Detailed information
Species
Medium Octahedrite
Dimensions
27 x 43 x 23
mm
Weight
52 g
Locality
Mundrabilla meteorite Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire Western Australia, Australia
Condition
No recorded repairs
First found in 1911, the story behind the Mundrabilla meteorite is far more complicated. Now known to be one of the largest iron meteorites found, the initial discovery in Western Australia was of a piece just 112 g in weight. Several other small fragments were found during the following years, but it was in 1966 that the main 12.4 tonne mass, and another 5.44 tonne mass were found in the Nullarbor Plain. Compositionally, a Medium Octahedrite, this 51.7 g cut and polished sample shows the classic Widmanstätten internal structure nicely as well as the rounded outer surfaces caused during its entry into the Earth's atmosphere and through nearly a million years of being sat in the desert. The cut surface looks like it might have been varnished. Ex David Baker Collection.