Most Interesting Meteorites Found on Earth

It was found in China and, as of 2019, is the most expensive meteorite ever offered, valued at €1.7 million.

It contains peridot, a yellow-green gem (the bright spots you see in the image). The peridot grains are quite large and are set in a dark matrix of iron and nickel. This meteorite is thought to be 4.5 billion years old, the age of our planet. It's also quite large, as you can see.

This meteorite looks awesome. The guy in the photo is lucky because he got to hold that big thing. I really wish I had this meteorite.

It's a very large metal meteorite. It weighed more than 16 tonnes when found in 1902 in Oregon, U.S. It consists of iron and nickel only, with no gems.

It probably originated from the core of asteroids or planetesimals that collided with another object. The meteorite has a striking, perhaps even scary, appearance, suggesting a tumultuous journey through space.

It's the third most expensive meteorite ever offered, valued at €851,000.

It fell in 2013 in Chelyabinsk, Russia. There are several interesting aspects:

1. Its fall was witnessed.

2. Its fall was documented - there are many pictures and videos available.

3. One unfortunate fact is that it is the only meteorite to have injured large numbers of people. Over 1,500 people needed medical treatment that day.

4. Its explosion over Chelyabinsk was documented. The explosion generated a bright flash, produced a large shock wave, a hot cloud of dust and gas, and many surviving small fragmentary meteorites.

There are 33 fragments of the meteorite found in 1838 in Namibia. It's an iron meteorite composed of an iron-nickel alloy (92% iron).

In the image, you see one of the fragments. I chose this particular fragment because it resembles Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream." This meteorite fragment could be confused with a modern sculpture on display in a gallery of modern art.

It fell in Namibia in prehistoric times and has an estimated value of €280,000, making it the 10th most expensive meteorite ever offered.

It's interesting for its high scientific value, gems, and mass. It fell in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, and was the first pallasite meteorite ever found and studied. Pallasite is a stony-iron meteorite, a type of meteorite that often contains gems, usually peridot.

The Krasnojarsk Meteorite was detected in 1749, but its analysis began in 1772, thanks to Peter Simon Pallas. Pallas was a Prussian zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia. He was invited by Catherine II of Russia to become a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and he led expeditions to many Russian provinces.

In 1772, Pallas was shown a 680-kg lump of metal near Krasnoyarsk. The analysis showed it to be a new type of stony-iron meteorite. The Pallasite group of meteorites was named after him. This meteorite was used to demonstrate the reality of meteorite falls on Earth, which were at the time considered fairy tales by most scientists.

The meteorite's main mass of 515 kilograms (1,134 lb) is in Moscow, at the Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences. A slice of the meteorite is at the American Museum of Natural History.

It is a stony-iron meteorite with gemstones, specifically peridot. When cut and polished, it shows yellowish olivine (peridot) crystals. It fell in Kansas, US, probably about 20,000 years ago.

The Brenham Meteorite has several fragments, and the largest one (the main mass) weighs 650 kilograms (1,430 lb). As of 2019, the main mass of the Brenham Meteorite is valued at €896,000, making it the second most expensive meteorite.

A large and old iron meteorite with many fragments found in Argentina. One of its fragments (Gancedo) is the third-largest meteorite on Earth. Another fragment (El Chaco) is the fourth-largest meteorite on Earth (as shown in the image).

The craters containing iron masses were reported in 1576 but were already well-known to the aboriginal people living in the area. The craters' estimated age is 4,000-5,000 years. The crater field has at least 26 craters, the largest being 115 by 91 meters (377 by 299 ft).

It contains large grains of gem-quality peridot in a matrix of iron and nickel. In the image, you see a slice of the meteorite, not the entire piece.

The Esquel Meteorite was found in 1951 in Argentina and weighed about 700 kg. It was once part of a planet or another large body in our solar system that had a metallic core and a rocky mantle.

It is the largest meteorite from Mars discovered on Earth to date. It fell in Nigeria in 1962.

The largest meteorite of any kind on Earth, as of 2019. It was discovered in Namibia in 1920. It's composed of iron and nickel and weighs about 60 tonnes.

The name sounds funny to me, and the meteorite looks like an animal, perhaps a turtle. Mbozi is a large and heavy iron meteorite weighing about 16 metric tons. As of 2019, it is the eighth largest meteorite on Earth. It was found in 1930 in Tanzania.

Another rare meteorite with gem peridot, found in Missouri, US. It's the fourth most expensive meteorite as of 2019.