Pseudometeorites: an identification guide. The largest meteorites that fell to earth Meteorite tests at home
Russian scientists have discovered fifty-three fragments from the so-called Chelyabinsk meteorite. According to the first estimates of Russian scientists, the price of one gram of meteorite fragments that exploded over Chelyabinsk is more than two thousand dollars. At the same time, scientific experts from the United States of America cite more modest figures.
Analysts in the “Russian News” and “Science” sections of the “Stock Leader” magazine were looking for answers to the following questions: what did scientists find, what is the value of the fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, and do the meteorite fragments pose a health hazard.
Chelyabinsk find
Experts from the Russian Academy of Sciences confirmed that the found fragments of the meteorite that fell on February 15 are of cosmic origin. The mass of a celestial body approaching the Earth with a diameter of 17 meters was 10 thousand tons. The Chelyabinsk meteorite entered the Earth's atmosphere at an acute angle. Its speed was approximately 18 kilometers per second, and 32.5 seconds after entering the Earth's atmosphere, it collapsed. The force of the explosion that occurred at an altitude of 15-25 kilometers from the surface of the earth was 500 kilotons.
The places where the fragments of the exploding meteorite landed were discovered already on the day when the meteorite fell to Earth. Of the three such places, two are in the Chebarkul district, and one is in the Zlatoust district of the Chelyabinsk region. On February 17, scientists from an expedition of the Ural Federal University near Lake Chebarkul found fragments of a meteorite that fell to the ground. Falling debris on the frozen lake created a hole 8 meters in diameter. Meteorite fragments were found at the edges of the ice hole.
Scientists conducted a chemical analysis of the fragments, whose average size was several centimeters. The analysis confirmed the unearthly origin of the found fragments. According to expert conclusions based on the study of the found fragments, the Chelyabinsk meteorite belongs to a type of meteorite, the most common type being chondrites. According to research conducted by scientists around the world, about 86 percent of all meteorites that fell to Earth are chondrites, named because of the presence of chondrules (spherical or elliptical formations, predominantly silicate composition).
As happens all over the world in similar cases, “meteor fever” also began in the Chelyabinsk region. Debris hunters search the snow for pieces of a meteorite that fell on February 15. The intensity of the process is evidenced by the fact that samples of fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite have already appeared at online auctions. However, their authenticity is of course not easy to confirm.
Price of fragments
Meteorite hunter Don Stimpson, who is the director of a museum in Kansas dedicated exclusively to meteorites, said in an interview with the Russian Voice of America service that 4 years ago in Texas on the same day - February 15 - a meteorite of the same type as the one named Chelyabinsk. The first pieces of meteorite found were the most valuable, and correspondingly the most expensive - the price of one gram of fragments reached up to $100. When the excitement died down a little, the price began to fall. According to the meteorite hunter, the price depends on many factors, primarily on how famous the meteorite event has become in the world, and of course on the type of meteorite, as well as on the supply and demand for its fragments, or rather, on how much they will be found. The director of the meteorite museum provided some specific figures: for a fragment of a chondrite meteorite from Africa weighing 300 grams, found in 1999 in Africa, they are asking $131. For a chondrite, which weighs only 90 grams more, you already have to pay about three thousand dollars.
Another meteorite expert, Mike Hankey, an expert at the American Meteorite Society, notes that the highest, hype price for fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite will be for a couple of days after the meteorite falls, then, when more fragments are found, prices will also decrease. The expert said that serious collectors are not at all concerned about the cost of the fragments; it is important for them to get hold of them as soon as possible. According to his estimates, within three months the price may drop by up to 90 percent compared to the current rush price. And if whole tons of fragments are discovered, then their price will generally be less than one dollar per gram.
Where to look for fragments?
Stimson believes that fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite can be found within a radius of 35 kilometers from the epicenter of the fall. In his opinion, a significant part of the celestial body lay at the bottom of Lake Chebarkul. He listed the main characteristics of meteorite fragments: they are usually black in color, covered with a black matte crust that forms under high temperatures. However, the crust does not always cover the entire fragment; from the inside, the meteorite usually looks like cement.
Another expert, Mike Hankey, suggested that in the Chelyabinsk region, within a radius of 35 kilometers from the epicenter of the fall. The size of the fragments can range from small, pea-sized to specimens the size of a tennis or baseball ball. But there may also be much larger fragments, weighing up to five kilograms, the expert noted in an interview for the Russian service of the Voice of America.
Does not pose a health hazard
Gary Cronk, an expert on meteorite showers, noted in a commentary for Voice of America that the fragments pose absolutely no threat to the health of people who possess them. Don Stimpson, who owns more than five tons of meteorites, also agrees with this statement! Mike Hankey noted that meteorite fragments are absolutely not dangerous to human health; they do not emit radiation, as many people mistakenly think. Gary Cronk said that before the Chelyabinsk meteorite, the last meteorite fall on Russian territory last occurred on June 30, 1908 in Siberia, and now Siberia has nothing to worry about, it will definitely not receive the next meteorite.
Is the fall predictable?
Hankey expressed the opinion that the fall of a meteorite is almost unpredictable. The fact is that small asteroids similar to the Chelyabinsk meteorite are too small, so they cannot be detected from a great distance. As Hanki emphasizes, there is only one known case in history when a meteorite similar to the Chelyabinsk one was noticed in space before it fell to Earth - a meteorite codenamed 8TA9D69 that fell in the Sudanese desert, the diameter of which was four meters, and the weight of the celestial body was 80 tons. The expert noted that large asteroids, the length of which reaches a kilometer, have been discovered, and astronomers are monitoring them.
The governor of the Chelyabinsk region, Mikhail Yurevich, has already taken the initiative, calling on world leaders to hold a meeting in Chelyabinsk to discuss the pressing problem of preventing such emergencies in the future.
Recently, more and more people have been turning to Ufokom with a request to identify strange finds, in most cases representing amorphous pieces of melted metal, sometimes quite large. Those who provided these iron grains most often creep in with the assumption of their cosmic origin. The press has circulated information that meteorites are “more valuable than gold”, so respectable Belarusians are looking for them like treasures and bringing all the stones that are unusual to mere mortal eyes in an endless stream.
True, the majority of those submitted to the “bureau of meteorite finds” operating under BelNIGRI, in fact, turn out to be completely terrestrial representatives of various groups of minerals. There is even a special name for them - pseudometeorites. Many people write about meteorites, but almost no one talks about them, only with the prefix “pseudo”. Meanwhile, every month the unique collection of pseudometeorites in Belarus is replenished with about 10 new specimens, and not a single one has been added to the collection of meteorites for about 20 years! So the situation has developed that a “critical mass” of pseudometeorites has already accumulated, and the population knows nothing about it. To prevent the critical mass from “detonating,” we decided to “neutralize” it by making a kind of virtual tour of the museum that exists on the basis of BelNIGRI, with the help of its head, Vsevolod Evgenievich Bordona.
- Vsevolod Evgenievich, tell us what is generally mistaken for meteorites and how to distinguish a pseudometeorite from a real one without laboratory analysis?
About 2 thousand tons of meteorites fall in the world every day. Some of them end up in collections, some disappear (most of them), and the population brings us mainly different alloys and rocks to determine whether they are “meteoritic.” In order to determine whether it is a meteorite or not, special research is needed. Sometimes a visual inspection of the sample is sufficient, but more often special tests are required. The meteorite usually appears as a charred rock, with a black film or crust of fusion covering it as it flew through the atmosphere. If a meteorite fell a long time ago, then as a result of oxidation and weathering, the melting crust takes on a red-brown color. And they usually bring us various boulders, pieces of rock, foundry waste, swamp ore, or any other ore that comes across. Most often they bring ordinary pieces of stones... When you wash it, you can see that it is a boulder or a piece of granite that has been rolled in.
In second place are various foundry wastes. This is usually iron silicate, which looks quite impressive as it initially seems. When waste is taken to be melted down, it is often lost along the way. It can show up in the most unusual place: in the forest, near the road, even in the garden...
Iron silicate or foundry waste. The composition of silicates includes silicon, as well as divalent and trivalent iron. Photo: Evgeny Shaposhnikov (Ufocom).
One of the samples transferred to Ufokom now takes its place in the BelNIGRI Museum and is a piece of “foam” left over from the melting of iron. Photo: Evgeny Shaposhnikov (Ufocom).
- What about the waste left over from human activity in the Bronze and Iron Ages? They were smelting something.
Yes, maybe, but we haven’t seen such exhibits in the museum yet. After all, the formula is not difficult to establish; Fe and Si are almost always present in certain proportions.
- And in third place?
In third place are fragments of shells and various bombs that remained from two world wars. They are very similar - metal, melted, and lying in the ground... Very similar, some of them I couldn’t even visually identify - maybe it’s a meteorite after all. But we sent them for special tests, even to the laboratory of the Tractor or Motor Plant, where the appropriate equipment is available. Most of them give a definition: this is Krupp steel (a type of steel armor) of such and such a year.
Sometimes you come across such fragments of ancient shells that they have already been in the ground for so long that they look like a meteorite, these are even remnants of the First World War. But they cannot have a melting crust either. Such samples are very difficult to identify yourself.
Yesterday a man arrived from Gomel. He brought two samples. We did an X-ray and spectral analysis, and it turned out it was not a meteorite. The Gomel resident wanted to pick up a sample. I feel bad for him, but I have to pay him. He doesn't care. And the analysis now costs about 100 thousand Belarusian rubles, so before carrying your “meteorite”, stock up on this amount. Otherwise, future analyzes will become impossible altogether!
- Are there mistakes?
There are. Here is an interesting sample that stood in the museum for a long time before me and was labeled as a fragment of the Bragin meteorite. I doubted it because the fusion bark was missing, and I sent it for testing. As a result, it turned out that it was an amphibolite - a rock whose components are hornblende and plagioclase - and he had to replenish another collection - this time pseudometeorites.
Help "UK". The “longest lying” Belarusian pseudometeorite is Ruzhansky, which we have already written about on our website. Its fragment was kept in the Slonim local history museum for 20 years. After the war, S.I. Ryng from the Committee on Meteorites of the USSR Academy of Sciences established that the sample stored in the museum was a boulder of sedimentary rock.
Meteorite tests at home
Appearance
There are three classes of meteorites: stony, iron (monolithic pieces of an iron-nickel alloy) and stony-iron (a metal sponge filled with a silicate substance). Meteorites tend to be heavier than commonly found minerals. Meteorites never melt through like slag and do not have bubbles, voids, or cavities inside. On the surface of meteorites, regmaglypts are often visible - smoothed depressions resembling finger indentations in clay, and the meteorite itself can have an aerodynamic shape.
On the surface of freshly fallen meteorites (recently fallen), you can see a melting crust. The body of the sample lacks layering, which is often observed in shale sandstones and jasper-like rocks. There are no carbonate rocks like chalk, limestone, dolomite. There are no fossils: shells, imprints of fossil fauna, etc. Meteorites do not have a large crystalline structure like granite.
Scratch test
Iron ore most often misleads search engines and researchers. Magnetite (magnetic iron ore, FeO Fe 2 O 3) has pronounced magnetic properties (hence its name). Hematite (iron mineral Fe 2 O 3) also has similar, but somewhat less pronounced properties.
How to quickly and reliably determine what is in your hands: magnetite or hematite? There is a simple but effective way to do this. The researchers called this test the “Scratch Test.” To do this, just vigorously scratch your sample onto... the unglazed surface of the ceramic (white) tile! If you don't have tiles at hand, an unglazed sink surface will do. You can also use the bottom of a ceramic coffee cup or the inside of a toilet cistern lid! The idea is clear - you need a white ceramic rough surface.
If the sample leaves a black or gray streak (like a soft lead pencil), then your sample is most likely magnetite; if the strip is bright red or brown, then you probably have hematite in your hands! A stone meteorite, if it has survived the falling conditions and temperature effects, will not leave marks on the surface of the tile. However, it is important to remember that the scratch test, like all tests mentioned here, are just estimates (conditions are necessary, but not sufficient) and do not provide a definitive conclusion about the nature of your sample.
Hot stone effect
Some people are familiar with the so-called “hot stones”. In 25% of cases they turn out to be stone meteorites. The metal detector reacts to them as if with a slight delay, after passing over them. Iron and stony meteorites are distinguished by a very clear response from the device.
Section
This test will partially destroy your sample! If your sample has passed the previous tests, then the moment of truth is close - you need to make a small section (a kind of “window”) on your sample to look inside the sample.
The challenge is to explore the internal structure. To do this, you need to make a cut on one side of the sample and, if possible, polish it. Carefully examine the exposed surface of the polished section from different angles. If you see shiny metal flakes scattered across the surface on the thin section, then your sample has increased its chances of becoming a meteorite. If the surface is simple, fine-grained or coarse-grained and has no traces of metal flakes, then the chances that you have a meteorite drop sharply.
Nickel test
All iron meteorites contain nickel, i.e. we are dealing with an iron-nickel alloy. Thus, testing a sample for nickel will often provide a definitive answer about the nature of your sample. If you have come this far, you are very persistent. A chemical test using dimethylglyoxime is used to determine the nickel content of a sample. It can be obtained from a chemistry laboratory.
If you drop this organic compound (C 4 H 8 N 2 O 2) onto the surface of a sample, a bright red precipitate forms on the surface - the result of the interaction of dimethylglyoxime with nickel ions. Use caution when performing this test.
There is also this option: dissolve the drug in industrial alcohol. In one liter of alcohol, after vigorous shaking, approximately a tablespoon of dimethylglyoxime will dissolve, and a small amount of undissolved substance will settle to the bottom. Next, you need to take a regular sheet of paper and cut strips 5 mm wide, like litmus papers in dough, soak in the resulting solution and dry. Drop a few drops of ammonia (or regular vinegar) onto the sample, wait a couple of minutes and blot with a test strip. If the stripe turns light pink, then in front of you is most likely a meteorite; if it remains white, the stone can be thrown away or sold for scrap.
Our planet is surrounded by a huge number of different celestial bodies. Small ones, when falling to Earth, go unnoticed, but the fall of larger ones, weighing up to several hundred kilograms and even tons, leaves various consequences. Scientists from the Canadian Astrophysical Institute in Ottawa claim that a meteorite shower with a total weight of more than 20 tons hits the Earth's surface every year. The weight of individual meteorites ranges from several grams to tons.
(23 photos of meteorites + video)
The largest meteorites that fell on Earth
On April 22, 2012, a celestial body appeared near the surface of the Earth, moving at tremendous speed. Flying over the US states of Nevada and California, scattering hot particles, the meteorite exploded in the sky over Washington. The power of the explosion was about 4 kilotons of TNT, which is almost eighty times less than the power of the explosion. Research by scientists has established that the Sutter Mill meteorite was formed during the formation of the solar system. 
A year has already passed since February 2012, when hundreds of meteorite rocks fell over an area of 100 km in China. Eyewitnesses still remember this extraordinary event. The largest meteorite found weighed 12.6 kg. 
Near Lake Titicaca in Peru, in the fall of 2007, a meteorite fell, which eyewitnesses observed as a falling body engulfed in fire. The fall of the meteorite was accompanied by a loud noise, reminiscent of the sound of a falling plane. 
At the crash site, a crater 6 m deep and 30 m in diameter formed, from which a fountain of hot water burst out. The consequences of the meteorite fall are still felt by local residents.
Most likely, the celestial body contained toxic substances; 1,500 people living in the area closest to the crash site suffer from severe headaches.
In the summer of 1998, a meteorite fell near the Turkmen city of Kunya-Urgench, which received the name of the city. The fall of the celestial body was accompanied by a bright light. At the site where the largest meteorite fragment (weighing 820 kg) fell, a five-meter crater formed. Fortunately, no local residents were injured; the meteorite fell on a cotton field. 
Scientists have established the age of the Turkmen meteorite - more than 4 billion years, this is the largest among the stone meteorites that fell on the territory of the CIS. Among all the known stone meteorites that fell to Earth, Kunya-Urgench is the third largest. Stone meteorites most often fall to Earth, their share is almost 93% of all types of celestial bodies that fell on the planet. The Chelyabinsk meteorite, according to the first estimates of scientists, was iron.
Meteorite Sterlitamak, 1990
On the night of May 17, 1990, a celestial body weighing 315 kilograms fell 20 kilometers from Sterlitamak. The meteorite, called Sterlitamak, left a crater with a diameter of 10 meters at the site of its impact on a state farm field. The largest fragment was not found immediately, but only a year later, at a depth of 12 meters. Nowadays it is an exhibit of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography. The meteorite, weighing 315 kilograms, has dimensions of 0.5x0.4x0.25 meters.
In March 1976, the largest shower of rock meteorites in history occurred in the Chinese province of Jilin. The fall of cosmic bodies to Earth continued for 37 minutes, the speed of the fall reached 12 kilometers per second. About a hundred meteorites were found, the largest of which was named Jilin (Girin), weighing 1.7 tons. 
In the winter of 1947, a meteorite fell in the form of iron rain in the Far Eastern Ussuri taiga in the Sikhote-Alin mountains. Having fragmented in the atmosphere as a result of the explosion, the meteorite turned into many fragments that fell over an area of 10 sq. km. In places where the debris fell, more than 30 craters were formed, from 7 to 28 m in diameter, up to 6 m deep. 
About 27 tons of meteorite debris were found over a vast area. 
The largest meteorite currently known to science is called Goba. An iron giant with a volume of 9 cubic meters and weighing almost 66 tons fell to the surface of the Earth in prehistoric times. After lying on Earth for approximately 80,000 years, in 1920 the meteorite was found in Namibia. 
The Goba meteorite is the heaviest of all cosmic bodies that has ever hit the surface of our planet. It consists mainly of iron. Now it is the largest piece of naturally occurring iron on Earth. It still lies in Namibia, southwest Africa. Since its discovery, the meteorite has lost almost 6 tons in weight as a result of scientific research, erosion and vandalism. Now it weighs 60 tons. 
The mysterious Tunguska meteorite is considered one of the most studied on the planet, but continues to remain the most mysterious phenomenon of the beginning of the last century. On June 30, 1908, in the early morning, a giant fireball flew over the territory of the Yenisei River basin. Over an uninhabited taiga region, the object exploded at an altitude of 7-10 km. The blast wave circled the globe twice and was so powerful that it was recorded by all observatories in the world. 
The power of the explosion of the Tunguska meteorite is equal to the energy of the most powerful hydrogen bomb - 40-50 kilotons. The space giant, presumably weighing from 100 thousand tons to 1 million tons, rushed at speeds of tens of kilometers per second.
The blast wave felled trees over an area of more than 200 sq. km, and window panes were broken in houses. Within a radius of 40 kilometers, animals died and people were injured. After the explosion, an intense glow of the sky and clouds was observed over a vast area for several days. 
The answer to the question: what was that? - still no. If the fireball was a meteorite, then a gigantic crater with a depth of at least 500 m should have appeared at the crash site. But in all subsequent years it was never found. The Tunguska meteorite remains a mystery of the 20th century. The celestial body exploded in the air, the consequences were colossal, and no remains or debris were ever found on Earth. 
Meteor shower, USA, 1833
On an autumn November night in 1833, a meteorite rained over the United States. Within 10 hours, meteorites of various sizes fell on the surface of the Earth, the total number of which exceeded 240,000. The source of this phenomenon was the most powerful of the currently known meteorite showers, which is called the Leonids.
About two dozen meteorite showers pass near the Earth every day. Scientists know about 50 comets that theoretically have the potential to cross the Earth's orbit. About once every ten years the Earth collides with relatively small cosmic bodies. Despite the fact that the movement of celestial bodies has been quite well studied and predicted, the next collision of a meteorite with the surface of the Earth is always a mysterious and surprising phenomenon for most of the planet’s inhabitants.
HD Video of Meteor Shower
Meteor falling
Meteorite cut through the earth's atmosphere on February 15, 2013 over the city of Chelyabinsk. The approximate weight of the meteorite was later determined to be 10 thousand tons. At great speed it streaked across the sky over the city and split into many pieces. The townspeople not only heard a powerful explosion, but also felt the scorching heat of the blast wave. The windows of many houses and institutions were broken, power lines stopped functioning, and destruction affected the entire city. The suddenness of the appearance of the “space alien” is due to the fact that it fell from the direction of the sun and thus was not visible through telescopes. The largest parts of the meteorite fell into Lake Chebarkul and therefore no more harm was caused to human lives and the city. Undoubtedly, if the debris had fallen on the city, casualties would have been inevitable - they were flying at such speed.
Meteorite debris
The meteorite split into many pieces. The largest ones fell into the lake, while the smaller ones fell many kilometers around and inside the city. Since a state of emergency was immediately declared in the city, not only emergency situations teams were sent to the site, but also experts. The fragments subjected to analysis did not immediately reveal their secret. In addition, the smallest particles needed to be collected, and many people wanted to leave their finds as a souvenir, and therefore the process of collecting the smallest particles over such a large area became more complicated. Some parts were found near remote villages, and attempts to find meteorite fragments in the lake were unsuccessful, and on the contrary, they raised doubts whether there were meteorite fragments there - the divers' report was so pessimistic. However, chemical analysis was successfully carried out on the materials found.
Chemical composition of the meteorite
An analysis of meteorite fragments found near the village of Yemanzhelinka, carried out at the SB RAS, made it possible to determine the composition more accurately. The mineral composition was found to be close to that of other LL5 chondrites, such as Hautes Fagnes, Belgium and Salzwedel, Germany. These chondrites do not contain the glass that fills the large cracks in Chelyabinsk. In addition, the glass contains impurities of silicates and other substances, and its composition is similar to the melting crust, the thickness of which is about 1 mm. Ilmenite, also not found in other LL5 chondrites, was found in small quantities in the Chelyabinsk meteorite. The melting crust contains pentlandite (Fe,Ni)9S8, godlevskite (Ni,Fe)9S8, awaruite Ni2Fe-Ni3Fe, octium, iridium, platinum, hibbingite Fe22+(OH)3Cl and magnetite Fe2+Fe23+O4. The glass contains 10-15 µm globules of heazlewoodite and godlevskite composition, which appeared after crystallization of the Fe-Ni-S sulfide melt. In the unmelted parts of small fragments at the boundary between troilite and olivine, pentlandite is sometimes present, which, apparently, is the only copper concentrator. At the grain boundaries between olivine, orthopyroxene, and chromite, chlorapatite and merrillite grains with sizes of 100-200 μm were found. Chondrules are >1 mm in size and have a heterogeneous composition. Hibbingite Fe2(OH)3Cl was also discovered, which appears to be of cosmic origin, unlike iron, which can oxidize and chlorinate through long-term interaction with soil water, because it was found in the central part of the meteorite fragment. The melting crust contains wustite FeO with admixtures of Ni, Mg, and Co oxides according to energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.
The result of the examination, naturally, is understandable only to professionals, but we present it with the desire to show how extraordinary the composition of the meteorite is.
Exploration of Lake Chebarkul
On October 16, exploration of the lake for the meteorite that disappeared in it was crowned with success. An operation was carried out to lift the largest meteorite fragment. Employees of Chelyabinsk State University participated in the recovery in order to identify the meteorite. The largest fragment recovered weighs approximately 570 kg, information is not accurate due to the fact that the scales broke when trying to weigh the fragment. During the ascent, the meteorite fragment was damaged and all that remained of it was one large piece with a diameter of about 80 cm and several small ones. In addition, 4 more fragments weighing from 900 grams to 5 kg were extracted from the lake; the fragments were handed over to scientists for study and further research. Traces of rust and dents, as well as characteristic melting, indicated that the fragments found belonged to a meteorite.
The meteorite still holds many mysteries, but has already begun to share its secrets.
Can generally be classified as one of three types of meteorites: iron, stony-iron and stony. Most meteorites that come to us are stone, but detecting and distinguishing them by appearance is much more difficult than iron ones.
In addition, pieces of space debris fall to Earth, and it is also possible to distinguish them from meteorite fragments only during laboratory research.
How to distinguish a fragment of cosmic origin from an ordinary stone?
Anyone can find a meteorite fragment. However, not every stone that you encounter on the road is a cosmic “alien”.
When scientists go “hunting” for meteorites, they equip an expedition and use special instruments that allow them to detect and classify a space object in the field. They use metal detectors because objects of space origin often contain metal. If there is a suspicion of extraterrestrial origin, then an initial analysis of the finds is carried out in the field (tested for electrical conductivity, magnetic properties) and then sent to laboratories to conduct a chemical analysis of the found fragments.
According to specialist of the Vladimir State Planetarium Valentina Glazova, in fact, only a specialist in this field can distinguish a meteorite fragment. However, there are general recommendations that will help you understand whether there is a possibility that you have a meteorite in your hands:
The edges of the meteorite are melted (due to heating after passing through the Earth's atmosphere);
- the meteorite exhibits magnetic properties (if you apply a strong magnet to it, it will become magnetized);
- the meteorite is heavy (a stone of similar size will weigh much less);
- the surface of the iron and iron-stone meteorite is heterogeneous - peculiar “fingerprints” are visible on it, as if left by hands on plasticine;
- meteorites often have a dark “charred” color, but after lying in the soil for a long time, the surface of a meteorite containing iron can oxidize and acquire a “rusty” tint.
When purchasing a meteorite fragment, remember that no expert can say with certainty whether it is genuine or just a piece of iron ore.
Is it possible to sell meteorites?
There is no special legislation regulating interaction with the found meteorite.
Leading researcher at the Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry named after. Vernadsky, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Andrei Ivanov noted that in order to legalize a meteorite in Russia, it is necessary to register it in the International Catalog of Meteorites. This procedure in the Russian Federation can be completed exclusively in the laboratory of meteoritics of the Geochemical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to the rules of the International Meteorite Nomenclature Committee, you must provide at least 20% of the find to the meteorology laboratory, but you can dispose of the remaining 80% at your discretion.
However, do not forget that it is the property of this state.
What else are they selling?
There are a lot of ordinary stones put up for sale under the guise of meteorites. However, scammers fake not only cosmic bodies, but also completely earthly historical objects. For example, tourists are offered to buy pieces of the Berlin Wall, fragments of ancient dolmens (ancient stone structures) or stones from the Egyptian Pyramids. For tourists, there will always be coins from the time of Caesar, slivers of sarcophagi, and fragments of ancient Greek sculptures.
You shouldn't fall for these tricks. Everything that has antique and historical value, as well as items that are necessary and important for science or are state property cannot be objects of free trade.
