“My, the moon looks beautiful today,” I sometimes say to the largest lunar slice on Earth

DSC-RX100M2

ƒ/2

10.4 mm

1/30

160

We just framed the midsection of NWA5000 in a way that makes it appear to float (13″-square frame). I persuaded Greg Hupé to make a special cut from the widest section of the largest known sample of the lunar highlands on Earth, larger than anything brought back by Apollo. Only 0.1% of meteorites are from the moon, making them more rare than pure diamond on Earth. More photos below and lunar history.

18 responses to ““My, the moon looks beautiful today,” I sometimes say to the largest lunar slice on Earth”

jurvetson

Jul 15, 2014 at 2:46 am

Greg Hupé and a couple slices of NWA5000 in front of the prototype build of the Apollo 11 flagThe backside of the meteoriteclose-upAnd the flip-side. Also, here is a post on the first slice I purchased, with details on its history and scientific analysis. Elon Musk and Naveen Jain purchased the slices in between.

I showed Hupé and the B612 group a smaller meteorite matching the Apollo 16 landing site: And a tower of other meteorites on display at work, with a globe with red dots showing the landing spots

Reply
Gwênlyn

Jul 15, 2014 at 5:12 am

"Moisturise me!"

Reply
bike-R

Jul 15, 2014 at 3:01 pm

ever bombard the samples with black light?

Reply
gsikich1

Jul 15, 2014 at 8:32 pm

That is quite the trophy for the collection. Nice going.

Reply
jurvetson

Jul 16, 2014 at 2:12 am

thanks. That slice and the flown parts of the Apollo Lunar Modules still blow my mind as to their very existence on Earth.

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/63152855@N03] — I did shine a semiconductor UV light on the lunar sample (at some visitors request), but I did not see any phosphor effects. Is there a webpage somewhere describing UV-analysis of meteorites (lunar or otherwise)?

Reply
Pete Tillman

Jul 16, 2014 at 2:35 pm

Wow, nice collection. And cool mount on the new Moon slice!

I presume you’ve had dealngs with R. Haag, the meteoriteman.com/ ? Always look forward to seeing his new stuff at the Tucson show, when we lived there. He certainly has a fund of stories!

Reply
jurvetson

Jul 16, 2014 at 11:54 pm

Maybe at Spacefest. I mainly collect space stuff, and the lunar meteorites are an adjunct to that.

P.S. BoingBoing picked up this post, as well as an Apollo 11 collection overview.

Reply
bike-R

Jul 17, 2014 at 6:48 pm

Might try the LRL lab in Houston and see just exactly what tests were done to this sample and with the new tech and computers since the 70’s what tests can be done…….. http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-072204a.html

Reply
meteoritehunter

Jul 17, 2014 at 11:13 pm

Hope to meet you Saturday at Tesla Connect. I am pretty sure the Henbury meteorite in you photo is one
I found. Michael Farmer
Meteorite hunter and Tesla P85+ owner.

Reply
meteoritehunter

Jul 17, 2014 at 11:14 pm

By the way, I have the Zagami Martian meteorite main mass in my Tesla now:)

Reply
jurvetson

Jul 18, 2014 at 4:43 am

MIke – wow. I would love to get the backstory on that, and how it spawned local religion.

Meanwhile, this is the letter from U-Dub on this one:

Reply
meteoritehunter

Jul 18, 2014 at 4:48 am

I be at tesla connect.Great history to the Zagami meteorite. One of best in the world:)
You can contact me privately @
meteoritehunter@comcast.net

Or phone 520 730 4754

Reply
jurvetson

Jul 19, 2014 at 3:44 am

Great. Look forward to seeing it. Meanwhile, here’s the first LM Pilot, Rusty Schweickart of Apollo 9 with this one on stage at NASA:

Reply
meteoritehunter

Jul 19, 2014 at 4:06 am

Amazing! Found 3 Lunars myself in Oman, Dhofar 1180, Shisr 160 and Shisr 161.
Nothing like finding a piece of the moon.

Reply
jurvetson

Nov 20, 2015 at 4:49 pm

True dat. Takes you over the moon!

Meanwhile, this slice made a cameo appearance on a Bloomberg TV interview Here’s short side interview on the artifacts in the background. I reference you anonymously!

Reply
jurvetson

Jan 3, 2017 at 10:18 pm

And picked up by CNBC today… and will be on PBS at 7pm this evening.

Reply
jurvetson

Mar 14, 2020 at 9:24 pm

and an auction brochure with amazing details for the first NWA5000 slice to come up for sale: rrauction.com/Meteorite-Catalog

Reply
jurvetson

Sep 5, 2022 at 10:10 pm

And a cool detail that NWA 5000 slices display, from Washington Univ.

Reply