1.77" Polished Eucrite Meteorite (19.9 g) Slice - Africa

Polished Eucrite Meteorite ( g) Slice - Africa #247014

This is a 1.77" wide (19.9 gram) stony (achondrite) meteorite from northwestern Africa. It is a HED-eucrite largely composed of melt breccia, creating large, highly contrasted grains.

This specimen has been sliced and polished on one side.

Eucrite Meteorites - Fragments Of 4 Vesta

Eucrites are achondritic stony meteorites thought to have originated from the surface of the giant asteroid (or minor planet) 4 Vesta. Vesta is the second largest body in the asteroid belt, measuring 326 miles wide. Like Earth, it has the differentiated layers of crust, mantle, and core common to rocky planets: this may mean that 4 Vesta is the remnant of a larger destroyed planet.

Eucrites consist of basaltic rock from Vesta's crust ejected during a collision with another asteroid. Eucrites are mostly composed of calcium-poor pyroxene, pigeonite, and calcium-rich plagioclase (anorthite). Vesta is currently one of just seven identified solar system bodies of which we have physical samples.

A true color image of 4 Vesta taken by NASA's Dawn probe in July of 2011.