Iron meteorite, fine octahedrite - IVA, Great Nama Land, Namibia
This slice is from a meteorite that billions of years ago was part of the core of an asteroid whose shattered remains are mostly found in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars — but some made it to Earth (and some to the Moon, which explains the iron inclusions seen in some Moon rocks). Gibeon meteorites fell at the edge the Kalahari Desert in Namibia thousands of years ago.
The cut surface reveals a crystalline intergrowth which does not appear in terrestrial iron ores, so its presence is diagnostic of iron meteorites. This otherworldly grid is the result of the molecules of two different iron-nickel minerals: kamacite and taenite having enough time — a cooling curve of millions of years — to organize into their crystalline habit. When rotated this slice appears to shimmer. A few signature inclusions of troilite (iron sulfide) are seen and its rim is the natural exterior of the meteorite. Featuring a Gibeon meteorite’s resplendent otherworldly grid, this is an engaging slice of an iron meteorite from outer space.
124 x 94 x 3mm (5 x 3.66 x 0.1 in.) and 257.9 grams (0.5 lbs)
