When it was first discovered in 1898, the "Armanty" meteorite was an incredible discovery, weighing 30 tons. But this was only the first find from this incredible meteorite strewn field. Renamed the Aletai meteorite, this group of space rocks has been found across 430 kilometers of China's Xinjiang Province. Each Aletai meteorite can be identified by the incredible Widmanstätten pattern found within, a result of molten cores slowly cooling in space.

This pendant is fashioned from a piece of Aletai meteorite, demonstrating the striking patterns found within. Over long periods of cooling in outer space, two different iron-nickel alloys can be formed simultaneously: Kamacite and Taenite. Their interaction produces the beautiful ribbons of metallic crystals you see here.

The meteorite cross section is capped with a glass dome and set into a sterling silver bezel which is strung around an 18" rolo chain of the same material.

The Aletai Meteorite Pendant ships in a black hinged jewelry box along with an informational card that serves as certificate of authenticity. It's a fascinating piece of the universe beyond our planet and looks great on anyone.

You can browse more of our meteorite jewelry in the collection at the bottom of the page!

Across over 430 kilometers of China’s Xinjiang province is a wonder of meteorite history, the largest documented strewn field on the planet. The first piece of this massive meteorite was discovered in 1898 and weighed around 30 tons. Dubbed Armanty by the original Russian documentation, the meteorite was thought to be an isolated specimen for over 100 years.

Beginning in 2005, the singular meteorite view has been challenged, with five new pieces being discovered, each of them classified as an IIIE-an iron meteorite, one of the rarest iron meteorite types. In total, the collected material has a mass of around 80 tons, with its collective pieces numbering among the largest meteorite finds on Earth. Not only that, but many of these pieces have been found over vast distances from each other, making Aletai the largest strewn field on record. It beats the runner-up, Namibia’s Gibeon meteorite, which measures about 390 kilometers.

So just how did the Aletai meteorite spread over such a long tract of land? Recent research suggests the meteorite hit the atmosphere at a shallow angle so that it skipped along as it broke up, shooting its pieces along an unusually large area. Reconstructions suggest Aletai was between 14 and 30 feet wide, allowing for plenty of material to be scattered. This angle may also be the reason why there has been no discovered impact crater associated with any of the Aletai meteorite falls.

Such a large strewn field can be a challenge in identifying related meteorite material, but luckily the Aletai meteorite holds proof of its extraterrestrial origins—incredible metal patterns formed in the void of space. This is the Widmanstätten pattern, an occurrence that can be found in octahedrite iron meteorites but is completely unknown to natural Earth rocks. Over long periods of cooling in outer space, two different iron-nickel alloys can be formed simultaneously: Kamacite and Taenite. 

Between 900 and 600 °C, the molten cores of meteorites can form planes of these alloys over the course of millions of years.  After slicing and polishing one such meteorite, we find a lattice pattern of overlapping material. Due to the extreme formation time, Widmanstätten patterns are only found in ancient meteorites, where the only source of cooling is slow heat radiation.

The Armanty fragment remains the largest intact piece of the Aletai meteorite, weighing 30 tons. Also known as the Xinjiang fragment in Chinese documentation, the meteorite is on public display outside the Xinjiang Geological and Mineral Museum. As this is the largest Aletai fragment yet found, its large mass allows for a clearer indication of the path the meteorite took as it fell. 

Much of the surface of the meteorite is smooth, with inclines and valleys worn into the meteorite by aerodynamic sculpturing, but on one side a tear about 5 cm deep cuts through the surface of the meteorite. Because this area was not worn smooth during its fall suggests the meteorite fragmented in the lower atmosphere, scattering its pieces across its impressive strewn field.