20 Milligram Fragments
This is a set of fragments of the legendary Tagish Lake Meteorite.
This is a Carbonaceous Chondrite an incredibly rare meteorite type and especially important scientifically.
( I have recently sold a sample of this meteorite to a scientist at a top Earth Sciences Department at a London University. He wanted a sample to analyse under his probes for substances new to science!)
Anyone with an interest in meteorites will know the story of this amazing meteorite fall so we won't bore you with the full story.
Basically - there was a series of fireballs over the Canadian Lake Tagish on January 18th 2000 which led to a 150 ton rock falling through Earth's atmosphere.
The bolide measured nearly 5 meters across and triggered the sensors of the Department of Defence which managed to record the explosion.
(The fireball it created is pictured below!)
The fireball left an orange/blue trail that lingered in the air for up to 15 minutes and hundreds of observers witnessed the rock's fiery entry.
While the original bolide is estimated to have weighed up to 150 tons - much of that burnt up as the meteor became a meteorite and struck Earth .
500 fragments were subsequently found in and near the frozen lake.
What makes this fall such a unique and valuable one to the scientific community is that being a carbonaceous meteorite it is both incredibly fragile and also still contains extra-terrestrial gases critical to our understanding of the creation of our Solar System.
As they landed in the ice, they were protected by it and could be carefully retrieved by investigating scientists.
VERY little of this material has reached the meteorite collecting community so this could be a superb opportunity to add a specimen of this incredible find to your collection.
Feel free to check on Ebay, but I challenge you to find ANY other seller offering samples of Tagish Lake for sale!
IMPORTANT NEWS - MAY 14TH 2006
Just this week there has been an important scientific announcement concerning Tagish lake and other carbonaceous chondrites.
They have discovered that - much like the samples recovered by the recent cometary sample expeditions, these meteorites contain interstellar grains. These are incredibly exciting particles as they were created at the VERY start of the Solar System.
This not only makes this sample far more important, scientifically - it may well shoot the commercial value through the roof!
Click this link for the full story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4973696.stm
This lot consists of a selection of Tagish lake fragments weighing 20 milligrams in a gem jar.
You will also receive a signed certificate of authenticity and an exclusive free gift - an illustrated A4 meteorite information sheet.
This was written by Mark Ford - Secretary of the BIMS (British And Irish Meteorite Society) and gives a useful overview of meteorites.
It will offer no revelations to a dedicated meteorite buff, but will be indispensable for a complete novice