26. ALMAHATA SITTA METEORITE — FROM THE FIRST ASTEROID EVER TRACKED PRIOR TO EARTH IMPACT
Ureilite – URE anom
Nahr an Nil, Sudan (20° 44' 45"N, 32° 24' 46"E)
Fell October 7, 2008 / TKW: 3.95 kg
On October 6, 2008, Richard Kowalski discovered a new asteroid as part of his mission to attempt to identify and catalog NEOS (near-Earth objects) that posed a hazard. Richard had discovered hundreds of asteroids as well as a dozen comets over the years, but this one was different. When his observations of October 6th were reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) in Cambridge Massachusetts, an orbit computation determined his latest discovery was on a collision course with Earth. Never before had an asteroid been observed in space and tracked prior to Earth impact. Fortuitously, this asteroid (which was named 2008 TC3) was rather small and landed, as predicted, in the Nubian Desert of Northern Sudan. A search of the anticipated impact zone resulted in the recovery of some material — with the vast majority of the mass having vaporized or disintegrated in the atmosphere. In accordance with the protocol of the Meteoritical Society’s Nomenclature Committee, former NEO (near-Earth object) 2008 TC3 became the meteorite Almahata Sitta, Arabic for “Station Six,” a station stop on the rail line to Khartoum. Almahata Sitta is most unusual; it’s a ureilite with nanodiamonds as well as large carbonaceous grains loaded with amino acids. The specimen now offered is a coarse-grained ureilite with one face covered in black fusion crust—the result of its fiery descent through the atmosphere. A special edition of Meteoritics and Planetary Science as well as a National Geographic Special were devoted uniquely to the Almahata Sitta event. For the discriminating collector.
36 x 27 x 6mm (1.5 x 1 x 0.25 inches) and 11.88 grams (59 carats).
Provenance:
Phillip C. Mani Meteorite Collection, Fort Worth
Estimate $5,000 – 6,500 * Reserve $4,000