Welcome!

…to the website for the Utas collection of meteorites.

Meteorites provide us with samples of pristine material that have fallen to earth just as they formed in space billions of years ago. The specimens featured on this website are the very same as those being studied in labs around the world for clues relating to the formation of our solar system, planet, and even life itself.

SM52
A 12.8 gram oriented individual of Sutter’s Mill, a CM2.0-2.1 regolith breccia (SM52), found by Peter. This type of meteorite often contains a variety of complex organic molecules associated with terrestrial life. They also contain direct condensates from the stars that contributed material to the formation of our Solar System.

To hold a meteorite is to physically grasp the remnants of some of the first matter to solidify in orbit around our young Sun.

Meteorites are a natural resource that exist in a very limited supply, and they should be protected and curated as well as possible by those lucky enough to possess them.

Since acquiring our first meteorite in 1998, Peter and I have strived to meticulously catalog each of our specimens, and to ensure that each has a well-recorded and accurate history.

CampWood
Camp Wood, a 326 pound iron meteorite found in Texas in the mid 1970s. Solid iron-nickel meteorites like this one are fragments from the cores of planetismals that have been destroyed by impacts. Detailed analyses of iron meteorites have shown that at least ~150 small planets existed in the early solar system!

We have made it our goal to keep meteorites, especially meteorites of some importance, whether scientific, historic, or aesthetic, intact.

Photos of many specimens can be seen on this site.  Information is being added as is possible.