Specimen: Campo del Cielo Nickel-Iron Crystal

Location: Campo del Cielo, Argentina

Size: 29 x 22 x 10mm (1.14 x 0.87 x 0.39 inches)  

Weight: 18g

These are Campo del Cielo Nickel-Iron Crystals Meteorites from Campo del Cielo, Argentina, and are around 4-6,000 years old. Prepared by super-cooling and fracturing. 

Campo del Cielo is a Nickel-Iron Meteorite, classified by the width of its Widmanstatten pattern as a coarse octahedrite. The original huge mass fell approximately 6000 years ago in Argentina, about 500 miles NNW of Buenos Aries.

The first record of the Campo del Cielo meteorite was in 1576. A Spanish governor learned of the iron from the Indians, who reportedly believed that it had fallen from heaven. The governor sent an expedition under Captain de Miraval, who brought back a few pieces of a huge iron mass he called Meson de Fierro (large table of iron). The location of the find was the Campo del Cielo (field of the sky or heaven), a fitting name for the location of a meteorite. Since the Indians believed that the irons fell from heaven, the name may have come from the meteorites. The area is an open brush-covered plain that has little water and no other rocks- good country in which to find meteorites.

The crystal fragments are obtained by super-cooling a large meteorite in liquid nitrogen and striking it with a hammer. Your specimen is stable and treated with light gun oil. It should require minimum maintenance, other than an occasional brush should any signs of rust appear.

ACTUAL AS SEEN: The image shows the EXACT specimen you will receive. The specimen has been carefully hand selected and photographed. Measurements are as accurate as possible, though be aware measuring precise dimensions can be difficult from irregular shaped items. Whilst we portray colours as close to life-like as we can, colours will vary if taken in sunlight, indoors, from monitor to monitor and device to device. Once this specimen is sold, we will update this listing with new similar selected item, with a new photo and dimensions.