Collectible Rock: The Fukang Meteorite Sold at 1 Million Dollars in an Auction

What happens when a chunk of rock from outer space enters the Earth’s atmosphere? Those chuck of rocks are called Meteoroids, they are pieces of rock and metal from outer space. When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors. Meteors are usually so small that they burn up before they ever hit the ground. But some meteors are bigger lumps that shoot all the way through the atmosphere and hit the ground. When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.

A meteorite is a fragment of spatial matter that falls to the surface of a planet. Most meteorites that fall to Earth come from the Asteroid Belt. Watch as a meteorite travels to Earth, causes an explosion, and creates an impact crater. It is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon.

Now, are these Meteorites have value? Is it worth something when you found one?

Meteorites are quite valuable, worth as much as $1,000 per gram, according to the LiveScience website. Kellyco Metal Detectors posted on eBay that it can sell for $300 per gram or more — meaning 1 pound could be worth $1 million. "Meteorites are rarer than gold, platinum, diamonds or emeralds.

The reported gold contents of meteorites range from 0.0003 to 8.74 parts per million. Gold is siderophilic, and the greatest amounts in meteorites are in the iron phases. Estimates of the gold content of the earth's crust are in the range ~f 0.001 to 0.006 parts per million.

The value of a Meteorite is determined by many different factors including rarity of type, size, condition, aesthetic appeal, and so on. Meteorites have significant financial value to collectors and scientific value to researchers. Meteorite values can range from a few dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On the other hand, the Fukang meteorite is a meteorite that was found in the mountains near Fukang, China in year 2000. It is a pallasite—a type of stony–iron meteorite with olivine crystals. It is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old.

In 2000, near Fukang, a Chinese dealer obtained a mass from Xinjiang Province, also in China, with a weight of 1,003 kilograms (2,211 lb). He removed about 20 kilograms (44 lb) from the main mass, and in February 2005, the meteorite was taken to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, where it was seen by Dr. Dante Lauretta, a professor of Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry at the University of Arizona.

Subsequently, the mass was investigated at the Southwest Meteorite Center, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona by Dr. Lauretta and a team of research scientists including Dolores Hill, Marvin Killgore, Daniella DellaGiustina, and Dr. Yulia Goreva, and joined by Dr. Ian Franchi of Open University.

The Fukang pallasite contains large, gem quality olivine, or peridot, in a nickel-iron matrix. The olivines vary in shape from rounded to angular, many are fractured and they range in size from less than five millimetres to several centimetres. The main mass contains several regions of massive olivine clusters up to eleven centimetres (4.3 inches) in diameter with thin metal veins. The metal matrix is mostly kamacite with an average nickel content of 6.98 wt%. Vermicular sulfide (troilite) is present in some olivine.

Weighing more than 925 pounds (approx 420 kilograms), what remains of the Fukang meteorite is expected to bring in a figure in excess of a US$1M at the auction.

Cheerio!