Top 10 Celestial Bodies that Have Gemstones
Celestial Bodies - Suns, Planets, Moons, Stars, Asteroids, Comets, Dwarf Planets, Meteorites, Planetoids,and so on.
Seems the mineral olivine (peridot) is widespread in outer space and quite possibly was present at the creation of many planets, perhaps even our planet.
Peridot is gem-quality olivine, so they are the same thing, just different size.
For me the discovery of opal on Mars is the most interesting discovery so far because opal proves there was water on Mars (and perhaps life) - opal just can't form without water.
Discovered gems so far: spinel, olivine (peridot).
Interesting coincidence: The upper mantle of Earth also consists mainly of olivine and pyroxene.
Discovered gems so far: opal, olivine (peridot).
Discovering opal on Mars proves there was water on Mars because opal can't form without water. So if there was water on Mars, probably there was life.
Discovered gem: olivine (peridot)
Esquel is a famous meteorite that fell in Argentina and weighed about 700 kg. The meteorite consists of yellowish green olivine crystals, some of which are gem-quality peridot. The Esquel meteorite was once part of a planet or other large body in our solar system that had a metallic core and a rocky mantle. This meteorite was found in 1951 - a farmer uncovered it in a location near Esquel while digging a hole for a water tank.
"This type of meteorite is from the core-mantle boundary of an ancient planetoid that was smacked apart billions of years ago. The metal is iron/nickel core material and the crystals are peridot from the mantle area. At the interface, they mix together" - wiki
The image shows a slice of it - you can see peridot in iron/nickel.
(aka 81P/Wild)
Discovered gem: olivine (peridot)
In 2004, Stardust (NASA spaceship) took samples from this comet, which is 4.5 billion years old. Samples were studied back on Earth and they included olivine (peridot).
Discovered gem: olivine (peridot) - high concentration of beautiful olivine grains (the yellowish spots).
It was found in Chile in 1822. Imilac is big - the total weight of the Imilac fall is estimated to be around 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb).
Discovered gem: opal, olivine
Tiny fragments of opal were spotted in it but this meteorite consists largely of olivine clasts (up to 3 mm in maximum dimension). 'The opal occurs as replacement of ureilitic olivine and suessite (Fe3Si), and as broken fragments among the clasts derived directly from the parent ureilite asteroid.', the team reported.
This meteorite was picked up off the ice in east Antarctica in 1983. An updated analysis was presented by the UK's Birkbeck College London's Prof. Hilary Downes at the Royal Astronomical Society meeting. (Hilary Downes et al. 'Delivery of water to asteroidal regolith revealed by meteoritic opal.' National Astronomy Meeting Nottingham UK 2016)
Discovered gem: olivine (peridot)
Asteroid 25143 Itokawa was visited by a spacecraft that found peridot / olivine on it.
Discovered gem: olivine (peridot).
It was purchased by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto for €511,000.
This meteorite has 3 larger fragments and many smaller ones.
(official designation: 9P/Tempel)
Discovered gem: olivine (peridot)
In 2005, traces of olivine (peridot) were found on this comet that orbits the sun every five and a half years.
Discovered gem: olivine (peridot)
Researchers' description: "Zoned olivine phenocrysts (up to 2.2 mm) are set in a finer grained groundmass"; "Cores of olivine grains are orange in thin section, whereas olivine rims, groundmass olivine and groundmass pyroxene are all pale tan in color."
Meteorite Sueilila 002 was found in 2014 in Western Sahara. Mass: 3.69 kg
Martian Meteorite is a meteorite blasted off from the surface of Mars.
Discovered gem: olivine (peridot)
Researchers' description: "Olivine macrocrysts (to 1.5 mm) and microphenocrysts (to 0.4 mm) are set in a finer groundmass of patchily zoned pyroxene"; "Both the larger olivine macrocrysts and smaller olivine microphenocrysts exhibit thin ferroan rims against the groundmass".
Tissint fell in Morocco on 18 July 2011.
