Golden Pallasite

Golden Pallasite

You won’t find this meteorite listed in the Meteoritical Bulletin, but it’s an authentic pallasite found in Northwest Africa in 2021. Currently unclassified, it’s called the “Golden Pallasite” because this meteorite has a unique patina that appears to glitter like gold in the sunshine. Some Golden Pallasite pieces have been sandblasted into beautiful shapes, a term used to describe the process where windblown sand sculpts the surface of a meteorite over the course of many, many years.

Golden Pallasite specimens often display large olivine crystals embedded in an iron-nickel matrix. Pallasites are extremely rare and are believed to have formed in asteroidal collisions that occurred an estimated 4.5 billion years ago when iron from an asteroid mixed with the material in the mantle of another, larger asteroid. As of 2024, out of approximately 75,000 officially recognized meteorites, there are less than 200 known pallasites.