Henbury Meteorite

Henbury Meteorite

This Iron meteorite was found in the Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve, Northern Territory, Australia. The Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve is a series of craters created by a meteorite event that happened around 4.7 thousand years ago. This particular sample has been cut and etched to show the crystalline structure inside.

At Henbury there are at least 13 craters. They range from 7 to 180 metres in diameter, with the largest measuring 15 metres in depth. The craters were formed as multiple meteorites struck the Earth from the same fall. It was originally a single meteoroid, but it broke apart under the tremendous stress put upon it from travelling at incredible speed through the Earth's atmosphere. Several tonnes of iron-nickel fragments have been recovered from the site in total.

Classified as an Octahedrite, this Iron meteorite is made up of iron-nickel alloy, also known as meteoric iron. Iron meteorites are rarer than Stony meteorites, but due to the material they are made from they are easier to identify. They are believed to originate from the cores of ancient asteroids that have broken apart after colliding with other objects in space. One face of the meteorite has been cut and polished, to show the pattern that was made in the metal as the iron and nickel atoms slowly cooled down in the core of the asteroid - having previously been in a molten state.

Web resources

• Natural History Museum Website