60.5g Sikhote Alin
Looking at this meteorite for the first time I was speechless. I stared in blatant wonder, mouth agape, and stunned at what I was holding. I was absolutely shocked, surprised and in awe at the spectical before me when I first held this gorgeous meteorite specimen in my hand. Never before in my entire life had I ever seen a meteorite so beautiful as this. It wouldn’t be until sometime later that I would rediscover this meteorite and the special rare traits this meteorite exhibited.
Why was I so excited? The meteorite you’re looking at is gorgeous no doubt, and it was rare, but why was I so excited? You see, this meteorite was my first. I was a meteorite virgin before I held this piece. Yes, never before had I ever even seen a meteorite except in books, TV and online. I didn’t even know you could own one until I saw a show on the Discovery channel some time before about some crazy people out there hunting meteorite for a living. How cool would that be, I joked at the time. Little did I know I would become one of those crazy meteorite hunters I saw on TV.
I didn’t know then that this one little meteorite would change the direction of my life, and lead me on a path to addiction. The addiction would later turn into a full blown obsession and never would life be the same as it was before. Ever since I’ve been hooked.
There’s nothing like your first. You’ll never forget it. You’ll always remember the feeling of excitement growing in the pit of your stomach coupled with a slight nervousness that makes you feel all fluttery inside. You meteorite enthusiasts out there reading this know that feeling when you get a new meteorite and I’m sure you all remember your first too.
Since the “event” I’ve studied everything I possibly could find about meteorites. I read everything I could get my hands on and scoured the web for anything relating to the study of meteoritics. I’ve hunted and found hundreds of meteorites and now have a pretty decent collection of rocks from space in my possession.
I’ve been asked many times what my favorite meteorite is and I think I just can’t really say. I like them all. People don’t really want to hear that, but it’s true. I can’t pick. Meteorites are so special that to pick just one seems like an injustice to all the other meteorites out there. If I had to pick a type, I’m kind of partial to chondrites. The sheer variety of stone meteorites is astronomical (no pun intended). Meteorites of all sizes shapes and colors. Some with fresh black fusion crust and some with not even a speck. Some chondrites have high iron content and some have almost no iron to the point that even a very strong neodymium magnet couldn’t attract it.
60.5g Sikhote Alin Oriented Meteorite
But when it comes down to my favorite meteorite ever, I’d have to say my first meteorite is my favorite. Remember I said earlier in this article that there were some rare traits about this meteorite? Look closer at this Sikhote Alin meteorite and you’ll notice something spectacular. You’ll see little lines on it that look as if they are flowing outward toward the edges of the meteorite. These lines are called flow lines, and they’re formed by the extreme heat and pressures exerted on the meteorite as it enter our atmosphere. now if you know meteorites and what flow lines are you’re probably saying well that cool but…
Flow Lines & Fused Piece
Take a closer look at this piece. I didn’t notice this until sometime -probably months- after I got it. On the upper right of the meteorite, it’s got what appears to be a small piece of iron from the same meteorite that seems to have fused itself or reattached itself to the main mass during flight through the atmosphere. During atmospheric entry a meteorite will heat up to the melting point on the surface of the stone. This heat causes the outer surface of the stone to melt and flow away from the direction of travel. This causes molten material to “flow” toward the trailing edge of the meteorite forming these flow lines.
The Sikhote Alin iron meteorite fell in an amazingly large fireball back in 1947 and broke into tens of thousands of pieces before impacting the ground in the Sikhote Alin Mountains in Russia. This meteorite is one from that fall. It looks as if this meteorite broke into two pieces itself, and then during flight and while it was still molten on the outer surface it reattached itself to the main mass of the stone before impacting the ground. During flight and when witnessed from the ground, a meteor will seem to disappear or “burn up” but that doesn’t mean it’s not still there.
In fact it’s very likely that this piece refused itself during this brief period of time. It was hot enough to make the iron molten on the surface and when the meteorite started to cool the pieces came together forming a double meteorite so to speak. That’s why this piece is my favorite. Not because the Sikhote Alin meteorite is cool, or because they are so popular with collectors but this piece has special sentimental value to me because it’s my first one ever. The fact that it’s even more rare than most Sikhotes out there is just a plus.
