites to further our ambitions for the future. The floor of Barringer Crater, also called “Meteor Crater” or the “Canyon Diablo Crater,” served as a training ground for NASA astronauts preparing for the Apollo missions; there, the future moonwalkers learned how to hunt for “faux moon rocks.” These return samples have been indispensable to analysts identifying lunar meteorites and

some researchers even believe a rock sample from the Apollo 14 mission may contain the first evidence of Earth material—a meteorite originating from Earth—on the Moon.

Impressive as craters may be, they too fall victim to weathering by Earth’s climate. The Wabar Craters, for example, lie in a now inaccessible desert region of Saudi Arabia and remain a mystery to the meteorite community for many reasons. First, the crater site is located in a now extremely dangerous area; political events, temperatures that can top 140 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, and the terrain all contribute to the scarcity of Wabar material. Second, shifting sands have all but obliterated the craters, as the sand has slowly filled them over time. Finally, the material recovered from the Wabar crater site is a blend of both weathered and well-preserved irons. How the two could have been produced by the same source and lie in the same site still puzzles scientists today.

One thing, however, is certain: craters hold the key to understanding what happens when something from an alien world collides with another. Asteroids have destroyed life while also creating new environments for microbes and bacteria. On Earth, some people have made craters their home, like the city of Nördlingen, which was built inside the Nördlinger Ries impact crater in Germany. Looking forward, missions to the Moon and Mars will investigate what secrets their craters hold, which will inform how we explore–and eventually settle–our solar system and beyond.

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BACK TO THE MOON

A static test launch in preparation for the Moon…and beyond

It’s been nearly 50 years since the last time a human being visited the Moon; on December 1972, NASA astronauts on the Apollo 17 mission conducted geological surveys and sampling of the Moon’s surface features and materials. The crew also performed experiments both in-flight and during EVAs (Extravehicular Activity). Despite the mission’s success, the remaining Apollo missions were cancelled due to budgetary constraints and NASA’s shift of focus to other missions and spacecraft. The Moon has remained untouched by humans since then, but it won’t be for long. Rest assured, “We are going to the Moon,” in the confident words of NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

Following the Space Shuttle program, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) has been in development since 2011; its purpose is to provide a vehicle for NASA’s deep space exploration missions, which include flights to the Moon and Mars. Eventually, as humans develop plans for the exploration and development of space, SLS will evolve to fulfill the growing need for more powerful and capable configurations. Currently, SLS has has three variants—Block 1, Block 1B, and Block 2—that can be used in several configurations to accommodate the rocket’s payload and the thrust required for the mission.

NASA’s announcement of a static fire test, scheduled for Wednesday, September 2, is welcome news amid serious delays and setbacks that have plagued the development of the rocket platform. The test will take place at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Utah, United States and “will help teams evaluate potential new materials, processes, and improvements for the boosters that will power deep space missions beyond Artemis III,” according to NASA. Artemis III will be the third flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft launched on SLS and will be their first crewed lunar landing since 1972 and—perhaps even more importantly—the first mission where a woman will set foot on the Moon.

The Artemis III crew will be testing lunar water ice, a follow-up to experiments conducted during the Apollo 17 mission, where astronauts collected nearly 260 pounds of samples of lunar surface material. These “Moon rocks,” as they’re called, are not to be confused with lunar meteorites, which arrive on Earth after being catapulted into space from the Moon’s surface by some sort of collision. As many meteorite collectors know, it’s very illegal to own or sell Apollo return samples, though it’s thanks to these “Moon rocks” that we can positively identify lunar meteorites found on Earth. Not only that, but petrological analyses of the Apollo return samples and positively identified lunar meteorites can give us an idea of where on the Moon these meteorites may have originated.

The Apollo missions and upcoming Orion missions illustrate how meteorites impact academia and scientific research; studies of oriented meteorites aerodynamics even reveal how similar these rocks’ nosecones are to those we see on aircraft and rockets, like SLS. With the rapid advances the scientific community is making in technology, we can expect to learn a lot more about meteorites, asteroids, and our place in our universe.

Image Credit: NASA/MSFC

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