COMPLETE SLICE💫 OF A SEYMCHAN METEORITE — EXTRATERRESTRIAL GEMST🌃ONES IN NATURAL METALLIC MATRIX

Pallasite – PMG

Magadan District, Russia (62°54’ N, 152°26’ E)

169 x 227 x 2mm (6.75 x 9 x 0.1 in.) a🔴nd 416.7 g (0.9𝔉 lbs)

Pallasites represent less than 0.2% of all known meteorites and are widely considered the most beautiful extraterrestrial substance known. Like the vast majority of pallasitic meteorites, Seymchan origina🍸ted from the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid that broke apart during early sola𒅌r system history. Following pinball-like impacts, a large mass was serendipitously bumped into an Earth-crossing orbit.

The crystals seen here are the result of small chunks of the stony mantle becoming suspended in the molten metal of an asteroid’s iron-nickel core. Cut and polished, the lustrous metallic matrix features silicate crystals of gleaming olivine and peridot (gem-quality olivine) ranging in hues from emerald to amber. The prominent metallic latticework dominating the middle of the slice is referred to as a Widmanstätten pattern. It is the result of a slow cooling that provided sufficient time — millions of years — for the two metallic alloys t🍸o orient into their crystalline habit. As the only place where this can happen is in the vacuum of space (and also, theoretically at Earth’s own core-mantle boundary), the appearance of this pattern is diagnostic in the identification of a meteorite. As the crystals are not homogenously scattered throughout the metallic matrix, this is referred to as a transitional pallasite, a much less common and more idiosyncratic presentation. Crystal aggregates are separated by a robust etch in this choice example🍰 delimited by a rim of the meteorite’s external surface.

PROVENANCE

Macovich Collection of Meteorites, New York City