3724

NWA 5406 Lunar Meteorite Slice

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
NWA 5406 Lunar Meteorite Slice

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Auction Date:2021 Apr 22 @ 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
Northwest Africa (NWA) 5406 lunar meteorite (feldspathic impact melt breccia) slice, featuring a dark matrix peppered with clasts and inclusions (some quite large), and an abundance of melt veins. Laboratory prepared with polished faces on both sides, the excellent full slice weighs 8.656 grams and measures approximately 51 mm x 49 mm x 2 mm. Accompanied by a descriptive plaque.

Dr. Randy L. Korotev of Washington University in St. Louis notes that NWA 5406 'is compositionally similar to soil from the Apollo 16 site and may have originated from near the Apollo 16 site.' It is one of the only lunar meteorites that can be associated with an Apollo mission in such a manner. The Apollo 16 mission landed in the Descartes Highlands, where astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke collected 211 pounds of lunar rock and soil samples during their EVAs, which have since been exhaustively studied. Any genuine piece of 'moon rock' is highly prized, but the significance of this slice's composition and likely place of origin make it all the more desirable.