Big Chunk of Iron from the Skies — A Complete Campo

First reported in 1576, although by then almost 4,000 years old, the Campo del Cielo fall has produced some of the largest and most exciting meteorites to be found anywhere in the world. Only comparatively recently, however, was a new strewn field for this fall discovered, on higher ground and therefore better protected from water and other oxidants in the earth than the meteorites found on the valley floor. This complete specimen shows no signs of weathering, its finely-textured fusion crust a soft gun-metal gray, dramatically highlighted by sharp ridges and some of the distinctive “thumbprint” regmaglypts caused by pressure to the molten metal on its fiery descent to Earth.

Campo del Cielo
Iron, coarse octahedrite
Gran Chaco, Argentina 1576
It measures approximately 12 x 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches and weighs approximately 15.4 kg.