The Solar System burst into existence roughly 4,568,200,000 years ago. At first, it was a massive disk of dust, ice, and heat which orbited a newly formed sun. Over billions of years, the particles in this disk slowly collided and combined, eventually creating planets and asteroids. Enclosed in this specimen are the earliest known fragments of that event, which fell to Earth inside the Allende meteorite.

On February 8, 1969, this 2.2-ton meteorite exploded over Pueblito de Allende in northern Mexico, scattering debris over an area of 30 miles. The Allende meteorite is the largest known carbonaceous chondrite, filled with ancient mineral inclusions that formed at the birth of the Solar System. In 2020, scientists also found the presence of extraterrestrial proteins, the first discovery of its kind.

These earrings, custom-made at Mini Museum, contain fine-grained dust extracted from the Allende meteorite. The material has also been prepared with glimmering mica to represent the incredible cosmic show of heat and light that created our Solar System.

This exclusive item is crafted here at the Mini Museum workshop with a crystal-clear glass top and sterling silver setting. It's an incredible pair of astronomic jewelry made with rare and ancient meteoritic material!

As with all Mini Museum jewelry, the Nebula Fire earrings come with a handsome display/storage box and a small information card that also serves as the certificate of authenticity.

Both bracelets and necklaces of the same material are also available! Shine bright with a full set of stellar jewelry!

Before the planets formed, the Solar System was a mix of dust, grains, and ice that orbited the protosun in a disk shape. Over time, this material smashed together, slowly forming planets and asteroids. While the planets grew and changed, asteroids floated around the Solar System for billions of years, only occasionally colliding with other objects.

Eventually, some asteroids fell to Earth as meteorites, carrying within them elements left over from the crucible of the early Solar System from over four and a half billion years ago. One such meteorite is the Allende.

On February 8, 1969, a fireball cut across the sky over Northern Mexico. The car-sized meteorite broke up over the Pueblito de Allende, for which the meteorite was named. The Allende meteorite’s destruction rained pieces of itself over the village and the surrounding area, scattering large rocks and tiny pebbles alike across a massive strewn field of at least 30 miles. Pieces of Allende are still being found to this very day.

The importance of the Allende meteorite can’t be easily overstated, with Allende often referred to as “the best-studied meteorite in history.” NASA was on the ground within two days to collect samples, with the first writings on Allende published just three weeks later. The excitement among the scientists was shared by the local villagers, with children filling candy bags full of the tiny pebbles that Allende had thrown across their village.

The Allende meteorite is the largest carbonaceous chondrite meteorite yet known to science. Carbonaceous chondrites are made up of CAIs, or calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions. These inclusions are composed of minerals that formed as the Solar System took shape. As the protoplanetary disk of gas that surrounded the sun began to cool, it condensed into these minerals. This makes the Allende meteorite one of the oldest objects on Earth.