[meteorite-list] Lunar and Apollo Meteorites

From: almitt2 at localnet.com <almitt2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:11:08 -0400
Message-ID: <20110812041108.1hijwzgf44v4oc08_at_webmail.localnet.com>

The Apollo program which brought back some 840 lbs of material or about
7 times the amount of found lunar meteorites.

The average weight of a lunar meteorite is 382.895 grams. However if
you subtract the two largest lunar meteorites which weigh about half
the total of all found lunar meteorites there is an average weight of
210.82 grams. One could actually subtract a few more large specimens
and the average weight would be down in the 150 average gram range.

So your average lunar meteorite will or should weight from 150 to 400
grams average. You still have to keep an eye out for the big guys
though. Before 1997 only about 10 or 12 lunar meteorites were known.
 From 1997 after DAG 262 was found, till 2010 a total of 54 specimens
were located which is an average of four per year. Most of these were
located in basically one continent.

Of the lunar types there are: feldspathic breccia types (most common
37), mafic breccia types (3), mingled breccias (16), and the mare
bassalts (10). Or about 66 unique specimens not paired.

Keep in mind my figures could be off or now outdated. I added all these
up in about an hours time. A good reference on lunar meteorites
continues to be: Washington University in St. Louis.

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/moon_meteorites_list_alpha.htm

All my best!

--AL Mitterling
Received on Fri 12 Aug 2011 04:11:08 AM PDT