Nevada Meteorite Picture of the Day
(for the Month of March 2008)

Explanation:

The above image was taken with my digital camera while viewing into the eyepiece of my microscope. It is an image of a thin section that was made from the type specimen of a meteorite fragment that was found last year by a friend of mine.

The lighting is not polarized; it is just reflected artificial light. The above view depicts a typical fabric of troilite, metal grains, and chondrules that are equilibrated with the groundmass of this ordinary chondrite. Typical, EXCEPT, for the large, irregular-shaped clast or chondrule fragment (in the middle of this image). This thin section has been submitted to UCLA for classification. When this feature is eventually identified, this web page will be updated. To see a close-up of this feature, just "click" on the above image.

Many other meteorites were found at this same locality. The vast majority of these "other meteorites" were small fragments of an H6 meteorite fall. All of these small fragments have similar-looking exteriors. But after cutting some small fragments, it was obvious that they were not from a H6 meteorite. So, now that it is known that other meteorite types can be found from this locality, finders of future fragments now know not to assume that their find is from the H6 meteorite fall. So, the next time that the wisdom of classifying small specimens gets questioned, it should be kept in mind that the above piece of crucial information was obtained only through the classification of a small fragment.

For Reference:

If you have found a new Nevada meteorite and would like to report it 
and get a "provisional" name, or even easier, you have made a find 
from a known, formally named locality and would like to have a 
provisional number issued, 
please contact the Editor of the Meteoritical Bulletin, Dr. Michael K. Weisberg

Would you like to see your image displayed here? Feel free to submit your image to the editor's email address below. Any and all submissions of Nevada meteorite images are welcome.