Estherville Mesosiderite Meteorite Slice - 53g

On May 10, 1879, a 455-pound meteorite was witnessed falling to Earth.  It landed in Emmet County a few miles North of Estherville, Iowa in the United States.  It became known as Estherville.  Some are mistakenly calling it the largest meteorite to fall in North America, but this is not true.  Please look up Canyon Diablo just outside of Winslow, AZ.

This meteorite may not be the biggest, but it is one of the rarer types to fall.  Mesosiderites are brecciated stony-iron meteorites that contain nearly equal amounts of metal and silicates.  They are likely formed by collisions of metal-rich and silicate-rich asteroids, and their silicate portion is composed mainly of igneous rock fragments.  Less than 150 mesosiderites have been identified to date.  Only about 320 kilos of this meteorite are known to exist.  Some of it can be found in some very prominent museums including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Museum Reich der Kristalle in Munich and the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.  Estherville Public Library even has a piece on display.  You can too!

This piece has been cut, polished, etched and stabilized. 

The weight of this piece is 53.13 grams.

The measurements are about 81x75x2mm.