Introduction. The Mócs meteorite is L5-type chondrite, which fell in 1882, Kolozs county. The meteorite major modal composition are: olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase feldspars, and opaque minerals. The meteorite is highly fractured, and shock induced veins are also discernible. The fractures are filled by iron rich material. The sample contains shock-metamorphic effects (especially in olivine), s...

The catastrophic disruption of the L chondrite parent body in the asteroid belt c. 470 Ma initiated a prolonged meteorite bombardment of Earth that started in the Ordovician and continues today. Abundant L chondrite meteorites in Middle Ordovician strata have been interpreted to be the consequence of the asteroid breakup event. Here we report a zircon U-Pb date of 467.50±0.28 Ma from a distinct...

Nanocrystals of magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)) in a meteorite from Mars provide the strongest, albeit controversial, evidence for the former presence of extraterrestrial life. The morphological and size resemblance of the crystals from meteorite ALH84001 to crystals formed by certain terrestrial bacteria has been used in support of the biological origin of the extraterrestrial minerals. By using tomogra...

Introduction: NWA 5298 is a single 445 g meteorite found near Bir Gandouz, Morocco in March 2008 [1]. This rock has a brown exterior weathered surface instead of a fusion crust and the interior is composed of green mineral grains with interstitial dark patches containing small vesicles and shock melts [1]. This meteorite is classified as a basaltic shergottite [2]. A petrologic study of this Ma...

Chemolithoautotrophy based on reduced inorganic minerals is considered a primitive energy transduction system. Evidence that a high number of meteorites crashed into the planet during the early period of Earth history led us to test the ability of iron-oxidizing bacteria to grow using iron meteorites as their source of energy. Here we report the growth of two acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria...

Meteorites are the only significant source of material from other planets and asteroids, and therefore are of immense scientific value. Antarctica’s frozen and pristine environment has proven to be the best place on earth to harvest meteorite specimens. The lack of melting and surface erosion keep meteorite falls visible on the ice surface in pristine condition for thousands of years. In this a...

We report the first occurrence of a natural quasicrystal with decagonal symmetry. The quasicrystal, with composition Al71Ni24Fe5, was discovered in the Khatyrka meteorite, a recently described CV3 carbonaceous chondrite. Icosahedrite, Al63Cu24Fe13, the first natural quasicrystal to be identified, was found in the same meteorite. The new quasicrystal was found associated with steinhardtite (Al38...

Introduction: The Murchison meteorite is a carbonaceous chondrite recovered in Australia in 1969. There have been a number of studies reporting organics in this meteorite ranging from simple amino acids [1], aldehydes and ketones [2], sugars [3], carboxylic acids [4] and aromatic hydrocarbons [5]. The techniques involved in these analyses require a substantial amount of work and in some cases t...

Introduction: The Antarctic Meteorite Program has returned over 16,000 meteorites from the ice sheets of the Antarctic. This more than doubles the number of preexisting meteorite collection and adds important and rare specimens to the assemblage. The CM carbonaceous chondrites are of particular interest because of their high organic component. The Antarctic carbonaceous chondrites provide a lar...

A suite of protein and nonprotein amino acids were detected with high-performance liquid chromatography in the water- and acid-soluble components of an interior fragment of the Martian meteorite Nakhla, which fell in Egypt in 1911. Aspartic and glutamic acids, glycine, alanine, beta-alanine, and gamma-amino-n-butyric acid (gamma-ABA) were the most abundant amino acids detected and were found pr...