Lunar Meteorite | Complete Slice Of The NWA 8306 Lunar Breccia — Among The Rarest Substances On Earth

This is a complete slice of a lunar meteorite — a specimen cut from a chunk of the Moon which was ejected off the Moon into an Earth crossing orbit following an asteroid impact. Most of the craters seen on the Moon are the result of such impacts. The Moon is among the rarest objects on Earth with less than 1,200 kilograms documented. 382 kilograms of that amount was recovered from Apollo Missions and is untouchable to the public. As for the lunar meteorites, a good deal of that is also untouchable as it resides in the world’s great museums.

Lunar specimens are identified by specific geological, mineralogical, chemical and radiation signatures. Many of the common minerals found on Earth’s surface are rare on the Moon; in addition, lunar rocks contain gases originating from the solar wind with isotope ratios that are very different than the same gases found on Earth. As would be imagined, some of the lunar samples returned to Earth by the Apollo astronauts closely resemble select lunar meteorites — and this is one such example. The cut face reveals a breccia of abundant signature anorthosite suspended in melted lunar regolith (lunar soil). This lunar sample was classified by Dr. Anthony Irving, one of the world’s foremost classifiers of planetary material. A variety of clasts abound in the charcoal matrix in this select example of the Moon.

The official classification of this lunar meteorite appears in the 103rd edition of the Meteoritical Bulletin. A copy of this publication accompanies this offering.