Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

Since 1961, the Arizona State University Center for Meteorite Studies has amassed and preserved one of the world's largest meteorite collections to enable research in planetary science and cosmochemistry, and to inspire students, educators, and the general public to learn about the Solar System and our place in it. All year, we’ll post stories of…

In 1957, Sputnik’s launch put space exploration at the forefront of the American conscience. The following year, Harvey H. Nininger, the famous meteorite hunter and self-taught meteoriticist, sold a portion of his collection to the British Natural History Museum. The Coordinator of Research at Arizona State University, George A. Boyd, was familiar with Nininger’s collection…

Talampaya is an achondrite that fell in Argentina, in 1995. According to the Meteoritical Bulletin (MB 83):  Stories circulating among meteorite dealers tell of a meteorite that fell in Argentina, producing a sonic boom that scared a mountain climber. The climber eventually found the meteorite somewhere down range. The location of the fall may have…

Center affiliated undergraduate student and Space Grant intern Xeynab Mouti recently presented her latest findings at the 2020-21 ASU NASA Space Grant virtual poster session. Mentored by Center for Meteorite Studies Assistant Research Scientist Jemma Davidson and Interim Director Devin Schrader, Mouti's research has focused on investigating fine-grained chondrule rims in the Mighei-like carbonaceous (CM) chondrites….

This story originally appeared in ASU News. A new mineral has been named for Arizona State University Emeritus Regents Professor Carleton Moore, the founding director of ASU’s Center for Meteorite Studies. The mineral, named “carletonmooreite,” was found in a large, rare type of meteorite that fell in February 1948 in Norton County, Kansas. School of…