Iron, Coarse Octahedrite
Maritime Territory, Siberia, Russia
This is a most unusual meteorite from what was among the most frightening natural phenomena ever experienced. At 10:30AM on February 12, 1947 the enormous Sikhote-Alin fireball streaked over Siberia’s Sihote-Alin Mountains unleashing the largest meteorite shower since the dawn of civilization. This meteorite reveals the monumental forces exerted on a mass that was rocketing through space at a cosmic velocity of 4-6 miles per second before hitting the brick wall of Earth’s upper atmosphere, and then undergoing superheating during its final descent. Given the size of the regmaglypts (thumbprints) on this meteorite’s surface, it’s clear this specimen originated from a much larger meteorite. It’s also clear that it exploded apart in the atmosphere given the tiny rivulets of molten material found on the shorn surface—there was insufficient time for new regmaglypts to form prior to this meteorite hitting terminal velocity. With a dark variegated metallic patina, and featuring an abundance of fusion crust, flow lines and surface torsion cracks which underwent rewelding during atmospheric heating—this is an exceptional example of the cataclysmic explosion of a meteorite. From the most frightening meteorite shower in modern times.
137 x 79 x 57mm (5.25 x 3 x 2.25 inches) and 1503 grams (3.3 pounds).