30g Aletai Meteorite – Capture Iron From a Stone-Skipping Fall!

Aletai Meteorite - A Rare Iron Beauty With a Stellar Past

Size:  23mm x 41mm x 9mm Approximately

Weight: 30 gram

The Aletai meteorite—previously known under names such as Armanty, Xinjiang, and Ulasitai—is one of the largest and most remarkable iron meteorites ever discovered. First identified in 1898, only one mass was known for more than a century. As new fragments were later found across Northern Xinjiang, scientists eventually determined that these enormous irons were all part of a single, once-massive body. In 2016, the parent meteorite was formally named Aletai, after the Altay Prefecture where its fragments were recovered. Some of these irons rank among the largest meteorites on Earth, with total recovered mass exceeding 74 tonnes.

The Aletai meteorite belongs to an exceptionally rare class—an anomalous IIIE iron meteorite and a coarse octahedrite unlike any other known sample. Its strewn field is extraordinary: extending at least 430 km, the largest meteorite debris field ever recorded on the planet, likely formed by a unique “stone-skipping” atmospheric trajectory.

Scientifically, Aletai is notable for its high cobalt, gold, and iridium content and for a Widmanstätten pattern distinct from other IIIE irons. Its mineralogy is dominated by kamacite (iron-nickel alloy found in iron meteorites), taenite (nickel-rich iron-nickel alloy), and plessite (fine intergrowth of kamacite and taenite), with accessory minerals including schreibersite (iron-nickel phosphide crystals), troilite (iron sulfide mineral), cohenite (iron carbide mineral), haxonite (rare iron-nickel carbide), and daubréelite(iron chromium sulfide). These features, combined with rare-element chemistry, confirm that all known Aletai masses originated from the same ancient cosmic event.

Add this rare Aletai fragment to your collection—an authentic piece from one of the largest and most scientifically intriguing meteorite falls ever discovered.

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