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The Moon, lunar feldspathic breccia
Sahara Desert, Mauritania
40mm (1.5 inches) in diameter
91.6 grams (0.2 lbs)
NWA 12691 is a Moon rock and a quintessential lunar breccia, i.e., the pressure and heat from repeated asteroid impacts on the lunar surface (the source of the Moon’s craters), naturally “cements” numerous fragments of different lunar materials together. One such impact sent the rock from which this sphere was made off into space. The prominent white clasts seen are anorthite, a mineral which is very rare on Earth but not on the Moon. They are suspended in dark lunar regolith (i.e., lunar soil comprised of pulverized rocks and volcanic glass. This specimen also features a small oxidized region, evidence of metal from one of the asteroids that impacted the Moon.
Scientists are readily able to identify Moon rocks by analyzing the specimen’s texture, mineralogy, chemistry and isotopic signatures. The current example, as well as the next lot, is nearly identical to some of the material returned to Earth by Apollo astronauts.
While meteorites are exceptionally rare — the weight of every meteorite known is less than the world’s annual output of gold — lunar meteorites are far more rare still. They represent just 0.5% of all meteorites and weigh in total about 2000 kilos — every bit of which would fit in the back of a small pick-up truck. And good deal of that material is untouchable, as it’s in museums and research institutions. As it regards the 380 kilograms of material returned to Earth by the Apollo missions — every milligram is also completely untouchable.
A copy of the scientific analysis and classification of NWA 12691 accompanies this sample.
Provenance: Dr. Lawrence Stifler Collection of Meteorites, Brookline, MA.
The analysis of this meteorite was conducted by Dr. Anthony Irving. The classification was published in the 108th edition of the Meteoritical Bulletin — the official registry of meteorites — which accompanies this offering.
