120229 - Image of the Month for March

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120229 - Image of the Month for March

Postby Matt Smith » Wed Feb 29, 2012 9:19 pm

Image
Last months Tissint image was difficult to follow, but thanks to Mike Simms we've had a go. He has provided this months awe-inspiring image of a 7.52g slice of NWA 6355, a lunar feldspathic breccia discovered in Morocco in 2009. Click here to view the image in the Gallery or here for our archive of all previous "Image of the Month" images.
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Re: 120229 - Image of the Month for March

Postby msg-meteorites » Thu Mar 01, 2012 6:48 pm

Another superb specimen! Makes me realise how bereft my collection is of Lunar and Martian meteorites. All of my planetary crumbs and small slices that i had i sold to concentrate on UK and French falls. The only one i have now is one of Darryl's Mars cubes :-)
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Re: 120229 - Image of the Month for March

Postby Barwellian » Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:08 am

This is a very nice Lunar Mike....and one of my star pieces too ;) it has nice vesicles in the melt and even some metal blebs, likely from the impactor...and a good story with it ....here is the info that came with my sample and a link about pairings.

Here is a 14.12 gram slice of the very rare, newly classified NWA 6355 Lunar Melt-Matrix Mingled Breccia. This meteorite was found in 2009 and classified in 2010. The slice is a mixture of rock fragments and glass from the lunar highlands, and is grouped with the only lunar meteorites that are comparable to soils brought back by the Apollo 16 Mission to the moon. Specifically, this is one of the only instances where lunar meteorites can be correlated with materials from a certain moon mission landing site. The Apollo 16 Mission landing site was situated between two lunar craters: North Ray Crater and the South Ray Crater.

This complete 14.12 gram slice is part of a 760 gram main mass of which only 300 grams have been offered to institutions and collectors. It measures approximately 2.5 inches x 2 inches x 1-1/2 mm thick and is believed to have been ejected from the moon's crust after a large impact event. The meteorite's rarity stems from the small amount available, its lunar origin and its association with soils of a specific moon mission.

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/stones/nwa4936.htm

nwa6355 14.12g.JPG
nwa6355 14.12g
nwa6355 14.12g.JPG (25.5 KiB) Viewed 17491 times
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Re: 120229 - Image of the Month for March

Postby msg-meteorites » Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:40 pm

I can vouch for this one Graham having seen your slice, simply stunning!
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