Certified Meteorite - Vaca Muerta - 9.78g - Rare Mesosiderite Meteorite (stony-iron deals type) from Atacama Desert - Chile

Certified Vaca Muerta Meteorite - Atacama Desert - Chile

Find: 1861
Location: Southern Antofagasta, Chile
Classification: Mesosiderite-A1
Total Known Weight: 3.83 t

About the Vaca Muerta Meteorite
Vaca Muerta is a Mesosiderite Meteorite. Mesosiderites are stony-iron space rocks that are a half and half mixture of nickel-iron and rock.
Vaca Muerta is Spanish for "dead cow." The meteorite was named for a nearby dry riverbed in the Atacama Desert of Chile. It was first discovered in 1861, but the location was lost for nearly 100 years, in 1985 the Vaca Muerta meteorite strewnfield was rediscovered by the Martinez brothers who documented the meteorite deals craters and also found several large masses. Much Vaca Muerta meteorite has been recovered over the decades, but little new can now be found at the site. Vaca Muerta is one of the most stable and trouble free of the mesosiderites. These specimens have been cleaned but left in a near natural state. Most have a highly polished flat face which reveals the metal and stone mixture.

Vaca Muerta is one of the 7 mesosiderites classified as A1 Mesosiderites (relatively plagioclase-rich; unequilibrated matrix). Large pieces of Vaca Muerte are found at a number of museums, 15 kg at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, 9 kg in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, 8 kg in the Museum of Natural History in London, etc. mm. No shock veins are visible.