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NWA 12011 Asteroid Vesta Meteorite Endpiece

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,100.00 - 1,500.00 USD
NWA 12011 Asteroid Vesta Meteorite Endpiece

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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
Eucrite (monomict)
Sahara Desert, North West Africa

NASA‰Ûªs Dawn space probe confirmed what scientists had long believed: eucritic meteorites ‰ÛÓ including the specimen now offered ‰ÛÓ originate from the surface of the asteroid Vesta. As is the case with the Martian and lunar offerings, it arrived on Earth as a result of another asteroid having slammed into Vesta which ejected debris into space ‰ÛÓ some of which entered an Earth-crossing orbit.

Vesta is the second largest asteroid in our solar system. Billions of years ago there were other large asteroids which fragmented and continued to orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. We refer to these fragments ‰ÛÓ large and small ‰ÛÓ as the asteroid belt. This meteorite is a basalt; it originated from an ancient volcano on Vesta and the cut and polished face reveal the classic presentation of what is referred to as a ‰ÛÏmonomict‰Û eucrite as the clasts seen originate from a single rock type. Exceedingly fresh, clusters of large grains populate one end of the specimen. The side features patches of fusion crust (from the meteorite‰Ûªs fiery descent through Earth‰Ûªs atmosphere) and the reverse is a naturally fractured with earthen accents from the meteorite‰Ûªs residency in the Sahara. This is a fascinating representation of a richly evocative meteorite.

65 x 85 x 12mm (2.5 x 3.3 x 0.5 in.) and 146.2 g (0.33 lbs)