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Sikhote-Alin Iron Meteorite Shrapnel Fragment

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:400.00 - 600.00 USD
Sikhote-Alin Iron Meteorite Shrapnel Fragment

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Auction Date:2019 Oct 17 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : 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
Sikhore-Alin iron meteorite shrapnel fragment from the largest recorded meteorite fall in history, on February 12, 1947, over the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in Siberia, Russia. The pristine uncleaned fragment weighs 291.1 grams and measures approximately 95 mm x 51 mm x 20 mm. Accompanied by a specimen identification card from Aerolite Meteorites.

Sikhote-Alin is rare in the history of meteorites, as it is a witnessed fall iron. A tumultuous fireball rocked eastern Siberia during the winter of 1947 and was observed by many eyewitnesses, including the Russian artist P.I. Medvedev, who recorded the event in a landscape painting that was later published as a Soviet-era postal stamp.

A series of expeditions was sent to the site by the USSR Academy of Sciences between 1947 and 1970. The fall zone, known scientifically as a strewnfield, was examined in great detail and Russian scientists excavated 180 of 200 identified impact pits and craters. Noted Russian scientist E. L. Krinov studied Sikhote-Alin for many years and estimated that the incoming bolide had a mass of 70 tons. More recently, the noted Russian astronomer Valentin Tsvetkov suggested it was closer to 100 tons.

On that cold day in 1947, forcing a column of air ahead of itself, the incoming nickel-iron mass generated intense heat and pressure and, within a few short seconds, its surface superheated to about 3,000 degrees. The extreme temperature change caused rapid expansion of the dense matrix, and mounting pressure of ever-thicker air forced the mass to shear and fracture along its crystalline planes, causing a truly massive aerial explosion that was heard and felt by human observers on the ground. The shockwave reportedly knocked over forest workers, and twisted shards of metal rained down among snowy pines.

The resulting angular fragments starkly illuminate the catastrophic forces inflicted upon incoming meteorites: melted, torn, and blasted, they so resembled the remnants of wartime bombing that they were named shrapnel. This 291.1-gram shrapnel fragment was found, buried within the strewnfield, just about sixty years later by a meteorite hunter with a metal detector. Nearly all recovered Sikhote-Alin specimens were unfortunately cleaned by the finders. Some were wire-brushed, others were tumbled, and in the cleaning process fine surface details were lost forever. Pristine examples, such as this example are extremely rare and much coveted by collectors. With a rich orange-ochre natural patina, this battered visitor from space is an eerie unaltered survivor from the greatest meteorite fall in recorded history.