This large stone meteorite has yet to be classified, but there is no doubt as to its meteoricity. It’s texture, magnetic susceptibility, coloring and elongated regmaglypts (i.e., shallow indentations which result from a meteorite’s plunge through Earth’s atmosphere) tick all of the boxes. And then ther✤e is the matter of its shape: its slightly curved parabolic face evidences partial orientation. Unlike the vast majority of meteorites which tumble as they descend to Earth, this meteorite largely maintained the same horizontal and vertical axes in the last stages of its earthward plunge. Stable orientation is the result of a balanced distribution of the meteorite’s weight and its angle of entry into the atmosphere. The parabolic face seen is the most efficient angle at which heat is deflected from a falling object. This very same curvature was emulated in the design of the heat shields of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space capsules.

With a variegated chocolate to chestnut-hued patina, surface fissures course across the meteorite’s smooth oriented face. Faint, elongated regmaglypts are seen at the parabola’s perimeter. The reverse is more complex with two distinct swel𝐆ls and evidence of terrestrialization in the form of both fractures and areas of glossy desert varnish — the latter being the result of sand propellꦛed by desert winds polishing the meteorite’s surface over a period of untold years.

Should you be interested in having this meteorite classified and documented in the Meteorite Bulletin listing, we will happily walk you through the process.