Lunar Meteorite Slice
Touat 005
This is a complete and large slice of a lunar meteorite. The meteorite, once ejected from the Moon’s surface following an asteroid impact. Many moon rocks are lab identified by their mineralogy and chemistry-as well as a specific radiation fingerprint. Many of the more common minerals found on Earth are rare on the Moon and some minerals found on the Moon are not encountered on Earth. The complete slice is a feldspathic breccia and it is composed of different fragments of rocks, minerals and other crushed rock cemented together by lunar soil that had melted during an asteroid impact prior to the impact that sent this Moon rock towards earth. The most dominant inclusion is white anorthite. The rim of the meteorite's external surface is highly textured.
The total known weight of the Touat 005 meteorite is only 3,710 grams and this will forever be one of the few complete slices of this meteorite available. The cut surface evidences complex mineralization inclusions-one as large as an inch in diameter-the result of the ongoing pulverizing of the Moon's surface by impacts prior to the collision responsible for launching this rock off the lunar surface. The dark groundmass is regolith (lunar soil which had melted). The Moon is among the rarest substances on Earth and just 0.4% of all meteorites are of lunar origin. Touat 005 was classified by ‪Carl Agee, among the world's foremost classifiers of specimens from the Moon and Mars.
Measurements: 4.1 x 3.5 0.079 inches (10.55 x 9.10 x 0.2 cm),
Weighs 32.18 grams