Howardite Achondrite — NWA 3149

Northwest Africa 3149 is a rare and fresh brecciated Howardite achondrite found in the Sahara Desert in 2004 and is not paired to any other known howardites. This is a highly shocked and very dense meteorite due to the presence of baddeleyite, which forms by thermal decomposition of zircon at very high temperatures. Only rarely will you find it in the HED group whereas it is a frequent minor phase in lunar meteorites and SNCs (along with ilmenite) due to lunar and Martian shock events.

It comes from the asteroid 4Vesta that suffered a massive collision in the early days of our Solar System’s formation.

This is the largest central slice of NWA 3149
HED achondrite (Howardite)
32.5 gm, 4.5″ x 4″ x 1mm
Found 2004 in Morocco