Stony Iron meteorite, transitional pallasite - PAL, Magadan District, Siberia, Russia
Pallasites are the most beautiful extraterrestrial substance known. They form within an asteroid at the interface of its mantle and molten metallic core. A catastrophic impact with another asteroid is required to liberate this deep-seated material — a tiny bit of which finds its way to Earth. As one might imagine, samples from such a narrowly constrained region are extremely rare and, indeed, pallasites represent only about 0.2% of all known meteorites.
Pallasites are named after 18th-century scientist Peter Pallas (an honor Pallas is most fortunate to have received, as he never accepted the fact the strange boulder he came upon and documented was extraterrestrial).
Discovered in 1967, Seymchan is found in the Magadan District of Siberia. While Seymchan meteorites have been among the more widely available pallasites in recent years, those days have come to an end; following repeated visits over decades, meteorite hunters have exhausted most of the extant material. Moreover, traveling to this remote region is an expensive undertaking — as is the extraction and subsequent transportation of any meteorites found. In 2021 Russia’s most industrious meteorite recovery enterprise indicated it was not returning to Seymchan as it was no longer worth it.
This unusual planar-shaped specimen resulted from having split along crystalline planes. It is covered in a natural earthen patina except where the face of the meteorite was abraded to reveal its internal structure. Polished to a mirror finish, resplendent crystals of olivine and peridot are seemingly suspended in the iron-nickel matrix. From the core of an asteroid and older than Earth, this is a fascinating, novel presentation of a pallasitic meteorite. Accompanied by a custom armature.
129 x 159 x 24mm (5 x 6.25 x 1 in.) and 957.6 grams (2 lbs).
