1.2" Campo del Cielo Iron Meteorite (14.6 g) Nugget - Argentina

The Campo Del Cielo Meteorite

Campo del Cielo refers to a group of meteorites that were discovered within an 18.5 by 3-kilometer area near Campo del Cielo Argentina. These meteorites were part of an approximately 300-ton meteorite fall that likely occurred between 4000-5000 years ago. At least 26 craters have been discovered since their report to the general public in 1576. Approximately 100 tons of meteorite fragments have been recovered, the most of any meteorite find.

About Iron Meteorites

Iron type meteorites are composed primarily of iron and nickel, and are the remnants of differential cores torn apart at the beginning of the solar system. These metallic meteorites are often the easiest to identify after millions of years post-impact because they are quite different from terrestrial material, especially when it comes to their mass-to-surface area ratio. They are exceptionally heavy for their size since iron is a high-density metal: this is also why the Earth's core is nickel-iron. As planets form, the densest metals form gravitational centers, bringing more and more material into their gravitational pull. In the solar system's rocky planets, these dense materials are most often nickel and iron.

Most iron meteorites have distinctive, geometric patterns called Widmanstätten patterns, which become visible when the meteorite is cut and acid etched. These patterns are criss-crossing bands of the iron-nickel alloys kamacite and taenite that slowly crystalized as the core of the meteorites' parent bodies slowly cooled. Such large alloy crystallizations for mover millions of years and do not occur naturally on Earth, further proving that iron meteorites come from extraterrestrial bodies.