Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

Monday, January 26, asteroid 2004 BL86 flew past Earth at the short distance of 1.2 million kilometers (over 745,500 miles), at the closest point of its trajectory.  That's just over 3 times the distance from Earth to the Moon! 2004 BL86 measures approximately 0.5 km (1/3 of a mile) in size, and is the closest…

The Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University is pleased to announce the application opportunity for the 2014 Nininger Meteorite Award for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing research in meteoritical sciences. The Nininger Meteorite Award recognizes outstanding student achievement in the meteoritical sciences as embodied by an original research paper. The 2014 Nininger Meteorite…

Padvarninkai fell February 9, 1929, in Adroniski, Lithuania.  Close to 4 kg of material were recovered days after the witnessed fall, and the meteorite was originally classified as a Martian shergottite due to its maskelynite content.  This classification was updated, however, upon further analysis, and Padvarninkai is now classified as a monomict eucrite, part of…

Pultusk is an H5 chondrite that fell January 30, 1868, near the town of Pultusk in northeastern Poland.  One of the largest meteorite showers in recorded history at the time, the fall is said to have produced tens of thousands of stones, and over 250 kg of material was recovered.  The Center for Meteorite Studies…

Wishing you All the best in 2015! from the Center for Meteorite Studies Northwest Africa 7611 is a lunar meteorite found near the Moroccan/Algerian border in May of 2012.  The total known weight of the original specimen was 916 grams, and this 311-gram piece, donated to the Center by collector Jay Piatek, is the largest…