The Fukang Meteor, which fell in the Gobi Desert of China in 2000 and is said to have a total weight of 1 ton, was taken to America by an anonymous person.
Incredibly beautiful meteorite has amazing colors; The meteorite, which shines constantly thanks to the mineral crystals and olivine it contains, contains a mixture of iron nickel and silver alloy.
It was reported that the total weight of the meteorite brought to America was 420 kilograms. The rest is still in China. This wonderful stone, which was put up for sale for $2 million at the Bonham auction in New York, did not find any buyers.
The Fukang meteorite is a pallasite – a very rare species even among “star stones” (1% of all meteorites found on Earth). Such meteorites consist of 50% olivine and 50% nickel iron. Olivine in this case is interspersed with translucent crystals that shimmer with gold when exposed to sunlight.
This meteorite is believed to be around 4.5 billion years old, roughly equivalent to the age of planet Earth.
A 1 gram precious meteorite is sold for 40-50 US dollars.
Places where star stones are known to fall (palasite)
Pallasite is also called “Pallas iron”. The first such meteorite, XNUMX. It was discovered by the German scientist Peter Pallas in the 19th century.
Pallasite is one of the rarest types of meteorites. To date, only 61 pallasite meteorites have been found. Although pallasites are a rare type of meteorite, there are enough “starstones” in museums for research. This is due to the finds of large meteorites weighing more than a ton. The biggest finds are listed below:
Branham, Kansas, USA. In 1890, the discovery of 1,000 meteorites with a total mass of 20 kilograms was reported around the shallow crater Hawil. Later, more fragments with a total weight of 4.3 tons were discovered. One of the meteorites weighing 487 kilograms is at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. In 2005 Steve Arnold of Arkansas (USA) and Phil Money of Texas (USA) discovered a large meteorite body weighing 650 kilograms, and in 2006 they found several new large fragments of pallasite.
Hakitta, Northern Territory, Australia In 1937, a 1400 kilogram meteorite was found on a farm northeast of Alice Springs.
Fukang, Xinjiang Province, China. In 2000, a meteorite weighing 1003 kilograms was discovered.
Imilac, Atacama Desert, Chile. A large number of meteorite fragments were found, up to 920 kilograms, with a total weight of about 200 kg.
Bragin, Gomel region, Belarus. Most of the meteorite fragments with a total weight of 820 kg were scattered on the field. In 2002, another meteorite body weighing 3.0 kg was found at a depth of 227 m.
Esquel, Chubut, Argentina In 1951, a “starstone” weighing 755 kg was discovered in the soil.
Pallasovka, Pallasovka, Russia. In 1990, a 198 kg meteorite was discovered near Pallasovka, Russia. Coincidentally, both the city of Pallasovka and the pallasite meteorites were named after the naturalist Peter Pallas.
Krasnoyarsk, Yeniseysk, Russia. In 1749, a meteorite weighing about 233 kg was discovered about 700 km south of Krasnoyarsk. The main mass of 515 kg is now at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Pallasites are named after Peter Pallas for this meteorite study.
Seimchan is a meteorite weighing about 1 tons, discovered in 1967 near the city of the same name in Russia’s Far East. Due to the heterogeneous nature of Seimchan, there are two types of specimens: olivine crystalline and non-crystalline. The body of this meteorite was subjected to strong destruction and pressure as it passed through the atmosphere.
Mineo, Sicily, Italy In 1826, a bright meteorite fell near the small Italian town of Mineo. After some time, a metal mass was removed from a small crater. A piece weighing 46 g has been preserved in the collection.
Zaisho, Japan. In 1898, a 330 g meteorite was found after a fireball appeared in the sky.
Maryalahti, Karelia, Russia. In 1902, after the appearance of a bright meteor in the sky and powerful explosions, a large meteorite weighing 45 kg fell to the ground. At that time, the site where the meteorite fell belonged to Finland, so most of the Maryalahti meteorite is now in the Geological Museum of the University of Helsinki.
Omolon, Magadan region, Russia. In 1981 a weather station reported a steady fiery meteor in the sky. And two years later, reindeer breeder I. Tynavi discovered a 250 kilogram meteorite in the Omolon River basin.
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