Almahata Sitta, polymict breccia
2008 TC3 was a roughly 80 tonne, ~4.1 meter diameter asteroid discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on October 6, 2008: …
Meteorite Hunting Videos
Here’s our first meteorite-hunting video, shot in October 2020 for UCLA’s 12th annual Exploring Your Universe. The event was virtual in 2020, …
Aldama (a), IIIAB
Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Aldama (a). This iron’s medium-octahedral structure has been partly recrystallized by natural or artificial heating, followed by rapid …
American Meteorite Laboratory Set
This lot of three specimens came from an estate sale in a small town in Southern Alaska. They were kept safely in …
American Meteorite Museum Jewelry
Original souvenirs from Harvey Nininger’s American Meteorite Museum are pretty hard to come by. Here are some fun ones — one pair …
Aba Panu, L3.6-6
In the afternoon of April 19, 2018, a flash of light and deafening roar startled the residents of Southwestern Nigeria. There were …
Astoria, IIIAB
21.45 kilogram main mass. Photos by Marlin Cilz.
Aiquile, H5
On November 20, 2016, a bright daytime fireball split the sky above Aiquile, Bolivia. A local named Hugo Cardona quickly snagged a …
Bear Creek, IIIAB
Bear Creek is a historic American iron that’s pretty hard to come by. We try not to buy slices or part-slices in …
Bitburg, IAB
Bitburg is one of those old, strange stories you read about in meteorite books. A 1.5 ton iron was found in the …
What are CAIs?
CAIs. Calcium aluminum inclusions. What’s so special about them and why do people who study meteorites talk about them so much? Well, …
chondrite classification
From the chondrite information page, the petrographic classification scheme works kind of like this: completely altered by water into clay (no known …
Australite Tektite
At 6.1 grams, this is one of the larger complete examples I have seen. It exhibits wonderful contraction cracking and a very …
Arispe, Mexico
Here are some photos from a 2003 expedition to Arispe. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any meteorites, but it was a memorable trip, …
Bediasite Tektites
This bediasite was reportedly found several decades ago, and it tips the scale at 49.2 grams. It comes via Mr. and Mrs. …
Bilanga, diogenite
The Bilanga diogenite fell on October 27, 1999 into and between the villages of Bilanga-Yanga and Gomposago, in Burkina-Faso. The fall was …
Blythe Intaglios
These rare geoglyphs were carved into the desert pavement near the Colorado River, a short drive from what is now the city …
Clair Omar Musser and his Celestaphone
Clair Omar Musser was the world’s most famous marimba player from ~1930 until ~1960, when the instrument’s popularity waned. His eclectic career …
Allegan, H5
Allegan’s a historic American fall from 1899. It’s a fairly typical H-chondrite, with moderate porosity and well-defined chondrules. From Merrill and Stokes’ …
404
We’re sorry; you may be clever, but the page you’re looking for is somewhere else. Please check the menu and try again. …
Bishopville, aubrite
Bishopville was the first meteorite acquired by Charles Upham Shepard, an important early American meteoriticist and collector. Dr. H. H. Nininger compiled …
Bondoc, Mesosiderite-B4
The story of the Bondoc mesosiderite is a remarkable one. An easy-to-read version can be found here: Al Mitterling’s Nininger Moment #27 …
Allende, CV3.2
Allende is one of the largest recovered falls of the 20th century, and also one of the most scientifically important and researched. …
about us
We started collecting meteorites in the summer of 1998. Within a few years, we came to notice an event that kept recurring: …
Boxhole, IIIAB
The Boxhole meteorite crater is ~170 meters in diameter, and is a very well-preserved impact, supposedly dating to only around 5,500 years …
Ash Creek, L6
For the story behind the stones, click here.
Bir Lehlou, H-chondrite
This 205 kilogram (451 pound) stone was found ~25 kilometers North of Bir Lehlou, in Western Sahara. It is the ~eighth largest …
Ash Creek, Texas
On February 15th, 2009 at around 11AM local time, a small asteroid entered the atmosphere and broke up over Birome, Texas. Larger …
Buffalo Gap, IAB-ungrouped
We wrote the Meteoritical Bulletin write-up for this iron; I can’t think of anything else to add. In short, it’s similar to …
Bur-Abor, IIIAB
Bur-Abor is a special one for us. Some ten or fifteen years ago, we emailed Eric Twelker about a few Bur-Abor specimens …
Burns, IIIAB
The recovery of Burns is described in its Meteoritical Bulletin write-up: The recovery of the meteorite was described in much greater detail …
Breja, LL6
Breja is an odd fall that somehow escaped publication despite having a known find location, known fall date, and a fairly large …
Bruderheim, L6
Bruderheim’s arrival to Earth was accompanied by spectacular effects. A complete account of the fall and its recovery can be seen here: …
Bunker Hill, L6
Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Bunker Hill. Robert Haag said that the stone had been found by a scrap collector among the ruins …
Brenham, Pallasite
There’s not much on Brenham in the Meteoritical Bulletin, but I was able to track down this paper describing the excavation of …
Clover Springs, Mesosiderite-A2
Clover Springs is a historic American mesosiderite. While it is one of just three classified mesosiderites with the subtype of A2, most …
Dalgaranga, Mesosiderite-A
The Dalgaranga crater was first described in 1938 by E.S. Simpson. It had been discovered by a local rancher some fifteen years …
Estherville, Mesosiderite-A3/4
Estherville was one of the most spectacular bolides in recorded history when it tore its way through Earth’s atmosphere above Iowa in …
Imilac, Pallasite
The Imilac pallasite was known to native peoples in the region for hundreds of years. It was first brought to the attention …
The American Southwest
Here is an assortment of photos of meteorites found, mostly on dry lake beds, from California, Nevada, and Arizona. Some cold finds …
Carancas, H4-5
The Carancas meteorite violently exploded when it made landfall just south of Lake Titicaca on September 15, 2007. It is one of …
Chico Hills, H5
I don’t have much information on this rare find beyond the original Meteoritical Bulletin No. 37. Here’s a 51 gram fusion-crusted quarter-cut …
Moving Stones
I’ve recorded a few videos of moving stones on lakebeds in California and Nevada. The three videos below were shot in Nevada. …
Coolidge, CL4
Coolidge is an unusual carbonaceous chondrite. It was initially classified as a CV3.8, and was later reclassified by different researchers as…a type-3.8 …
Correo, H4
This strewn field from New Mexico was discovered in the late 1970s. The total known weight is just a few kilograms, and …
Dar al Gani 978, C3-ungrouped
This meteorite has several pairings with classifications including: CV3, CK3, and C3-ungrouped. DaG 978 is officially published as a C3-ungrouped carbonaceous chondrite. …
Camp Wood, Texas
Here are some photos from our trip to pick up Camp Wood, a 326 lb. iron meteorite from a town of the …
chondrites
Chondrites are the most primitive group of meteorites. They have formation ages dating to at least 4.56 billion years before the present, …
irons
Iron meteorites can be divided into two main groups: those that formed in the cores of large differentiated bodies, and those that …
achondrites
Achondrites are a very diverse goup of meteorites representing a wide range of developmental processes in the Solar System. Some have crystallization …
stony-irons
Stony-iron meteorites are divided into two semi-related groups: mesosiderites and pallasites. Mesosiderites are a somewhat enigmatic group of generally metal-rich meteorites that have an origin …
hunting for meteorites
Hunting for meteorites is fun, and just about anyone can do it. How do you start? Learn about rocks first. Just rocks. …
Marjalahti, Pallasite-PMG
Marjalahti is one of four witnessed pallasite falls as of 2014. The only work I was able to find that thoroughly described …
Mount Vernon, Pallasite
From O. C. Farrington’s 1915 Catalogue of the Meteorites of North America, to January 1, 1909. Despite its rather large total known …
NWA 7788, Pallasite
This pallasite weighs 271 grams. We have no plans to cut or analyze it, so it will probably remain provisional.
Dar el Kahal, H5
This stone was one of the larger attractions at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show of 2014. Hundreds of kilograms were present, …
NWA 7797, Mesosiderite
Here’s a beautiful, fresh mesosiderite with huge olivine crystals. 52.2 grams.
NWA 7798, Mesosiderite
Here’s another new mesosiderite from the Sahara. 20.5 grams.
Camp Wood, IIIAB
I don’t have much to add to the Bulletin description of this iron. As of 2016, Camp Wood is the largest iron …
Canyon Diablo, IAB-MG
Meteor Crater is one of the most famous impact craters on Earth. Between 25,000 and 50,000 years ago, an 80 – 120 …
Cape York, IIIAB
Cape York is one of the largest known meteorites, with a very colorful history. The first reports in literature emerged in the …
Chinga, Ungrouped
From Grady’s Catalogue of Meteorites (2000): Buchwald’s Handbook of Iron Meteorites contains a description of the find: Roy A. Gallant further described …
NWA 7803, Mesosiderite
This cute stone doesn’t have a texture that resembles any other Northwest African mesosiderites I’ve seen. It’s also one of the least-weathered. …
NWA 7804, Mesosiderite
This find consisted of a fresh, oriented 331 gram mostly complete stone. Abundant olivine and pyroxene crystals are visible on the surface, …
Dhofar 325, CO3.5
The average chondrule diameter of this stone is 100 – 200 µm: it isn’t an L-chondrite. From the Meteoritical Bulletin: Given the …
Deport, IAB-sLL
There’s not much online about this Texan find; the bulletin contains scant information, and I couldn’t find any papers describing the discovery. …
Dimmitt, H3.5-3.7
Dimmitt is one of the largest meteorites known from North America; hundreds of kilograms of fragments and individuals have been recovered from …
[California], unclassified achondrite
This stone was found by Jason at a new hunting location in California, in December 2014. It weighs 0.855 grams (with a …
El Burro, IIAB
The El Burro meteorite is a historic find from a very remote area of Coahuila, Mexico. The area is still almost completely …
Seymchan, Pallasite
The Seymchan meteorite was discovered in 1967: Buchwald described the recovery of the first specimens: Since then, many meteorites have been recovered …
Forest City, H5
Forest City was a seminal American fall, studied by some of America’s earliest dedicated meteoriticists. A detail of note regarding this fall: …
Forestburg (b), L5
Here’s a chunk of a fairly uncommon American meteorite, which has otherwise been ~diced and distributed. From the Meteoritical Bulletin: 192.2 grams
Forrest 002, L6
Forrest (b), later named Forrest 002, was found in October of 1980. I wasn’t able to track down information beyond the scant …
Gao, H5
On March 5th, 1960, stones fell amongst the rooftops of several villages near Burkina Faso’s border with Ghana. Sonic effects were heard …
Dar al Gani, olivine-phyric shergottite
These stones are paired with DaG 476 et al. Many classified and unclassified stones have come from the region. They are olivine-phyric …
Gashua, L6
Gashua was witnessed to fall in Nigeria in April, 1984. I don’t have much to add to the Meteoritical Bulletin write-up. At …
Gibeon, IVA
~45 kilograms, individual with hole. ‘The Man in the Moon.’ ~51 kilogram oriented Gibeon with spotty fusion crust and flow-lines. Photos taken …
Gove, Relict Iron
This mostly oxidized iron meteorite was found in a Cenozoic bauxite deposit during mining at the Nabalco Bauxite Mine in 1966. It …
Henbury, IIIAB
The meteorite craters at Henbury, Central Australia, by Arthur Richard Alderman, 1932. 27 grams, Ward’s Natural Science Establishment label. ~3 kilograms of …
Hamburg, H4
Hamburg was a fairly small fall that happened in the middle of Winter in Michigan — January 16th, 2018. After hearing about …
Kingston, Ungrouped
Kingston is a unique iron meteorite, without any close chemical relatives. It appears to be a magmatic iron, and may be the …
Mesa La Caguama, IAB-MG
This “extremely heavy rock” was found by Francisco Arce Arce in 1971. It was discovered in Baja California along a burro trail …
Morasko, IAB-MG
There is far more to say about Morasko than I can include here. In brief, the fall occurred between 5,000 and 5,500 …
Vaca Muerta, “Eucrite”
Vaca Muerta is a mesosiderite: a stony-iron meteorite characterized as a mixture of core, mantle, and crustal material, all mixed together by …
Mount Dooling, IC
The first mass of Mount Dooling was recovered in 1909; it weighed 31.3 kilograms. I wasn’t able to track down Simpson’s 1911 …
Indian Butte, H5
From the Meteoritical Bulletin: We spent a few days in the area in the summer of 2013, but didn’t have access to …
Northwest Africa 176, Ungrouped
Northwest Africa 176 is an unusual ungrouped ~iron meteorite that appears to be more closely related to carbonaceous chondrites than to most …
The irons of Ziz, IAB
Ziz, otherwise known as Northwest Africa 854, is a beautifully fresh iron meteorite from Algeria. It is chemically similar to Canyon Diablo, …
Taza, Ungrouped Iron
Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Taza. Long story short, it’s an ungrouped iron with a germanium content an order of magnitude or so …
Tafrawet, IIIAB
I’ve been told that Tafrawet was a stunning 32 kilogram iron. The 3 kilogram end-cut pictured below certainly suggests as much. Thick …
Tata, IIIAB
Tata, otherwise known as NWA 1430, consisted of a single 113 kilogram iron meteorite that was, honestly, pretty ugly. It had been …
Ivuna, CI1
Type-1 chondrites are fairly rare, partly because they are so fragile. Atmospheric entry often results in very high mass loss for these …
Izarzar, H5
After hearing reports of a fireball in Morocco in late October of 2012, I kept an eye out for stones, but saw …
Kainsaz, CO3.2
Not much contemporary information was published about this historic Russian fall. From Meteor News – News from the Soviet Union Concerning Meteoric …
Karoonda, CK4
Karoonda is the type specimen of the CK-meteorite class, meaning that it is the first CK chondrite to be known or recognized. …
NWA 3202, IIAB
This hexahedrite isn’t too unusual, but it is pretty. And it’s fairly fresh; it has a partial heat-altered zone, contrary to the …
NWA 3204, IAB-sHL-anomalous
NWA 3204 is a pretty plessitic octahedrite with a fun shape; we initially thought that it might be a man-made artifact. Its …
NWA 3205, IAB-ungrouped
This iron turned out to be compositionally unusual, with a very high iridium content. The Meteoritical Bulletin says a bit more:
NWA 3206, IAB-sLH
This 176 gram disk-shaped iron is chemically a little odd and is structurally unique. It has a great microscopic pattern, but there’s …
NWA 3208, IIIAB
This iron is a highly shocked IIIAB — so shocked that its Thomson structure is almost completely erased. But, while preparing the …
Ensisheim, Nördlinger Ries, and Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines 2015
I really should have taken more photos with people and rocks. I found the camera more often when in the country – …
Kennard, H5
This stone was obtained by Ralph Velich in 1961, and he documented everything fastidiously from then onwards. He described how he obtained …
Kerman, R3
Kerman was purchased in 2009 from a German mineral dealer. The small cut stone came from an old mineral collection with a …
Knyahinya, L/LL5
Knyahinya is a historic fall from Hungary. It was one of the largest meteorite falls to have been observed at the time …
Košice, H5
Košice was a relatively large fall in Slovakia in 2010. Here’s the Meteoritical Bulletin write-up: A video of the fireball, recorded from …
Kota-Kota, EH3
Kota-Kota is an unusual and rare meteorite; there are precious few EH3’s known, and only four are not from Antarctica or a …
Kunashak, L6
Kunashak fell as a massive shower of stones: at least 20 fell, with a total weight of over 200 kilograms! The largest …
La Colina, H5
La Colina fell at 11:30 pm local time on March 19, 1924, in the Buenos Aires Province of Argentina. Following a bright …
La Luz, H4
I don’t have much more information on this one than is in the Meteoritical Bulletin: 3,518 gram main mass. Photos will be …
Ladder Creek, L6
35 kilograms of fragments were recovered from a field by a farmer named Edgar Linn in 1937. Nininger recovered them: The Ladder …
Las Vegas, Ordinary Chondrite
This small, complete stone was found in an empty lot along the Las Vegas strip by a metal detectorist. The finder mailed …
Leedey, L6
The Leedey meteorite fell in Oklahoma on November 35, 1943. Following a large fireball, 24 stones were recovered, with a total known …
Lucerne Valley, CK4
Per the Meteoritical Bulletin: This 5.6 gram fragment from the find is the largest one we’ve found. Many thanks to Robert Matson …
MacKay Glacier, Ordinary Chondrite
This specimen was one of three meteorites found on MacKay Glacier (Victoria Land, Antarctica) by the crew of an environmental organization in …
New Mexico, H-chondrite
The finder of this stone posted it on eBay as a meteorite in early 2011, with a single blurry photo and no …
NWA 7787, Iron
This 203 gram iron meteorite is one of the freshest and most beautiful to come out of Northwest Africa. It is unclassified …
Matamoros, H6
This 30.4 kilogram stone came from just South of the border, near the town of Matamoros, Mexico. The owner posted some photos …
NWA 8154, Ungrouped Iron
This is an odd one, with 3-dimensional graphite sprays. The Meteoritical Bulletin writeup contains a plethora of information: Paired irons include NWA …
NWA 8156, IVA
This is a pretty one to escape the saw; it’s fairly fresh, oriented, and has a fine pattern. It has a well-defined …
Mifflin, L5
Mifflin was a fairly small American fall with only a few dozen stones recovered, and a total known weight of 3-4 kilograms, …
Murray, CM2
Murray is a fairly uncommon American carbonaceous chondrite. It arrived as a small shower of stones at around 1:35 AM on September …
Monze, L6
This fall took place in Zambia on October 5, 1950, at ~4:20 am local time. Sonic effects were heard over an area …
Moorabie, Anomalous L3.8
This enigmatic meteorite has been plaguing researchers for years. Moorabie and a number of other H/L3-4 anomalous chondrites exhibit characteristics of both …
Itqiy, EH7-anomalous
This meteorite is largely comprised of enstatite, and it is presumed to be a partial melt derived from an E or EH-chondrite …
Ness County, L6
Ness County is a fairly old, but well-distributed meteorite, originally discovered in 1897. Many institutions possess specimens, but few have been traded …
New Concord, L6
There’s not much in the Meteoritical Bulletin on New Concord. I was able to track down a PDF of Farrington’s 1915 book, …
Morocco, 2011
Here are some photos from the trip.
Novato, California
On October 17, 2012 at approximately 7:44 pm PST, a large fireball entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. It was traveling …
NWA, Medium Octahedrite I
This 1,026 gram iron meteorite came from Said Haddany at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in 2010. It appears to be …
NWA, Medium Octahedrite II
This iron appears to be a medium octahedrite, from the pattern visible through stress fractures in the fusion crust. It came from …
NWA, Coarse Octahedrite
This ~1 kilogram heat shield has some unusual features.
NWA, Hexahedrite
This is an oriented heat-shield with a few rhabdites visible on its surface (see last photo, center). So, it’s a IIAB, hexahedrite. …
NWA, Oriented Iron
This 267.5 gram heat-shield came from Aras Jonikas. When I first saw photos, it looked so smooth and round that I thought …
NWA, Unclassified ‘Bullet’
This is a beautiful unclassified iron from Northwest Africa. It is highly oriented, with a blunt, rounded nose, several overlapping lips, and …
Millbillillie, eucrite
Millbillillie is an odd one; it was apparently witnessed to fall in October 1960, but no one bothered to track down the …
Monument Draw, acapulcoite
There are a few dozen acapulcoites known today, but, back when Monument Draw was found, it was one of only a few …
Mount Egerton, anomalous aubrite
The Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Mount Egerton is a bit sparse. Here is a book describing the meteorite and its discovery. (5MB) …
[Nevada], unclassified achondrite
From Jason: I found this ~1 gram stone in December of 2015 in Nevada and had it set aside with 3 – …
NWA 2482, polymict eucrite
Technically, this stone is the remaining main mass of “NWA 2482,” but it belongs to a fairly substantial pairing group. This meteorite …
NWA 3197, anomalous howardite
This odd meteorite is a mix of a few different things: the typical HED eucritic and diogenitic material make up most of …
NWA 5363/5400, ungrouped achondrite
This meteorite is a primitive achondrite. It retained ~10% metal, some sulfides, and hasn’t changed much since it was a chondrite. It …
NWA 978, R3.8
There’s not much in the Meteoritical Bulletin other than the basic information: R3.8, S3, W2, total known weight: 722 grams. Of note: …
NWA 3159/6964, eucritic impact melt
This is a stunning meteorite. It is comprised of a mess of light eucritic clasts surrounded by rivers of vesicular black melt. …
NWA 5744, Lunar troctolite
This stone is one of many pairings to NWA 5744 & others. It is a granulitic, troctolitic breccia: -a “troctolite” is a …
NWA 6470, anorthositic regolith breccia
This wonderful meteorite is comprised mostly of vitrified 4.3 billion year old Lunar highlands rock. It’s a complex breccia with at least …
NWA 6497, polymict eucrite
This stone came already-cut from a dealer. It weighs 44.6 grams and is a brecciated eucrite. Of note — some clasts were …
NWA 7022, Lunar feldspathic breccia
The fusion-crusted and oriented ~385 gram main mass of Northwest Africa 7022 displays the meteorite’s two lithologies beautifully. The meteorite is a …
Odessa, IAB
64,000 years ago, a massive piece of nickel-iron entered the atmosphere over what is now Northwest Texas. It was a bad day …
NWA 7034, Martian regolith breccia
This is a unique meteorite for a number of reasons. In a nutshell: 1) At ~4.4 billion years old, it is either …
NWA 7799, ureilite
This stone is a pretty one, destined to remain provisional and unclassified. Fortunately, the fusion crust and thinly crusted break reveal the …
NWA 2196, carbonaceous chondrite
This is a beautiful meteorite we obtained from Dean Bessey back in 2002. Dean sold a cut stone to us (100.38 grams …
NWA 7809, enstatite achondrite
This meteorite was initially classified as an aubrite, but Udry et al. took a closer look at this stone and a few …
NWA 7831, diogenite
This meteorite isn’t even approved yet, but it’s a stunning diogenite comprised mostly of translucent, crystalline orthopyroxene. I don’t know of any …
Orange River (iron), IIIAB
A fresh, ~150 kilogram iron meteorite was found some time prior to 1856, by a farmer in the Orange River district of …
NWA, enstatite crystal
This stone is a single large enstatite crystal, presumably from an aubrite. It weighs 77 grams, and is comprised of two fitting …
NWA, howardite
22 gram fresh HED with gemmy green pyroxene crystals. Stones like this aren’t too special today, but, back in the late 1990s …
NWA, ureilite
This beautiful, slightly fluted heat shield is probably a ureilite. 505 grams. Thanks to Mohammed Ismaily.
Palo Blanco Creek, eucrite
There is nearly no information on Palo Blanco Creek in the Meteoritical Bulletin. The stone was found in 1954 and weighed 1,482 …
Pasamonte, achondrite
Pasamonte is an unusual meteorite. Early work pegged it as a polymict eucrite, but more recent studies have shown that its oxygen …
NWA 6494, H/L3
This cute stone came from Rob Elliott some years ago. From his photos, it was easy to tell that the stone was …
NWA 6500, LL3.8
290.5 gram windowed stone, main mass.
NWA 6501, L3
Here’s a cool stone. It has huge chondrules and practically no matrix. Some recent papers have described similar meteorites as “chondrule conglomerates.” …
NWA 6504, L3.6
I don’t have much to add to the write-up; this stone was purchased already-cut from a dealer. When it is polished, many …
NWA 6505, CK4
This stone was classified as a CK4, S2, Wi 4 (Wi stands for the new weathering index determined for CK chondrites by …
NWA 6506, CV3
Here’s a pretty one — nice chondrules. The end pictured was used for the type specimen. Link to Meteoritical Bulletin:
NWA 6507, CR2
While perusing eBay one day, an armored chondrule poking through the fusion crust of an unclassified stone caught my eye. The 5.1 …
NWA 6508, EL3
NWA 6508 was purchased as an unclassified NWA meteorite on eBay in September of 2009. The seller had cut it in half, …
NWA 6509, LL3.6
Here’s a pretty stone from Northwest Africa.
Serra Pelada, eucrite
Serra Pelada is a fairly typical, but pretty, brecciated Eucrite. Bulletin write-up: Many thanks to Ricardo Gazillo Neto, for making this 65.3 …
Superior Valley 014, acapulcoite
Our first “meteorite hunt” was in Gold Basin in 1999, but we went on our first cold hunts a year or so …
Saint Augustine, IID
I don’t have much to add to the Meteoritical Bulletin write-up for this unusual iron. Here’s an image of the 21 kilogram …
Tiglit, aubrite
As of 2023, Tiglit is one of 11 witnessed aubrite falls, and it’s ~the only one collectors can obtain fusion-crusted individuals of. …
Tirhert, eucrite
This spectacular eucrite fell on July 9, 2014. I don’t have much to add to the Bulletin write-up: Here’s a beautiful 42 …
Tissint, depleted olivine-phyric shergottite
On July 18, 2011, a fireball was witnessed near a town called Tata, in Morocco. Sonic effects were heard by the sparsely …
São Julião de Moreira, IIAB
This rare Portuguese iron was discovered in 1883, and was thoroughly distributed, with much of the material being lost. In the Handbook …
Sikhote-Alin, IIAB
The single largest meteorite fall in modern history occurred on February 12th, 1947, at ~10:38 am local time. In Primorsky Krai, a …
Tamarugal, IIIAB
Tamarugal was discovered in Chile in 1903. It is one of a handful of ‘ancient’ meteorites, with a terrestrial age of approximately …
Willcox Playa 010, lodranite
This stone was found on our return trip from Texas, with Camp Wood in the trunk of the car. We stopped to …
Tishomingo, Ungrouped Iron
The Tishomingo meteorite is a Ni-rich ataxite that displays a unique, almost microscopic structure. When found, it consisted of a massive 260 …
Toluca, IAB-sLL
A comprehensive description of the history and discovery of Toluca can be found in Farrington’s 1915 Catalog of North American Meteorites. It …
NWA 7406, EL3
EL3’s are extraordinarily rare. This stone is one of the four approved non-Antarctic EL3’s, as of 2020. Here’s the main mass of …
Trenton, IIIAB
Trenton is a historic American iron first discovered in the 1850s in Wisconsin. Masses of Trenton were initially known simply as the …
Winona, winonaite
Winonaites are a class of meteorites that fall under a broader group called “primitive achondrites.” If you look at their bulk chemistry, …
Tulia (iron), Unclassified
Here’s an odd one! This meteorite is listed in the bulletin as an unclassified iron, and it’s easy to see why: it’s …
NWA 7411, CV3
This brick of a meteorite is a specimen that we bring to every outreach event. Chondrules, big CAIs, it’s perfect. And it’s …
NWA 7634, carbonaceous chondrite
This ~850 gram carbonaceous chondrite is something of an enigma. The original classification was “CO3,” with a description that described it as …
NWA 7669, LL3
This oriented stone has nice flow lines and what appears to be a huge type B CAI in the cut face, which …
NWA 7715, H6
Initial work suggested this stone was an H7. It was later shown to be an H6. The main mass weighs a little …
Uasara, IIAB
Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Uasara. I have only a few things to add to the above description; Sierra Gorda and Negrillos are …
NWA 7789, LL3.1-LL6
This stunning 8.2 kilogram polymict breccia was recovered as a broken individual. We don’t usually cut stones much, but this stone began …
Udei Station, IAB-ungrouped
This iron is a witnessed fall from 1927, and it’s an odd meteorite chock full of interesting inclusions. This particular specimen exhibits …
Krinov / La Paz Correspondence
In addition to books, Lincoln La Paz saved many of his associated letters and envelopes. Many of them have cool stamps and …
NWA 7800, R-chondrite
This 45 gram stone is one of the freshest rumuruti chondrites found. Glimmering sulfides can be seen on all surfaces. Mottled matrix …
NWA 7802, CM2
This CM2 came from a Moroccan meteorite dealer several years ago. We finally got around to requesting a provisional number in late …
NWA 7805, CK4
This 45 gram oriented CK chondrite was purchased in 2011 from a Moroccan meteorite dealer.
NWA 7806, CO3
This complete stone has a wonderful shape and is quite fresh. More data when it comes…
NWA 7807, type-3 chondrite
This is a very cool meteorite originally sold to us as a pairing with NWA 801, a CR2. Two of the stones …
Zakłodzie, ungrouped enstatite achondrite
Zaklodzie appears to be a completely recrystallized enstatite chondrite. The resulting texture is unlike most other meteorites, including primitive achondrites. Images from …
Northwest Africa 7892, CO3.0
This stone is one of the most pristine chondrites known. All carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites have experienced some thermal and aqueous alteration. …
NWA 8047, CM1
We had just missed out on another specimen from this find; I messaged the seller as soon as I saw his photo …
NWA 10085, K4
After a first round of analyses on the microprobe at UCLA, this stone left us with more questions than answers. It is …
NWA 10088, LL3
This stone’s total known weight is 209.6 grams and it has been classified as an LL3 S1 W4. This is the ~180 …
Meteor Crater Stock Certificate
“Specimen” stock certificates are created and retained for a few reasons; prior to the approval of a design or layout, ‘specimens’ are …
Northwest Africa, carbonaceous chondrite
This cute 12 gram stone is an unclassified carbonaceous chondrite that resembles CM’s most closely. However, it is very solid and moderately …
NWA xxxx, LL3.00
This meteorite is a fun one; I’m adding it because we’ve been dragging our feet about cutting it, and it’s pretty enough …
NWA, Unequilibrated Ordinary Chondrite
This stone is currently being analyzed. It’s definitely a fresh unequilibrated chondrite of some sort. Guesses have ranged from CR2 to LL3; …
NWA, Unequilibrated Ordinary Chondrite II
Northwest Africa has afforded collectors a rare opportunity to own specimens they otherwise would never be able to obtain. A fresh, complete, …
Northwest Africa, CV3
This beautiful stone with weathered fluting and flow lines was purchased in Erfoud from Mohamed Benzaki. 473.53 + 242.43 gram fitting fragments.
Northwest Africa, CO3
This fresh carbonaceous chondrite was purchased at Tucson, 2014. 493.9 grams
NWA, ordinary chondrite I
This ordinary chondrite has one of the nicer shapes I’ve seen; it’s concave, and flares to a point. It also has an …
NWA, ordinary chondrite II
This stone was one of the nicer ones we saw on our 2011 trip to Morocco. It’s flight-marked with flow-lines and lipping; …
NWA, ordinary chondrite III
At the 2019 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, Moussa Minerals seemed to be everywhere: they had multiple tents set up at Kino Park, …
Novato, L6
For the story behind the stones, click here.
Octave Mine, H5
This stone was found on Christmas day in 2004, by a metal-detectorist in Arizona. It is classified as an H5 S1 W3. …
Olton, H3.5
When two stones were found near Olton, Texas in 1948, they were initially thought to be paired with each other — and …
Oum Dreyga (Amgala), H3-5
Amgala was a small fall that occurred in a remote part of Western Sahara; the meteorite itself is a pretty breccia of …
Palca de Aparzo, L5
Oscar Turone visited the location and documented this 1988 fall — per the Meteoritical Bulletin: This 1995 Meteoryt! Magazine article describes the …
Potter, L6
This rock isn’t particularly noteworthy; Potter is a common type, has a large total known weight, and it is well-distributed. It is …
Putinga, L6
The Meteoritical Bulletin has scant information on the fall, but I was able to track down the following paper: Studies of Brazilian …
Park Forest, L6
At approximately 11:50 PM local time on March 26, 2003, the Chicago suburb of Park Forest was pelted with rocks from space. …
Patrimonio, L6
Patrimonio fell on August 6, 1950, in Brazil. Per Grady’s Catalogue of Meteorites, approximately 20 stones were recovered, the largest of which …
Pervomaisky, L6
Pervomaisky fell on 26 December, 1933, in the USSR. A total of 97 stones weighing a total of approximately 49 kg were …
Plainview, H5
Plainview is one of the larger American meteorites ever found, by weight. At least a tonne of individuals and fragments have been …
Quitovac, L5
The story of Quitovac is very similar to those of many other chondrites from the Southwest. Metal-detecting prospectors near the gold mines …
Reid xxx, unclassified
This is an interesting stone. A meteorite dealer had been offering it for a few years, and it caught my eye when …
Richardton, H5
Richardton fell in North Dakota at 21:48 on 19 June, 1918. The bolide was seen up to 400 miles away, and sonic …
Roosevelt County 082, H4
Roosevelt County, New Mexico, is home to many deflation surfaces like this one, near Arch Lake: Many meteorite hunters have successfully hunted …
St. Mark’s, EH5
This is another historic and fairly rare African meteorite from the collection of Gilbert Gauthier. Here is an excerpt from A Cape …
H. H. Nininger talks about meteorites (video)
Footage from a television program in 1975.
Santa Vitoria do Palmar, L3
This Brazilian find was supposedly related to a fireball seen in the region only six years earlier, but the extensive chemical and …
Nininger Canyon Diablo Impactite
These three specimens came from an older mineral collection — along with two specimens with “American Meteorite Museum” labels. We assume these …
Sidi Ali Ou Azza, L4
A bright bolide was seen over Eastern Morocco on July 28, 2015. Hunters set out and managed to find the first fresh …
Sołtmany, L6
On April 30, 2011, just past 6am local time, a ~1 kilogram meteorite fell through the roof and eaves of a building …
Sutter’s Mill, California
Sutter’s Mill was another one of those falls that happens at just the wrong time. We had radar data almost immediately, knew …
Stecker, ordinary chondrite
This small stone came from a long-time meteorite dealer. He purchased it along with a lot of Caddo County, but this piece …
Sulagiri, LL6
Sulagiri is the largest witnessed fall to occur on the Indian subcontinent. Over 150 kilograms of stones were recovered following a large …
Tarda, C2-ungr
Tarda is a rare ungrouped carbonaceous chondrite. Aqueously altered meteorites are a popular research topic right now, and a great deal of …
Tenham, L6
Tenham was a spectacular meteorite fall that occurred in a remote and sparsely populated area of Queensland in 1879. From the Queensland …
Thuathe, H4/5
The Meteoritical Bulletin write-up contains a fairly detailed account of the fall: Here are a few papers describing the fall: The Thuathe …
Tulia (a), H3-4
From Meteoritics Vol. 17, pp 229-230. Many different finds have been identified in the area, but Tulia (a) is an unusual unequilibrated …
R.E. Peary 1895 letter, first analysis of Cape York
Original letter dated October 18, 1895, in which Peary asks Yale chemist Frank Austin Gooch (1852-1929) to analyze a sample of Cape …
Vernon County, H6
This meteorite has a wonderful history. A bright fireball was observed on the morning of March 25, 1865. The fall was witnessed …
Wellman (c), H4
There’s precious little about this meteorite available online: a 1974 paper by Derek W. Sears states that the meteorite had a terrestrial …
Weston, H4
Weston was the first witnessed, recovered, American fall. There are some great anecdotes from the eyewitnesses and other important persons of the …
Tranquillity, California
That’s right. Tranquillity, with two L’s. This small town in California’s Central Valley was ground zero for California’s newest fall. From Peter …
UCLA Alumni Meteorite Hunt, April 2014
April 26 was a blustery day, but the ~25 UCLA faculty and alumni who made the trip braved the ~30+ mph winds …
Sierra Madera Breccia
The Sierra Madera crater is a multi-ringed structure approximately 13 kilometers across. It is less than 100 million years old, and was …
Sikhote-Alin Iron Meteorite Shower (Volumes I & II)
These extremely rare volumes contain a thorough account of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite fall and subsequent expeditions to the fall location. Published in …
Whetstone Mountains, Arizona
On the night of June 22, 2009, a small asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere above Mexico, moving roughly NNE. It broke up over …