A PIECE OF MOON ROCK . ...

Description

A PIECE OF MOON ROCK
Paired with NWA 2995 (North West Africa), achondrite (Lunar Feldspathic Breccia)
Algeria
Found 2005
Meteorites which originated on the Moon are exceptionally rare. Only 39 known lunar meteorites exist and the total weight of these are less than 16 kilograms, making them millions of times rarer than gem grade diamonds. However, most of the known lunar meteorites are in museum collections and scientific institutions, leaving only a few kilograms for the world's collectors. Although it is not actually illegal to buy and sell Apollo Mission moon rocks, NASA considers even those given away by Nixon to heads of state as their property still, so the "easiest" way for a collector to own a piece of the Moon is to acquire a lunar meteorite. A piece of moon rock can only get to Earth by being blasted off the lunar surface with enough velocity (approximately 1.5 miles per second) to escape the strong gravitational field of the Moon, eventually intercepting Earth's orbit and being captured by its gravity. Only the very largest of all asteroid or meteoroid impacts on the lunar surface would have been powerful enough to accomplish this. Indeed, scientists have identified only 35 possible craters on the Moon's surface large enough to be the source areas for all lunar meteorites. This example is a lunar feldspathic impact breccia, meaning that it is a sample of lunar soil formed by the accumulation of different types of rock from meteorite impact ejecta, and possible vulcanism which occurred very early in the Moon's history. This beautiful slice has the added attraction of being virtually indistinguishable in appearance from an actual Apollo Mission moon rock with its large white anorthosite fragments offset by a dark gray and black background matrix. The present slice has a very large surface area, larger than most specimens in museums, and measures 36 x 17 x 1mm (1 13/32 x 21/32 x 1/32 inches), and weighing in at 1.71 grams. A superb, eye-catching moon rock.

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