Muonionalusta Meteorite - Extraterrestrial Metal Fragments

Name: Muonionalusta Meteorite - Extraterrestrial Metal Fragments
Brand: Mini Museum
SKU: 80-112-0497-201-40
Price: 42.95 EUR
Availability: InStock
Author: Mini Museum

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Muonionalusta Meteorite - Extraterrestrial Metal Fragments

An incredible meteorite from beyond the stars! This specimen includes extraterrestrial metal from the Muonionalusta Meteorite, a meteorite over 4.5 billion years old!

The meteorite fragments are encased in resin and come in an acrylic gem jar with a glass-topped display case for easy viewing. An informational card with the Mini Museum Seal of Authenticity is included!

📸 A slice of Muonionalusta exhibiting the classic Widmanstätten pattern

Ancient Patterns

Muonionalusta is an ancient meteorite, discovered in 1906 near the town of Kitkiöjärvi, Sweden. Lead isotope dating of inclusions within the meteorite estimates that the parent formed around 4.57 billion years ago.

Slices of this meteorite show a particular patterning known as a Widmanstätten pattern. This is an occurrence that can be found in octahedrite iron meteorites. Over long periods of cooling in outer space, two different iron-nickel alloys can be formed simultaneously: Kamacite and Taenite. These two alloys form tiny planes of material in an octagonal structure, which when sliced and polished shows a lattice of overlapping material. Due to the cool duration and environment required, Widmanstätten patterns are only found in meteorite material.

📸 A Closeup of the Muonionalusta Meteorite

A unique property of the Muonionalusta meteorite is the occurrences of the mineral stishovite within it. This mineral is a polymorph of quartz (SiO2) that is formed under intense pressure. Stishovite is an uncommon material on Earth and had not been known to occur in iron meteorites at all until the study of Muonionalusta. The meteorite’s parent body was too small to reach the necessary levels of pressure and the impact with Earth did not leave evidence of cratering, so it is thought that the formation of this mineral occurred during the break up event of the planet body 400 million years ago.