Video: Follow the analysis of a piece of lunar meteorite
The Dhofar region, Oman, near where our moon rock sample was found (Image: Danita Delimont / Alamy) The Dhofar region, Oman (Image: Mike Kramer / freelargephotos.com) Our piece of moon rock, before testing caused it to break into smaller pieces Close-up view of our fragment of Dhofar 458. the large bright area is a result of melting during the impact.
Competition: Win a piece of moon rock
YOU don’t have to visit the moon to hold a chunk of it in your hand. Every day around 160 tonnes of rubble from space rains down on Earth, and some of it comes from the moon. All you need to find a piece of moon rock is keen eyesight, patience and an expanse of ice or desert against which a dark little chunk of our neighbour will stand out.
In this issue’s Feedback you’ll find details of a competition to win just such a piece of the moon, worth more than £1000. The prize is part of a lunar meteorite found by French collector , who has been scouring deserts for meteorites since 1997.
Labenne found the rock, known as , on 3 April 2001 in the gravel plains of southern Oman’s Dhofar (or Zufar) region, and it was authenticated as a lunar meteorite by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. Before handing our piece over we wanted to use this opportunity to find out first-hand just how tricky it can be to distinguish a fragment of moon rock from a common or garden meteorite. For this we turned to researchers at the…
