The 33-pound rock, something of a family heirloom, was found in a cow pasture near Tazewell, Tenn., in the 1930s by Donna Lewis' grandfather, the late Tilmon Brooks.

The object of curiosity, which long served as a doorstop and a garden ornament and had even been painted green, turns out to be a very rare and very real meteorite, possibly 4.5 billion years old.

[,,,]
The university has since purchased the meteorite, the remains of a meteor that fell to Earth, from the family. The former doorstop ...
Continue reading ...

In a paper published in an academic journal, German and Austrian researchers recount an extraordinary tale where archaeology, the Third Reich and cosmic treasure are intertwined like an Indiana Jones movie.

[,,,]
It is a particularly rare kind of meteorite called an ataxite, which has iron and high contents of nickel, according to the study, published in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

“The statue was chiseled from an iron meteorite, from a fragment of the Chinga meteorite which...
Continue reading ...

A fireball that tears across the sky is not just a one-time skywatching event — it can reap scientific dividends long afterward. In fact, one that lit up Mexico's skies in 1969 scattered thousands of meteorite bits across the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua. And now, decades later, that meteorite, named Allende, has divulged a new mineral called panguite.

[,,,]
The name of the titanium dioxide mineral, which has been approved by the International Mineralogical Association, honors Pan Gu...
Continue reading ...

Brenda Salveson found a meteorite potentially worth $20,000 in a local park where she brings her kids and dog, a local TV station in Sacramento reports.

“I was lucky, blessed, good karma,” Salveson told CBS Local. “It was sitting there at my toes like an Easter egg.”

The rock is one of many meteorites that fell from outer space, peppering Gold Country with primitive space rocks on April 22.

Brenda Salveson Stumbles Upon Meteorite Worth $20,000 In Local California Park
Continue reading ...