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NWA 11329 Asteroid Vesta Partial Meteorite Slice

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:450.00 - 600.00 USD
NWA 11329 Asteroid Vesta Partial Meteorite Slice

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Auction Date:2021 Oct 21 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Sahara Desert
Eucrite melt breccia

This partial triangular slice of meteorite NWA 11329 originates from an 18-kilogram mass whose largest section is on display at the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum. While orbiting Vesta, the second largest asteroid in our solar system, NASA‰Ûªs Dawn spacecraft transmitted data which confirmed what scientists had long believed: eucrites originate from Vesta and based on a petrologic and chemical analysis, this specimen was part of a basalt flow on or near the surface of Vesta. As is the case with the Martian and lunar offerings, this arrived on Earth as a result of another asteroid having slammed into Vesta, ejecting debris into space, some of which serendipitously entered an Earth-crossing orbit.

This triangular partial slice has two cut edges and a curved arc of the meteorite‰Ûªs external surface with patches of fusion crust. The cut and polished face showcases orthopyroxene inclusions set into a fine-grained, melt-textured matrix. NWA 11329 is one of the very few eucrites which reveal a transition zone between impact melt and brecciated components. While this detail is not evident in this offering, this is nonetheless a select specimen of an important meteorite ‰ÛÓ and one with an uncommon attribute: a return address.

85 x 85 x 4mm (3.3 x 3.3 x 0.1 in.) and 56.58 grams