Norton County fell February 18th of 1948, on the Kansas/Nebraska border. Norton County is a rare type of meteorite called an aubrite, which is an enstatite achondrite. Aubrites are dominated by enstatite – a pyroxene mineral containing Mg, Si, and O. This mineral is white in Norton County, as opposed to the more normal green […]
Category: Meteorites
Coolidge
Coolidge is a carbonaceous (C4-ungrouped) chondrite found in Kansas in 1937. According to Meteoritical Society classification, type-4 carbonaceous chondrites mostly have Mg/Si ratios near solar value, oxygen isotope compositions that plot below the terrestrial fractionation line, and abundant metamorphosed chondrules. At the Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies, collection curator and research professor Laurence Garvie deciphers […]
Camel Donga
Camel Donga is an achondrite found on the Nullarbor Plain of Western Australia in 1984. The word “donga” is a term for “campsite” in Australia. Camel Donga is a eucrite (monomict breccia), part of the HED group of meteorites (Howardites-Eucrites-Diogenites). These meteorites are believed to originate from the cooling of magma on the surface of […]
Puente-Ladron
Puente-Ladron is a type L ordinary chondrite found in Socorro County, New Mexico by Harvey H. Nininger. On May 17, 1944, H.H. Nininger stopped for a bit of lunch on a lonely stretch of New Mexico highway and, as was his habit, scanned the area around him for meteorites while eating. “I started on, but […]
Charsonville
November's Meteorite of the Month is Charsonville, an ordinary (H6) chondrite that fell in France, in 1810. According to the Meteoritical Bulletin (MB online): "On November 23, 1810, at 1:30 p.m, a meteor, coming from the north, burst over the town of Charsonville. A violent detonation then occurred, which was also heard from Orléans, Meung, […]