Astronomy.com blog : meteorites

Meteorite expert Mike Reynolds chats about falling stars

Michael Bakich — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:50:00 GMT

Astronomy Contributing Editor Mike Reynolds presented a talk at the 2009 Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show about meteorite collecting. During the talk he passed around some great examples. Reynolds is going to share his expertise about meteorites periodically with Astronomy.com blog readers.

While chatting with Astronomy magazine Contributing Editor Mike Reynolds the other day, he proposed a (roughly) monthly series that focuses on meteorites. Everyone here loved the idea, so it’s my job to introduce Mike and the first of the series. No problem.

Reynolds has spent 34 years in astronomy and space sciences in the gamut of a high school and university instructor, planetarium and museum director, researcher, writer, and lecturer. He earned his Ph.D. in Astronomy and Science Education from the University of Florida. Reynolds has received widespread recognition for his work, including his selections as the 1986 Florida State Teacher of the Year, NASA Teacher-in-Space National Finalist, and the G. Bruce Blair Medal winner.

He has written a number of astronomy books, including the book Falling Stars (about meteorites) and articles. Reynolds has led numerous astronomical expeditions worldwide and has also served as an invited speaker internationally. Mike is Executive Director Emeritus of the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California, and is currently Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences and teaches astronomy at Florida State College in Jacksonville.

Falling Stars!

Welcome to Astronomy magazine’s latest blog about meteorites. We will explore different meteorite falls and finds, types of meteorites, meteorite shows, and the latest in this monthly blog. And if somebody recovers a new meteorite, I’ll immediately blog about the new find.

I got my start in meteorites as a third-grader when my class went to a children’s museum. I was already interested in astronomy and space, so while visiting the museum’s gift shop I was looking for anything astronomical. What caught my eye was a small Canyon Diablo meteorite; I spent my milk money and the 50 cents my parents had given me to buy something at the museum’s gift shop on this meteorite. That started a passion for these fascinating rocks from space. And yes, I still have that meteorite!

Canyon Diablo is an iron meteorite; one of three major classes or groups of meteorites based on their compositions. And meteoriticists further divide each class based on specific characteristics.

Iron Meteorites – composed primarily of iron and nickel, accounting for about 5 percent of all meteorite falls. Scientists further classify these dense objects based on the iron-to-nickel ratio. When sliced and then etched with acid, some irons produce spectacular patterns of lines due to iron-nickel matrix crystalline arrangement. Earth irons do not exhibit this pattern.

Stone Meteorites – contain about 75 percent to 90 percent silicate materials; they account for more than 94 percent of falls. Most stony meteorites contain iron-nickel alloy. Stones fall into classifications based on the inclusion or lack of chondrules (millimeter-sized spherical crystals). Stony meteorites include the rare lunar and martian meteorites whose origins can be traced back to the Moon or Mars.

Stony-Iron Meteorites – a mixture of silicates and iron-nickel in roughly equal proportions; only about 1 percent of all falls. Stony-irons divide into two groups based on how the mixture distributes. Pallasites, one class of stony-irons, are perhaps among the most spectacular meteorites when sliced and collectors treasure them for their beauty.

People usually think of iron meteorites as the predominant type; they are not. Iron meteorites, often called “irons,” make up only a small percentage of all meteorite falls. Irons look and feel like what a meteorite “should,” thus the misconception that they are the classic meteorite type. We’ll explore all three types of meteorites throughout these blogs. And by the way – stony meteorites — or “stones” — make up the greatest number of recovered meteorite falls and finds. (A fall occurs when someone sees a meteor and recovers a meteorite or meteorites. A find happens when somebody simply finds a meteorite with no known associated fall.)

How easy or hard is it to find a meteorite? According to one source, there is more total gold worldwide — 2,000 tons or so — than the total mass of all meteorites recovered in the world in museum, university, and private collections. Scientists estimate that between 20,000 and 100,000 tons of material enter Earth’s atmosphere each year; however, most of it:

Burns up in Earth’s atmosphere;

Becomes atmospheric dust;

Lands in the ocean; or

Is simply never found.

Think about the water-to-landmass ratio of Earth (Arthur C. Clark said it best when he stated, “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when clearly it is Ocean…”). And consider the amount of land that is simply inaccessible. Yet people recover new meteorites all the time, some from fresh falls.

Meteoriticists estimate that more than 45 tons of meteoritic material has come from the famous Canyon Diablo meteorite fall of approximately 25,000 to 50,000 years ago. Canyon Diablo meteorites classify as iron — coarse octahedrite (IAB).

One of my favorite meteorites in my collection: a 994-gram Canyon Diablo iron meteorite that was “pinched” at one end during the final impact of that massive fall. Mike Reynolds Photo
Canyon Diablo meteorites are wonderful iron meteorites, often displaying the incredible forces of impact. Samples have also been known to contain diamonds or other interesting inclusions. Cut, polished, and etched Canyon Diablo specimens demonstrate the Widmanstätten pattern, due to nickel-rich and nickel-poor bands within the crystals. In 1808, Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten, a Viennese scientist, independently discovered patterns in iron meteorites. Even though the pattern carries Widmanstätten’s name, English geologist G. Thompson first noted it and published his results in the French Bibliothèque Britannique in 1804. The patterns represent a section through the three-dimensional octahedral structure in the iron meteorite formed of bands of kamacite with narrower borders of taenite. Only iron meteorites exhibit these patterns.

Someone machined this Gibeon, an iron — fine octahedrite (IVA) meteorite, into a cue-ball sized sphere. They then etched it with acid to show the Widmanstätten pattern. Mike Reynolds Photo
The Canyon Diablo crater, known as Barringer Crater or Meteor Crater, is one of the youngest “large” craters on Earth. Apollo astronauts used Meteor Crater for training prior to their lunar surface missions. If you are ever near Flagstaff or Winslow, Arizona, in Coconino County, Meteor Crater is a must-see stop. The designers of the U.S. Interstate System did us a great favor in building Interstate 40 just north of Meteor Crater.

Please note that it is illegal to hunt for meteorites at the Barringer Crater. In fact, you should always have permission to hunt for meteorites when on private property; the laws in the United States are specific in this regard. Laws vary from country to country; some do not allow the export of meteorites whatsoever. We will explore these legalities more fully in future blogs.
Do you have a meteorite or cratering question? How – and where – to buy meteorites? Collecting tales? Successful meteorite hunts? A favorite meteorite? Favorite meteorite books and publications? A must-see meteorite exhibit? Please e-mail me at my college address: mreynold@fscj.edu. We will explore your meteorites questions and more each month!

Keep looking up!
Dr. Mike Reynolds

Related video:

Collecting meteorites, with Editor David J. Eicher (available to magazine subscribers)

Stephen James O'Meara blogs from PATS 2009

Matt Quandt — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:06:00 GMT

Astronomy magazine columnist Stephen James O’Meara’s sent us two blogs from the 2009 Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show.

Many thanks to Steve for sending these reports!

Day One
Arrived in Pasadena Saturday morning and immediately immersed myself in the telescope fever at the Pacific Astronomy Telescope Show (PATS), organized by the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference. This is not a telescope-making convention. It's a telescope expo with more than 60 vendors catering to an expected crowd of 1,000 or more over the weekend.

Before I entered the Pasadena Convention Center's doors, I found myself standing in line behind a 90mm Coronado solar telescope looking in hydrogen-alpha light at a fantastic prominence lifting off the Sun's limb like a fiery fountain with a spray of "molten flames" arcing back to the Sun's surface. Several other hedgerow prominences lifted off the surface in other places. Then, Andy Lundt displayed the H-alpha Sun through his 60mm solar systems scope with doppler shifting: With the turn of a knob, I could investigate different layers of the Sun's chromosphere, which had the effect of looking through a kaleidoscope.

I then took in a few talks.

Al Nagler, founder of Tele Vue Optics, described, among other things, how to choose the lowest high-power eyepiece that reveals the detail you're looking for, so that you have a sharper, better image in your scope. For deep-sky viewing, he says to use the highest power that frames the subject so long as the sky is not black and the atmosphere does not degrade resolution. He also said not to be afraid on the best nights to use 60x per inch of aperture.

Wally Pachoka gave an inspirational showing of his night-sky landscapes over famous monuments and attractions in our national parks. What's amazing is that he used, in most cases, a combination of natural and artificial lighting — such as nearby sodium vapor lamps, the crescent Moon, city lights, and a flashlight — to illuminate foreground objects while using a simple digital SLR camera and 35mm to 50mm lens to capture the Milky Way in color rising above these national treasures. The photography was beautiful and his passion inspirational. His work and others from around the globe have been made into a traveling exhibition that proves astronomy has no borders.

Sean Walker treated guests to an equally stunning display of his planetary photography.

But the highlight of Day One for me was meeting Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, who gave a revealing talk about his quest to educate the public and world leaders about the very real threat posed by near-Earth asteroids. Schweickart, who heads the Association of Space Exploration and the B612 Foundation — B612 is the asteroid that the Little Prince, from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's children’s story The Little Prince, lived on — has dedicated the last 7-8 years of his life to this project, which deals with the technology of deflecting a threatening object in its orbit as well as the geopolitical issues facing all nations on Earth in case of a pending threat.

The mission requires an early warning system, proven deflection capability, and international decision-making protocol. The task itself requires brute force and precision, but the technology exists to make it happen. The fact is we know of only 0.1 percent of the objects that could be a threat. B612's goal is to be able to significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid, in a controlled manner, by 2015. The probability of a near-Earth asteroid collision in this century is about 2 percent, and not being prepared to avert disaster is “unacceptable.”

Well. That's it for Day One!

Related: "Day 1 at PATS 2009 is a success," by Michael E. Bakich, senior editor

Day Two
Day Two at PATS was equally exciting as Day One. I spent most of the day trying to take in as many vendor displays as possible. I also spent a lot of time talking to amateur astronomers who wanted to share the wonderful things they're doing, or observing.

I was able to catch Mike Reynolds’ wonderful talk on identifying meteorites, in which he passed around numerous samples (iron, stony, and mixed) — including one now worth $25,000! I bet most of us at some point in our careers believed we have encountered a piece of outer space in our perusals of our yards or neighborhoods, but Mike made it clear how to identify "meteorWRONGS" — humor intended. At the end we were even given a chance to touch a piece of the Moon and Mars. A great experience.

Also interesting was Will Marchant's talk on the StarDust comet mission. What I didn't know is that if amateur astronomers want to help in professional science, they can volunteer on-line to become a "duster" — that is, help astronomers working on the Stardust mission find micron-sized dust particles on the craft's returned collector plate.

To find out how you can join this international community of fellow enthusiasts, go to stardust@home. Once you sign up, you are quickly training via the Web, which allows you to scan one of the 1.6 million selected areas on the collector.

Whoever finds a particle gets to name it (and get an official certificate from the Planetary Society)! As it stands, the 25,000 dusters worldwide have scanned about one-third of the collector plate. So there's a lot more to explore and discover.

NASA explores martian “Block Island” meteorite

Bill Andrews — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:58:00 GMT

NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity recently discovered a roughly watermelon-sized meteorite, the largest ever found on the Red Planet. Even though Opportunity drove by it 2 weeks ago in a Mars region called Meridiani Planum, the rover team decided to have it retrace its steps to examine the unusual rock, dubbed “Block Island.”

It might be a pretty big deal. Besides the inherent coolness of meteorites themselves, Block Island might have a lot to say about the martian atmosphere and climate. It weighs too much to have landed in one piece in the current atmosphere, and the marks on its surface reveal some of the effects the climate has had on it over the years. All this gives some pretty good clues about the past martian atmosphere.

What strikes me the most, though, is just how impressive the Opportunity rover (along with its twin rover, Spirit) has proven to be. When the rovers landed in January 2004, their missions were only supposed to last 3 months. More than 5.5 years later, they’re both going strong, with Opportunity planning to continue its years-long trek toward Endeavour Crater after it’s done examining Block Island.

It’s easy to criticize NASA for getting some things wrong, or our government for setting the wrong goals, but it’s hard to deny just how significant an achievement these rovers are. At least 36 million miles away (and that’s at its closest possible) from Earth, we’re controlling machines that look at and examine the surface of another planet. Let’s hope we see more like them in the future, and more out of Mars, too.

Are you similarly impressed by Opportunity’s and NASA’s exploits? Have any cool meteorite stories of your own? Or is this all bad news in some way I overlooked?

Send us your astronomy questions

Liz Kruesi — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:05:00 GMT

Perplexed by planets? Confused by cosmology? Baffled by black holes? Then send in your questions to Astronomy magazine at askastro@astronomy.com.

If you have an astronomy question about observing, the planets, stars, cosmology, or astronomy history, send it in! Five are selected each month for publication in the Ask Astro section of Astronomy magazine. If your question is selected, we will forward it to an expert for his or her response. Then, the question and answer will appear together in a future issue. We may edit or revise your question for clarity.

We aren’t always able to respond to questions individually. But please keep the questions coming — they help us to learn what our readers are interested in, and what topics we should consider for future coverage in the magazine.

Pictures of November 20 Canada meteorite

Matt Quandt — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:48:00 GMT

One of our friends from Canada, Richard Huziak, sent us these pictures of meteorites from the November 20 fireball. Here's the message he sent along with the images:

First picture: Approx 1.5Kg, ~8cm in diameter

Second picture: Approx 100g, ~ 5cm in diameter (piece of the inside, ablated in flight slightly after fracturing)

Third picture: 38.6g, 5cm x 3cm x 1.5cm (my very first find )

The first two were found by a local farmer in the past few days. He let me photograph them. I found the 3rd one on Sunday. The announcement of the fall location has set off a flurry of 'treasure hunters' — I'd say about 30 people in the area out looking for fragments. The meteors are likely H5 chondrites, decently attracted to magnets. The fusion crusts are darker than my digital camera shows them. The insides appear to be a lighter, cement gray.

Thanks for sharing, Richard!

On the road: Enchanted Skies Star Party, day 3

David Eicher — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:17:00 GMT

The day after we had a wonderful night of observing at El Camino Real, the Enchanted Skies Star Party slowed down a bit. Attendees spread out doing a variety of things during the day.

Editor's note: View the photo album, Enchanted Skies Star party 2008, to see images from Dave's time in and around Socorro.

I checked out the New Mexico Tech Mineral Museum on the campus, with its spectacular collection of minerals. Thursday, I wrote about the value of studying minerals for astronomers, not only for understanding planetary geology in our solar system, but also to satisfy the wonder and curiosity about how elements could combine into very similar minerals on other worlds scattered throughout the cosmos. The New Mexico Tech collection on display is fantastic, consisting of several thousand specimens, concentrating on New Mexico minerals, but also including showy specimens from all localities.

Afterward, I journeyed westward to the little town of Magdalena, turned south into the mountains, and spent a long time wandering around the Kelly Mine, a famous and historic western mine ruin. Defunct since 1972, the mine had its heyday in the late nineteenth century but was booming even during the Civil War days as a silver, gold, lead, and copper. Much later on, a fantastic find of smithsonite occurred here, a principal source of zinc. Smithsonite is zinc carbonate and was named for — you guessed it — James Smithson, whose fortune commenced the Smithsonian Institution. This mineral occurs in many places around the world but the greatest came from the Kelly Mine, as it is famous as a collector mineral for its beautiful, shimmery, blue-green color.

I didn’t find a single piece of smithsonite rooting around the mine’s dumps, but I headed back to Socorro to prepare for the evening anyhow. At 7 p.m. I presented the keynote talk of the star party, “30 Years of Amateur Astronomy,” to a nice group of amateur astronomers and students in an auditorium on the New Mexico Tech campus. Despite going head-to-head with John McCain, Barack Obama, and a Buddy Holly tribute band a couple doors down, the crowd offered some enthusiastic questions. (Well, maybe it was because I didn’t ask anyone for $700 billion.) I spoke about the last generation in amateur astronomy, how I got interested in the subject as a teenager, the founding of my little magazine Deep Sky, what’s going on with Astronomy magazine — including a behind-the-scenes look at the magazine’s talented staff — and what trends are happening now in the hobby. It was an enjoyable time.

Afterward, observing took place at the campus observatory only briefly, as alas, the sky clouded up. We’ll hope for better luck on Saturday night!

Previous posts:
VLA tour day
Day 1

Stars that shoot and fall

Michael Bakich — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:30:00 GMT

In previous blogs, I’ve written about my love for meteorites, including my trip to the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University. I also have a small but enjoyable meteorite collection. As an observational astronomer, I enjoy viewng meteor showers. A recently published book combines these interests and adds a lot more.

Meteors and Meteorites: Origins and Observations by Martin Beech (The Crowood Press, 2006) begins in space with Chapter 1, “The Particulate Sea.” Beech’s writing style is engaging and informative. In this chapter, he lays the groundwork for an amateur astronomer to understand the processes that create meteors, and may lead to meteorites.

Chapter 2, “The View from Here,” explains why we see meteors and shows the geometry of meteor showers. I found the section, “The Sporadic Background,” particularly interesting. Although the oft-quoted average of 7 sporadic meteors per hour holds true overall, Northern Hemisphere observers will see a peak of 10 sporadics per hour around the September equinox. A minimum of 4 sporadics per hour occurs near the March equinox. In the Southern Hemisphere, these numbers reverse.

In later chapters, Beech covers topics including collecting meteorites and radio observation of meteors. Throughout the book, you’ll find numerous charts, graphs, tables, and carefully selected black and white photos. In the Appendix, the author describes eight major meteor showers and includes star charts showing each event’s radiant.

Beech does all this in a scant 157 pages. I’ll be recommending Meteors and Meteorites: Origins and Observations to observers who want a quick but thorough read explaining the ins and outs of meteors, meteor showers, and meteorites.

The wonderful world of meteorites

Michael Bakich — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:03:00 GMT

Last month, I had the opportunity to visit the Center for Meteorite Studies (CMS) on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, Arizona. Oh, my!

I was there with Astronomy contributing editor Ray Shubinski who will be writing a story about the CMS for the magazine. Our host, CMS director Meenakshi Wadhwa gave us an in-depth tour of the Center’s facilities and collections.

For two old-time meteorite hounds like Ray and myself, being in the “vault” at the CMS was akin to being behind the scenes at the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, handling Babe Ruth’s bat. Until I visited the CMS, I thought I had a fair meteorite collection. At least I thought I knew people with significant collections. Ha!

The CMS has examples of — get this — roughly 1,600 different meteorites. That’s a lot of rocks from space! Its collection features multiple examples of most falls. In fact, single specimens represent only the rarest meteorites.

The CMS doesn’t normally conduct tours of its inner workings, but if you happen to be at Arizona State University, it’s worth a walk over to see their room-sized mini museum. In one of the cases, the staff of the CMS features a “meteorite of the month.” Oh, and a word to the wise: As with any college campus, parking can be a nightmare.

Fallen stars in Tucson

David Eicher — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:56:00 GMT

A piece of the rock that struck Earth 50,000 years ago, creating the Barringer Meteor Crater, this 235.4-gram iron is a classic for all meteorite collections. The meteorite was recognized in 1891; it is an iron octahedrite, coarse (IA). The main mass was vaporized, and about 30 tons have been found. David J. Eicher

Last week, I spent several days in Tucson, Arizona, and the surrounding area. Not only was it a welcome relief from the near-constant snow and frigid temperatures of Milwaukee, but it also meant observing the sky from a super-dark site with a large telescope. More on that in my next blog.

Before the observing came a couple of days at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, the greatest annual event for geological collectors. Accompanying me were Senior Editor Michael Bakich, his wife Holley, and Contributing Editor Ray Shubinski. Spread over numerous hotels around the city, this event brings together hundreds of rock, mineral, gem, and meteorite dealers from all over the world. Thousands of collectors flock to the city, hoping to find just the right mineral specimens, pieces of jewelry, beads, or meteorites to take home with them. Fortunately, meteorite collectors, myself among them, were hardly disappointed.

Among the shows catering to meteorites were the Westward Look Show, the Inn Suites, the Ramada, the Quality Inn Benson Highway, and the Best Western Executive Inn. These satellite shows occurred from February 2 to 16; the main show, the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show itself, featured a wide variety of minerals, gems, and meteorites, and took place February 14 to 17 at the Tucson Convention Center.

Any meteorite collector should make an effort to attend the Tucson shows at least once in a lifetime. Specimens offered range from $2 battered bits of common iron meteorites like Nantan or Sikhote-Alin to unique, nearly priceless stones like some of the newer lunar meteorites, or at least large pieces of them. The world’s dealers turn out en masse. Foremost among them was Bob Haag, friend of the Astronomy editorial staff and a special person who we profiled in our August 2006 issue. Also present were many other important dealerships, including R. A. Langheinrich; ELKK; Impactika; Labenne; Meteorite Caravan; Meteorite Collection; Meteorite Hunter; Pani; Edwin Thompson; Comet Meteorite Shop; Meteorite Show; and Blaine Reed.

Prices were fairly uniform and offerings included some pretty spectacular pieces from a wide variety of sources. As with all of the specimens at Tucson, prices were generally negotiable.

The French dealer Labenne was stocked with treasures. A huge hand specimen of Allende with extremely fresh, black crust was going for $15 per gram, or $4,295. A huge slab of Cape York with a troilite inclusion was marked at $2 per gram, or $2830. Dhofar 459, a beautiful lunar meteorite, went for $600 per gram, or $17,610 for the whole stone. Amazingly, this dealership also had an end cut of Ensisheim, the first meteorite fall ever recorded, from 1492. The 14.75-gram-slice, formerly belonging to the Muséum National d’Historie Naturelle in Paris, was marked at $14,750.

Meteorite collectors should rejoice. All they need do to see the greatest pieces on the market is come to Tucson each February. The trick is bring the pocket change, checkbooks, and charge cards too. Maybe even a second mortgage on the house. But Tucson need not be a painful experience. Each year the show serves as a museum and as a chance to see the greatest treasures of the world of natural history, even if the greatest ones don’t make it home to your personal collection.

Your chance to buy a piece of the rock

Jeremy McGovern — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:00:00 GMT

The specimen extracted from the Willamette

meteorite. Bonhams

If you ask any visitor who has ever wandered the halls of New York's American Museum of Natural History what his or her favorite piece is, you'll get a variety of answers. Some have fond memories of the 94-foot-long blue whale model, suspended from the ceiling. Others will celebrate the dioramas showcasing Earth-bound creatures. Overall, I'd wager most visitors, especially those with cosmic tastes, hold great reverence for the Willamette meteorite.

If you've never toured the museum, the space rock has had a volatile history — after its landing on Earth. Many scientists theorize the meteorite landed in Canada, only to end up in Oregon's Willamette Valley courtesy of a piggy-back ride on a glacier. Although Native Americans knew of the space rock, local Ellis Hughes "discovered" the meteorite on land owned by Oregon Iron and Steel. He moved the nearly 15.5 ton rock to his property, less than a mile away. Uncovering the tracks of such a conspicuous move, Oregon Iron and Steel learned of the theft and took Hughes to court, claiming rights to the meteorite. After winning the case, the company sold the meteorite to Mrs. William Dodge II, who subsequently donated it to the New York museum.

Later, a confederation of Indian tribes from the valley laid claim to the meteorite. Eventually the sides reached an agreement — the meteorite will remain on display at the museum's Rose Center. Should the day ever come that space rock is not displayed, it will return to the tribes. Considering the meteorite's popularity and that the armature supporting it was countersunk in New York bedrock, it is safe bet the meteorite will be on display for generations to come.

If paying a visit to the museum won't satisfy your love of the Willamette, you now can own a piece of the largest meteorite ever found in North America.

On Sunday, October 28, international auctioneers Bonhams will auction the 30-pound detached crown of the meteorite. The museum exchanged the crown piece for a meteorite traced to Mars. Previously, only slivers of the crown piece have been sold — fetching more than, ounce for ounce, 8 times the price of gold.

Your last name better be Gates if you hope to purchase this chunk for your home collection. The estimated value of this section is $1.1 million to $1.3 million.

If that is too rich for your blood, select meteorites deaccessorized from the Field Museum in Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and the Macovich Collection in Tucson, Arizona, will also be among the 4 lots offered in this auction. This selection includes a fragment (valued at $3,000 to $4,000) of the only meteorite known to have killed an animal, a cow in Venezuela.

Darryl Pitt, the curator of the Macovich Collection, the world's largest collection of aesthetic iron meteorites, says, "This is the foremost offering of meteorites ever assembled and could well be the first and last of such sales — you just can't top this."