Millibillillie - Rare Oriented Meteorite from the Asteroid Vesta. Eucrite - AEUC. Wiluna District, Western Australia (...

Description

Millibillillie - Rare Oriented Meteorite from the Asteroid Vesta
Eucrite - AEUC
Wiluna District, Western Australia (26° 27'S, 120° 22'E)
Fall: October 1960

As confirmed by NASA's Dawn space probe, extensive research points to Vesta, one of the largest asteroids at 555 kilometers in diameter, as the parent body of this rare Calcium-rich eucrite which fell onto Australia's Outback. Following a collision with another asteroid, eucritic meteorites were jettisoned off the surface of Vesta into interplanetary space. Millbillillie fell to Earth in October 1960. Only a handful of specimens were recovered until Aboriginal people, who left government-subsidized jobs to earn more money collecting meteorites, undertook a search for additional specimens, and extensive recoveries followed. Very few such meteorites, however, are as select as the current offering which is adorned with the much sought-after glossy-black fusion crust of the best Millbillillies and further "embossed" with the characteristic burnt-orange caliche of the Australian desert region. As evidenced by the flow lines seen in the fusion crust, this specimen is even better still: it is oriented. As a result of the distribution of its mass and the angle at which it penetrated Earth's atmosphere, this meteorite did not tumble as do the vast majority during atmospheric entry. While experiencing frictional heating in the atmosphere during its descent to Earth, molten material ablated off the sides of the meteorite and solidified into the fine flow lines indicative of the lead surface that pointed to its future home. This select example is out of the Macovich Collection.
Overall Measurements: 2.22 x 2.08 x 2.15 inches (5.64 x 5.28 x 5.47 cm), weighs 213 grams

[Scale: 1 inch, with mark at 1 cm]

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