Canyon Diablo Meteorite  



Image: S4010101rev
Spec A. 'end view'

SUMMARY (Jul 21, 2005) This is a meteorite! It fell on what is now Arizona about 35,000 years ago. It is about 4.5 billion years old, originating in the dawn of the formation of our solar system. It may have once been part of the iron core of a planetoid which on collision with another body, fragmented and was sent on a course toward collision with planet Earth. This huge bollide (meteoroid) (estimated to have weighed 25 million lbs, became a meteor upon entering the Earth's atmosphere and then became a meteorite on impact. Most of its mass probably vaporized in the impact event; however, up to 30 tons of fragments, the largest weighing 639 kg, survived and have been collected around the crater since it was 'discovered' in 1891.

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