Collection highlights
Click on the links below to read more about the meteorites in the Carleton B. Moore collection and view meteorite photos!
Dong Ujimqin Qi
Dong Ujimqin Qi is a mesosiderite that fell the afternoon of September 7th, 1995, in northeastern China. According to the Meteoritical Bulletin (MB 81), the meteorite fell on a cloudless day, and witnesses observed black smoke, as well as “a tremendous sound”. To date, close to 130 kilograms of this stony-iron meteorite have been recovered….
Krähenberg
Krähenberg is an ordinary (LL5) chondrite that fell May 5, 1868, in the Rheinland-Pfalz region of Germany. The meteorite’s fall to Earth was well-witnessed, and described by English chemist Walter Flight in his 1875 publication History of Meteorites: "A single stone was seen to fall, the sky being clear and bright. The noise of the…
Losttown
Losttown is an iron meteorite (IID) found in Georgia, in 1868. This specimen exhibits excellent Widmanstätten pattern (named for Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten, director of the Austrian Imperial Porcelain Works, in 1808), created by the interlocking crystal structure of two nickel-iron alloys. Most iron meteorites are believed to originate in the cores of large…
Lodran
Lodran is an achondrite that fell in eastern Pakistan the afternoon of October 1st, 1868. The stone’s fall was witnessed, and people reported hearing the meteorite’s entry, as well as seeing dust rise from its impact. Lodran is the type specimen for the lodranite meteorite group. Like acapulcoites, lodranites are primitive achondrites of asteroidal origin…
Athens
Athens is an ordinary (LL6) chondrite that fell the morning of July 11, 1933, in Limestone County, Alabama. Only one stone, weighing approximately 265 g., was recovered. According to C.C. Wylie and Stuart H. Perry, who described the Athens fall in great detail in volume 41 of Popular Astronomy (1933), a farmer and his son…
Château-Renard
Château-Renard is an ordinary (L6) chondrite that fell near Montargis, in Loiret, France June 12, 1841. The meteorite’s fall was published in the American Journal of Science and Arts, Volume 42, as reported in the New York Observer on August 14, 1841: Meteorite in France. – Galignani’s Messenger mentions that at a late session of…
Vermillion
Vermillion is an ungrouped pallasite that was found by farmers in Marshall County, Kansas, while planting a field. Although the 34.36 kg meteorite was discovered in 1991, it was not recognized as a pallasite until 1995. Vermillion is an unusual pallasite in that it contains 86 volume % FeNi-metal and 14 vol.% silicate minerals, including…
Veramin
Veramin is a mesosiderite (B2) that fell in Iran in 1880. The recovered mass of Veramin is 54 kg to date. Determining the exact date of the meteorite’s fall proved challenging, as reported in Meteoritical Bulletin 68: The fall of Veramin was first reported by F. Dietzch, a German mining engineer, who received a piece…
Gruneberg
Gruneberg is an ordinary (H4) chondrite that fell in Poland the afternoon of March 22, 1841. At the time of the meteorite’s fall, the town was part of the Prussian region of Silesia. The Polish name for the meteorite is Wilkanowko. According to an account published in the American Journal of Science and Arts that…
Little Piney
Lucky 13! Little Piney is an ordinary (L6) chondrite that fell in Missouri the afternoon of February 13, 1839. The meteorite’s entry was heard by local witnesses as it exploded between 3 and 4 PM, with 3 subsequent smaller explosions as it broke into pieces. The witnesses went in search of the stones they’d seen…
