Muonionalusta Meteorite
This meteorite slice has been dipped in acid to expose the natural crystalline structure of the meteorite.
Age: Fell to Earth approx. 110,000 years ago.
Class: Iron, IVA, Octahedrite
Discovered: 1906 Norrbotten, Sweden
** Muonionalusta Meteorite History **
The Muonionalusta meteorite is a meteorite classified as fine octahedrite, type IVA (Of) which impacted in northern Scandinavia, west of the border between Sweden and Finland, about one million years BCE.
The first fragment of the Muonionalusta meteorite was found in 1906 near the village of Kitkiöjärvi. Around forty pieces are known today, some being quite large. Other fragments have been found in a 25-by-15-kilometre (15.5 mi × 9.3 mi) area in the Pajala district of Norrbotten County, approximately 140 kilometres (87 mi) north of the Arctic Circle.
The meteorite was first described in 1910 by Professor A. G. Högbom, who named it after the nearby place Muonionalusta on the Muonio River. It was studied in 1948 by Professor Nils Göran David Malmqvist. The Muonionalusta meteorite, probably the oldest known meteorite (4.5653 ± 0.0001 billion years), marks the first occurrence of stishovite in an iron meteorite.
The name Muonionalusta has Finnish roots: it comes from the name of the Muonio River (+ possessive particle -(o)n-) and alusta, meaning "base, foundation, stand, mat, tray", thus probably "base of the Muonio". "alusta" also means "from the beginning", "starting point" which may refer to possible first finding places "Muonion alusta", "from the beginning of Muonio-river".
Muonionalusta Meteorite
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-Limited Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee-
The Smoky Mountain Relic Room stands behind the items we sell with a limited lifetime guarantee. We will exchange any item for store credit if the item sold is found by a certified authenticator not to be the authentic artifact, fossil, meteorite, or mineral that we advertised it as being. A letter, specific to the artifact, fossil, meteorite, or mineral in question, from a certified authenticator (in the business under the occupation-specific to the item in question), must be brought in with the item for the return to be acceptable. This guarantee is for the lifetime of the initial purchaser only. See the Relic Room Manager, downstairs inside Smoky Mountain Knife Works, for more information. Original receipt required for exchanges.
