On Offer: The Cosmos pendant is a naturally beautiful chondrite meteorite set in Sterling Silver pendant with leather necklace. The meteorite in this pendant is one half of a full individual meteorite. You can purchase this Cosmos pendant as a single piece or as a pair to have the complete the meteorite set into two independent pieces of jewelry to share with a friend or loved one. The other Cosmos necklace is also available now on the Top Meteorite website.

Dimensions not including bail: 28mm x 26mm x 5mm

Dimensions including bail: 42mm x 26mm x 6mm

Meteorite Type: L3-6 Chondrite - NWA 869

Description: This pendant's center stone is a genuine piece of the inner asteroid belt, an ancient geological emissary of our Solar System. The setting displays the outer natural side of the meteorite while the other side shows the interior full of chondrules and meteoritic metal. Classified as an L 3-6 Ordinary Chondrite with official name Northwest Africa 689. This meteorite has become famous for being both exceptionally beautiful and being one of the earliest chondrites to come out of the dry deserts of Northwest Africa. This pendant comes with a 20" leather necklace that has a 3mm diameter and a high quality secure sterling silver locking clasp.

What you get: Meteorite pendant in Sterling Silver as shown, brown leather necklace, shipping/storage box, and signed Certificate of Authenticity.

I offer a 100% no questions asked 30 day return policy.

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Northwest Africa 869

Basic information

Name: Northwest Africa 869
This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name.
Abbreviation: NWA 869
Observed fall: No
Year found: 2000
Country: (Northwest Africa)
Mass: 2 t

Classification
history:

Meteoritical Bulletin:	MB 90	(2006)	L4-6
	MB 102	(2013)	L3-6
Recommended:			L3-6 [explanation]

This is 1 of 63 approved meteorites classified as L3-6. [show all]
Search for other: L chondrites, L chondrites (type 3), Ordinary chondrites, and Ordinary chondrites (type 3)

Comments:

Approved 14 Nov 2005
Revised 29 Oct 2013: Revised classification and new description

Writeup

Writeup from MB 90:

Northwest Africa 869

Northwest Africa

Find: 2000 or 2001

Ordinary chondrite (L4–6)

History: It is quite clear that meteorite collectors in Northwest Africa have discovered a large L chondrite strewn field at an undisclosed location. At least 2 metric tons of material comprising thousands of individuals has been sold under the name NWA 869 in the market places of Morocco and around the world. Individual masses are known to range from <1 g to >20 kg. It is certain that NWA 869 is paired with other NWA meteorites, although no systematic survey has been done. It is also possible that some stones sold as NWA 869 are not part of the same fall, although dealers are confident that most of the known masses are sufficiently distinctive from other NWA meteorites in terms of surface and internal appearance that the error rate should be fairly low. Scientists are advised to confirm the classification of any specimens they obtain before publishing results under this name.

Petrography and Geochemistry: (A. Rubin, UCLA) A fragmental breccia of type 4–6 material; one thin section dominated by an L5 lithology gave olivine (Fa_24.2).

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (L4–6); W 1, S3.

Specimens: A 189.3 g type specimen is on deposit at UCLA.

Writeup from MB 102:

Revised classification and description. Submitted by K. Metzler, IfP, with data from Metzler et al. (2011) and Welten et al. (2011).

Physical characteristics: Most samples are individual meteorites but some fragments (mostly >1 kg) also occur. In most cases the fusion crust has been polished or ablated by wind erosion. Many samples are more severely affected and show faces with deep wind erosion features. Fracture faces, formed by ground collision, show a typical gray-green color and sometimes visible brecciation (light and/or dark clasts). Due to the coarseness of this breccia, there are some stones that consist of only a single lithology.

Petrography: This chondritic breccia consists of about 75 vol% matrix with unequilibrated and equilibrated L-chondrite clasts (up to 5.5 cm), some of which display shock-darkening. Impact melt-rock clasts, themselves either clast-free or clast-poor, also occur and are strongly depleted in Fe,Ni metal and sulfide.

Geochemistry: Northwest Africa 869 is a regolith breccia, containing solar noble gases and preirradiated lithologies. Olivine in lithic clasts: Fa_0.2-49.2; olivine in matrix: Fa_10.3-29.3; low-Ca pyroxene in lithic clasts: Fs_2.1-35.9; low-Ca pyroxene in matrix: Fs_7.0-23.9.Bulk oxygen isotopes: δ¹⁷O = 3.52; δ¹⁸O = 4.67; Δ¹⁷O = 1.09 per mil. Terrestrial age: 4.4 ± 0.7 ka. Preatmospheric meteoroid size and mass: 225 ± 25 cm, 120-230 T.

Classification: Because NWA 869 contains unequilibrated clasts, its classification is revised to L3-6.

Bibliography:

Metzler K., Bischoff A., Greenwood R.C., Palme H., Gellissen M., Hopp J., Franchi I.A., and Trieloff M. (2011) The L3–6 chondritic regolith breccia Northwest Africa (NWA) 869: (I) Petrology, chemistry, oxygen isotopes, and Ar-Ar age determinations. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 46, 652-680. (link)
Welten K., Caffee M.W., Franke L., Jull A.J.T., LeClerc M.D., Metzler K., and Ott U. (2011) The L3–6 chondritic regolith breccia Northwest Africa (NWA) 869: (II) Noble gases and cosmogenic radionuclides. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 46, 970-988 (link)

Data from:
  MB90
  Table 2
  Line 1:

Place of purchase:	Unknown
Date:	2001 or 2002
Pieces:	many
Class:	L4-6
Shock stage:	S3
Weathering grade:	W1
Fayalite (mol%):	24.2
Classifier:	A. Rubin
Type spec mass (g):	189.3
Type spec location:	UCLA
Main mass:	M. Matson