The ASU Center for Meteorite Studies has acquired a piece from the only observed martian meteorite fall in 50 years!
Tissint, an olivine-phyric shergottite, was approved as a new meteorite and added to the Meteoritical Bulletin Database January 17, 2012. The meteorite was observed as it fell to Earth in a bright fireball at approximately 2 AM on July 18, 2011, in a remote part of Morocco. To date, approximately 7 kg of material have been recovered, with the largest stone weighing 987 g. Currently, the ASU Center for Meteorite Studies houses the largest single Tissint specimen (349 g) in an institutional collection, in addition to another 21 g of smaller fragments.
Read the press release here, and view the Meteoritical Bulletin Database entry here!
