Mysterious inclusion in stony meteorite NWA 788

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:09 pm

Hi folks,

What I know:

This is an 11.2g end slice of a stony meteorite from the Casablanca region in Morocco. It was first recorded in March 2001, however the actual date of fall is not known. It has been classified by UCLA as a type L6 Chondrite. Metallic iron content is between 5% and 10% (you can see metalic flecks in photo). The total known (ie, collected) weight of this meteorite fall is ~13Kgs.

The image is of the unpolished, cut surface of the meteorite. It includes a small area of approximately 6.5mm x 5mm. The meteorite has quite a varied surface to explore under the scope, however what I found particularly interesting is the mysterious lozenge shaped object shown in the enlarged insert. I have no idea what it is - it's the wrong shape for a chondrule - so my best guess is a crystal of some mineral or other?

This image was a pig to get under the 200Kb limit as there is just so much edge-to-edge detail. The original 800x600 file out of photoshop was 343Kb.

Bruce

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:33 am

Very interesting Bruce.

Extraterrestrial fossil?

Or how about artificial?

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 5:00 am

That "what ever it is," makes for an interesting and puzzling photographe there Bruce

Would it not be a "feather in ones cap" to have come across a metorite with a fossil embedded within

While we are poking around with "rovers" on Mars hoping to find a bit of water and maybe a microorganism or two, it just so happens that a bit of evidence of extraterrestrial life just happens to fall out of space right into our laps

As I said a very interesting and puzzling image there Bruce, thanks

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:53 am

Thanks for your comments guys. Yes it's fun to speculate on exotic possibilities isn't it. I took this close-up this afternoon at the Meiji maximum 45X magnification to see if I could weedle out a bit more detail. I tried differnt lighting too but have to say not with a great deal of success, however here it is anyway (egg shape is ~1mm long):

Try squinting at the image , it might help

Rik - tried your suggested approach - thanks.

Bruce

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:42 pm

Well, I tried squinting and then just plain staring at the thing but nothing seems to take shape. An unusual anomaly I would think.

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:08 pm

Interesting Ken. Perhaps because I know what to look for it just jumps out at me - or maybe it's our monitors? Does this tinted version help you locate it?8-[

Bruce

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:27 pm

Oh, I located the object just fine. I was referring to an attempt to place it as something that would be recognizable as say a fossil for example.

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:33 pm

Gotcha

No it's most likely something far less exciting - some sort of mineralisation I should think.

Bruce

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:50 pm

However, the crystals are also replicators like a living things.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:03 pm

You know Graham could be on to something with his post and thoughts on the formation.

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:52 pm

Yes, I agree Ken ...and not inconsistent with Nikola's last comment either

Please check out Graham's posting at:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 1148#11148

Bruce

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 3:32 am

now thats interesting..