A new study of the martian meteorite NWA 7533 ("Black Beauty") has concluded that, while water was more abundant on Mars 4.5 billion years ago, the martian surface has been dry and desert-like for at least 1.7 billion years. Using isotopes found in the mineral zircon, researchers were able to utilize meteorite NWA 7533 to…

August 22, 2014 Arizona State University’s Center for Meteorite Studies recently received a precious gift. Aside from its price tag, what makes this space rock so special is where it came from: The Moon. The new sample belongs to the rare class of meteorites originating from the Moon called “lunaites.” Of all known distinct meteorites…

The Center for Meteorite Studies and School of Earth & Space Exploration have dedicated a 381g piece of the Seymchan pallasite to the incoming class of 2018!  According to Center Director Meenakshi Wadhwa, “this meteorite was obtained especially for the purpose of dedicating to, and inspiring, the Class of 2018.  We wanted to give them…

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko!  Launched in 2004, Rosetta has spent the last ten years travelling the 405 million kilometres (just over 251 million miles) between Earth and the spacecraft's cometary destination. New photos of the comet, taken by the onboard OSIRIS camera, have already provided detailed images of…

A large fireball has exploded over Alabama! The meteor was witnessed the evening of August 2nd by observers on the ground, as well as NASA's All Sky Fireball Network cameras.  NASA has since confirmed that a meteoroid approximately 15" long broke apart over the town of Henagar, AL, with a large fragment travelling as far…