FROM THE MOST FAMOUS METEOR CRATER ON EARTH

This Canyon Diablo meteorite originates from Meteor Crater northeast of Sedona, Arizona, the most famous and best-preserved meteorite crater on Earth. Like most meteorites, this piece originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and was part of a tremendous iron mass that plowed into the desert approx💟imately 50,000 years ago, forming Meteor Crater in an explosion estimated to have had a force of between 2 and 20 million tons of TNT🀅. Most of the mass vaporized on impact while fragments were flung as far as 11 miles from the impact site. 

The dark speckles around the edge of this Canyon Diablo end piece indicate that this specimen waꦇs "shocked," evidence that this piece was very close to the impact point between the asteroid and the Earth's surface, causing a metamorphosis of the specimen's internal structure. Shock-blackening has been found in a number of specimens collected close to the rim of Meteor Crater.

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