When it slammed into the surface of Earth, there was little sign of the beauty that lay inside, because cutting the Fukang meteorite open yielded a breathtaking sight. Within the rock, translucent golden crystals of a mineral called olivine gleamed among a silvery honeycomb of nickel-iron. In China in 2000, the mysterious Fukang meteorite was unearthed believed to be some 4.5 billion years old, which is as ancient as Earth itself.
It is a pallasite, a type of meteorite with translucent golden crystals of a mineral called olivine embedded in a silvery honeycomb of nickel iron. It’s a dazzling meteorite, and maybe the most spectacular extraterrestrial piece of rock man has ever seen. This majestic Fukang meteorite was found by a hiker, who had often stopped and had lunch on this giant rock, and he always questioned what the metal and crystals were. Eventually, he decided and took a hammer and chisel and broke some pieces off, which he sent to the USA to confirm that it was a meteorite.
The original meteorite weighed just over 1,000 kilograms, but the rock was so dazzling that everybody wanted a piece of it. Since then it has been divided into dozens of thin slices and auctioned or distributed around the world. Therefore, a total of 31 kilograms of the specimen is on deposit at the University of Arizona.
Marvin Kilgore of the University of Arizona’s Southwest Meteorite Centre holds the largest portion weighing at 420 Kg. In Feb 2005 saw the Chinese space rock was transported all the way to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, in Tucson, Arizona. The U.S. lab claims their polished slice of the original meteorite is the world’s biggest pallasite cross-section, measuring 36in by 19in.
In 2008, this piece was expected to fetch $2 million at an auction at Bonham’s in New York, but unluckily, the likely bidders were more impressed with a couple of pieces of 130-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur’s dung that day, which sold at more than twice the estimate. According to Bonhams, pallasites are composed of approximately 50 % olivine and peridot crystals and 50 cent nickel-iron and are believed to be the relics of forming planets.
They actually make up less than one percent of meteorites and are believed to originate from deep inside intact meteors formed during the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago and very few specimens are thought to have survived their descent through Earth’s atmosphere.
4.5 billion years in the making Golden olivine meets silvery nickel-iron to create a stunningly beautiful mosaic effect
4.5 billion years in the making Golden olivine meets silvery nickel-iron to create a stunningly beautiful mosaic effect
When it slammed into the surface of Earth, there was little sign of the beauty that lay inside, because cutting the Fukang meteorite open yielded a breathtaking sight.
When it slammed into the surface of Earth, there was little sign of the beauty that lay inside, because cutting the Fukang meteorite open yielded a breathtaking sight.
Within the rock, translucent golden crystals of a mineral called olivine gleamed among a silvery honeycomb of nickel-iron.
Within the rock, translucent golden crystals of a mineral called olivine gleamed among a silvery honeycomb of nickel-iron.
In China in 2000, the mysterious fukang meteorite, unearthed believed to be some 4.5 billion years old, which is as ancient as Earth itself.
In China in 2000, the mysterious fukang meteorite unearthed believed to be some 4.5 billion years old, which is as ancient as Earth itself.
It is a pallasite, a type of meteorite with translucent golden crystals of a mineral called olivine embedded in a silvery honeycomb of nickel-iron.
It is a pallasite, a type of meteorite with translucent golden crystals of a mineral called olivine embedded in a silvery honeycomb of nickel iron.
It’s a dazzling meteorite, and maybe the most spectacular extraterrestrial piece of rock man has ever seen.
It’s a dazzling meteorite, and maybe the most spectacular extraterrestrial piece of rock man has ever seen.
This majestic Fukang meteorite was found by a hiker, who had often stopped and had lunch on this giant rock, and he always questioned what the metal and crystals were.
This majestic Fukang meteorite was found by a hiker, who had often stopped and had lunch on this giant rock, and he always questioned what the metal and crystals were.
Marvin Killgore of the Arizona Meteorite Laboratory lets the sun shine through a polished slice of the Fukang rock
Marvin Killgore of the Arizona Meteorite Laboratory lets the sun shine through a polished slice of the Fukang rock
The main mass of the Fukang meteorite, which failed to sell after being valued at $2million. The intact space rock weighed as much as a small car
The main mass of the Fukang meteorite failed to sell after being valued at $ 2 million. The intact space rock weighed as much as a small car
Source: Dailymail / AP

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