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 […]
Category: Meteorites
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, […]
Bilanga
October’s Meteorite of the Month is Bilanga, an achondrite meteorite (meaning that it formed on a differentiated planetary body, and does not contain chondrules) that fell in Burkina Faso, October 27 of 1999. According to the Meteoritical Bulletin (MB84): After a widely witnessed shower, at least 25 kg of meteorites with fresh black fusion crust […]
