Aletai Iron Meteorite [IIIE-an]

THE FOSSIL STORE™ fallen extraterrestrial star series that form our ever-evolving solar system dating 4,400,000,000+ [4.4+ Billion] years, with less than 0.01% of 50,000+ terrestrial impacts occurring each year on the planets that we know of, many of which burn upon entering earth's upper atmosphere or fall into our oceans. Meteorites such as Aletai originated within an ancient asteroidal parent body formed during the early history of our Solar System. Following the disruption of that body, fragments travelled through space before encountering Earth. As a fragment entered the atmosphere, intense atmospheric heating and ablation shaped its exterior before it reached the surface as a meteorite. Aletai specimens may exhibit characteristic surface features such as regmaglypts-shallow depressions formed by ablation during atmospheric entry-along with natural fractures or weathering resulting from their subsequent time on Earth. Aletai is a rare iron meteorite from Xinjiang, China, officially classified as Iron, IIIE-an (anomalous IIIE). Composed predominantly of iron-nickel metal, it originates from the differentiated metallic interior of an ancient asteroidal body that formed during the earliest history of our Solar System. Iron meteorites are believed to represent material from the cores of once-molten planetary bodies. Their iron-nickel composition and crystalline structures, including kamacite and taenite, preserve evidence of the extremely slow cooling processes that occurred billions of years ago. Aletai is particularly notable for its unusual chemical characteristics and enormous recovered mass, making it an important meteorite for the scientific study of asteroid differentiation and the early evolution of the Solar System. STAT Type: Iron Meteorite - IIIE-an Name: Aletai Origin: Xinjiang, China Year Found: 1898 Total Recorded Mass: ~74 tonnes Composition: Iron-nickel metal Age: Approximately 4.5 billion years Status: Meteorite discoveries Weight availabilities: 100-2000+ Kg