A lunar meteorite and two tektites have recently been acquired for the Earth Systems section. Lunar meteorites (rock fragments originating from the moon that have fallen to earth) are exceedingly rare but still outweigh the mass of samples retrieved by the Apollo missions by about 154% and sample a much wider area, including the far side of the moon. For these reasons, lunar meteorites continue to be incredibly valuable in ongoing lunar research.
This particular meteorite, NWA 11474, is part of an unobserved fall in Northwest Africa and is representative of the lunar highlands. Tektites, conversely, show the impact of meteorites on the earth’s surface and are created through melting of terrestrial rock upon a meteoritic impact. These newly acquired tektites display interesting morphologies unique to the museum’s current collection and are also significantly larger than those we have at present.
Lunar meteorite, NWA 11474
Rizalite
Indochinite