Stony Iron meteorite, pallasite - PAL, Lyon County, Kansas
So far, there is nothing more beautiful from outer space than a pallasite. Pallasites form at the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid where some of the mantle’s olivine mixes with the molten metal of the core. When an asteroid shatters into pieces following an impact with another asteroid, the interior section of the asteroid becomes liberated, and sometimes some chunks find their way to Earth. Olivine and crystals of peridot (which is gem quality olivine and the birthstone of August) are featured in this slice. While meteorites are very rare, pallasites are far more rare still. All the world’s meteorites weigh less than the world’s annual output of gold and pallasites represent less than 1% of all meteorites.
In 1881, the first two masses of the Admire pallasite were discovered while plowing a field in Lyon County, Kansas. Meteorite hunters returned to the site relatively recently and many more specimens have since been found. This large complete slice contains extraterrestrial olivine and peridot of all sizes embedded the iron-nickel matrix originating from an asteroid’s core. One side is highly polished while the side of this superlative specimen is etched.
313 x 203 x 3mm (12.33 x 8 x 0.1 in.) and 686.3 grams (1.5 lbs)
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