NWA 6693 Thin Section Images

[Matt Smith]

I've just received a NWA 6693 thin section from Edwin Thompson. This is the stone paired with NWA 6704 (briefly discussed some time ago on the forum here.

Here's a couple of pics I took with the camera against the eyepiece of the microscope. Each with crossed polars, the first is at 10x magnification, the second and third at 100x. Check out the swirling curtain of bubbles in the second image... wow! As you focus the scope you appreciate these bubbles in three dimensions as they come into focus at different points through the depth of the slice. The final image shows more simple lines of bubbles through the orthopyroxene.

You can read more about NWA 6704 and see some of John Kashuba's far superior images at Micro Visions

[msg-meteorites]

Amazing images Matt, those bubble trails are amazing. Bet they really look superb when looking through the microscope.

[Barwellian]

Great pictures Matt. I saw that ET had done some quite large thin sections from the centre of his sample (he also makes a great tequila if you ever get the chance to drop into his room at Tucson) and if it's one of those sections there should be plenty to scan around.

Two good presentations on this meteorite down in Greenwich when we were there.

I have a 6.71g slice and a broken fragment from Greg's sample which I got in Ensisheim...they look quite different. Wonderful glowing crystals in the fresh break of the fragment. There were other pieces still appearing on Moroccan stalls which were probably originally from Greg's piece.

A mysterious meteorite for sure....will be interesting to see what comes of more research on it.

Graham