SPACE ROCKS: Latest meteorite into my collection

[davenn]

I have a bit of a love affair with rocks that come from outer space. To hold a piece of rock that has zoomed
through space for zillions of years before finally crashing to Earth still gives me that WOW factor.

I have around 55 samples in my collection from many different falls around the world.
The one below is the latest addition to the collection

A slice of a piece of the Brahin Meteorite, from the Brahin area, SE of Minsk, Belarus.

A pallasite, which is a type of stony-iron meteorite that are relatively rare. That is, they are not the commonly
found type of stony irons. The stony part in pallasite meteorites is usually olivine. There are only
61 known pallasite falls, 10 of them from Antarctica.
So far, I now have sample from 4 of those falls ( none from the south pole as yet).

My sample is about 30 grams and is a 5mm thick slice.

The main fall was found in 1810 and includes around 820kg of material. An additional buried
mass of around 227kg was found in 2002.

The dark material is the olivine

A link to Wiki for info on Pallasites

A link to the Meteoritical Bulletin Database for this sample.cheers
Dave

 

[jedishrfu]

Nice collection @davenn !

Did you buy / trade for them or actually travel to the site?

How do you know they are genuine fragments from a meteorite ? as opposed to rock with similar composition found here on Earth?

 

[davenn]

Did you buy / trade for them or actually travel to the site?

That one above, I purchased yesterday ( saturday) at a rock and mineral show that does the
rounds locally 4 times a year. All mine have been purchased from shops/traders I have visited in
Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada.

How do you know they are genuine fragments from a meteorite ? as opposed to rock with similar composition found here on Earth?

Knowing the seller helps lots. I also know the main seller that organises these mineral shows
and he is very particular about who he invites to set up trading tables.
Also, there is much info on the net as in the 2 links I gave that meteorite samples can be
looked up and identified. Having been a collector for many years, I get to know and recognise
the various meteorites that traders have for sale. Ones from particular falls have their own
unique look.
So far I haven't purchased any from online traders. Looking at the samples that I have viewed,
I'm pretty sure they could be trusted. These guys have major businesses trading meteorites,
getting caught out selling fakes would put them out of business very quickly. When you go look at
the big sellers online, they have been around for quite a few years.

As far as I'm aware, there are no natural Earth rocks that look like pallasites and that pretty much
goes for the other types as well eg., chondrites ( or have the same composition)Dave

 

[davenn]

here's a few more from the collection ...

Brenham Pallasite - Kansas, USA

Campo del Cielo - Argentina - Iron ( nickel/Iron)

Gibeon, Namibia, SW Africa

Sericho Pallasite - Kenya