[meteorite-list] International Brachinite Day - Hug your Brachinite!

From: Dark Matter <freequarks_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:26:54 -0600
Message-ID: <822da19a0907302226k6a29a299h10ae29057164dfd3_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Mike and All,

Back about seven years ago, I wrote an article about a brachanite
landing in my collection. But of course back then the pickings of such
things were few.

Here's the link:

http://www.meteorite-times.com/Back_Links/2002/August/Accretion_Desk.htm

Best,

Martin



On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Galactic Stone &
Ironworks<meteoritemike at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi List!
>
> To celebrate the 462nd annual International Brachinite Day, I thought
> I might share a few photos of my latest acquisition - NWA 5471.
>
> Many of you on the List have seen this meteorite before, but for those
> who have not, here is some background information on it...
>
> I received this 1.74 gram slice from Martin Altmann at Chladni's
> Heirs. ?Thanks again Martin! :)
>
> Brachinite is very difficult to photograph because it's almost
> entirely composed of olivine - which is tricky to get proper lighting.
>
> Some research suggests that brachinites originate from the
> olivine-rich asteroid 289 Nenetta. ?At first, it was thought that
> brachinites were Martian members of the Chassignite family - because
> Chassigny contains a similar amount of olivine. But oxygen isotopic
> age studies revealed that olivine is far too old to be Martian and it
> shows some affinities to the eucrite group.
>
> Brachinites are rather boring to look at under typical lighting, but
> it reveals it's true beauty under cross-polarized light - click on the
> following link to see :
>
> http://www4.nau.edu/meteorite/Meteorite/Brachinite.html
>
> Martin's description of this brachinite is apt -
>
> "Brachinites rank among the most enigmatic meteorites, they are
> primitive dunitic rocks, though their isotopes and petrology are so
> heterogeneous, that so far no satisfying theory about their origins
> and formation could have been established. Brachinites are exceedingly
> rare, the combined weights of all finds in history do not exceed
> 10kgs, making this class five times rarer than lunar meteorites. NWA
> 5471 is weakly shocked and moderately weathered. "
>
> This specimen is part of my new collecting strategy - nothing under 1
> gram unless it's Lunar or Martian. (or similarly cost-prohibitive).
> In the past, I would have been happy with a 100mg specimen. ?This
> particular small slice is 1.746 grams.
>
> Photo links :
>
> http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/brachinite/brach-1.jpg
>
> http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/brachinite/brach-2.jpg
>
> http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj24/Meteoritethrower/Meteorites/brachinite/brach-3.jpg
>
> Best regards and clear skies,
>
> MikeG
> --
> .........................................................
> Michael Gilmer (Florida, USA)
> Member of the Meteoritical Society.
> Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
> Personal Site - http://www.glassthrower.com
> FaceBook - http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
> MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fine_meteorites_4_sale
> Twitter - Twitter - http://twitter.com/GalacticStone
> eBay - http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/maypickle
> ..........................................................
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Received on Fri 31 Jul 2009 01:26:54 AM PDT