[meteorite-list] Mystery Achondrite Found in Amgala Batch

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:53 2004
Message-ID: <078801c41299$839b3620$ad971018_at_attbi.com>

Hi Tracy and List,

A few things lead me to believe it might be lunar. First there is
absolutely no hint of being attracted to even the most powerful magnet.
Second the crust is not black because there is no iron in the matrix to
darken it during ablation. The color is translucent caramel with a hint of
green. The crust is smooth and very shiny not flat black like most fresh
chondrites. There are vesiclulated melt pockets visible through the very
thin crust just like NWA 482. The matrix is chalk white just like
anorthosite with heavily shocked areas. The matrix is composed of fine
grained crushed crystals meaning it could not possible be a Diogenite which
display large crystals. Only a laboratory can tell for sure. If it is pure
anorthosite I am betting it is lunar.

Kind Regards,

Adam




----- Original Message -----
From: "tracy latimer" <daistiho_at_hotmail.com>
To: <adamhupe_at_comcast.net>; <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 10:08 AM
Subject: RE: [meteorite-list] Mystery Achondrite Found in Amgala Batch


> Congratulations on your possible lunar! For those of us who have never
> owned a piece of lunar larger than a crumb, what distinguishing visual
> characteristics make it different from, say, a piece of Bensour (which, at
> first glance, your new rock resembles.) They're both largely a nice
glowing
> white, from what I can see, with or without dark shock veins.
>
> Tracy Latimer
>
>
> >After going through our last batch of completely crusted Amgala chondrite
> >specimens we came across this achondrite. I guess it pays to use a
magnet
> >and a microscope to look at each and every specimen. After a magnet was
> >not
> >the least bit attracted to this stone we examined it under a microscope
and
> >saw a thin translucent caramel colored crust with contraction cracks. We
> >ground a small edge and were shocked by what we saw next. It looks
almost
> >like NWA 482 but brighter with what appears to be a pure white
anorthosite
> >matrix. This possible lunar is absolutely gorgeous and fresh! Now we
know
> >what Robert Haag must of felt like when he ground a corner off of
Calcalong
> >Creek. It will now be a game of hurry up and wait for lab results.
> <snip>
> >
> >Adam and Greg Hupe
>
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Received on Thu 25 Mar 2004 01:46:41 PM PST