Stone meteorite, aubrite - AUB, Western Sahara/Morocco border
Highly sought-after by both researchers and collectors, Aubrites represent just 0.1% of all meteorites. There are only 10 witnessed aubrite falls, a legendary group of some of the more preeminent and difficult-to-obtain meteorites known: Aubres, Cumberland Falls, Khor Temeki, Mayo Belwa, Bustee, Bishopville, Shallowater, Pena Blanca Spring, Norton County and Tiglit.
The specimen now offered is not a witnessed fall, but it’s the next best thing: in the Meteoritical Bulletin the weathering grade W0/1 has been ascribed to NWA 7214 in its classification, which indicates it's pristine. This is the closest one can get to owning an aubrite witnessed fall, without the challenge of trying to obtain and pay the high price of a witnessed fall.
Aubrites have the highest cosmic ray exposure ages of any stony meteorite. They are primarily composed of enstatite and are believed to originate from the asteroid 3103 Eger, a near-Earth Asteroid that spectroscopically bears a striking semblance to aubrites. This exemplary complete slice is filled with grains of metal scattered throughout its blue-grey matrix.
76 x 97 x 2mm (3 x 3.75 x 0.1 in.) and 38.74 grams
