These vintage-style glass vials with cork stoppers contain an authentic impactite specimen which is a vaporized meteorite infused with molten rock. Accompanied by a smaller vial filled with sand collected from the ancient Monturaqui meteorite crater in Chile's Atacama Desert. They are displayed with an exclusive informational card with photograph of the actual crater. Monturaqui Meteorite Crater: Iron meteorites come from large asteroids with molten cores that once orbited the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Catastrophic collisions within the Asteroid Belt shattered some asteroids, sending pieces in all directions. Some of them eventually encountered Earth's gravitational pull, resulting in a fiery journey through our atmosphere at speeds up to 100,000 miles per hour. Small meteorites are slowed down by the atmosphere and typically make shallow indentations in the ground known as impact pits. Larger meteorites occasionally form craters, while the most massive space rocks — building-sized or larger — produce gigantic impact features called astroblemes, or “star wounds.” The largest star wounds on Earth are millions of years old and more than one hundred miles across, making them bigger than some countries. Vast meteorite impacts generate enormous heat and pressure that melt Earth rock into unique materials known as impactites. About 1,000,000 years ago an iron meteorite slammed into the mountains of northern Chile, creating a giant crater. It is still clearly visible today, and is one of the most remarkable meteorite sites on earth. Most of the meteorite vaporized on impact, and only about 4 kg (9 pounds) of material has been recovered, making it one of the rarest iron meteorites in the world. Compare, for example with 23,000 pounds of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite! Your collectible will contain an impactite similar to the one photographed, but not exactly the same. Approximate dimensions of specimen jars: 54 mm x 30 mm and 23 mm x 10 mm
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