Dear collectors, today it is highest time to introduce our new not only in our eyes quite sensational planetary recovery. NWA 5990. A new Martian, remarkably distinct from the so far known finds.
Before cutting it was a relatively small stone of only 59 grams, coated with an unweathered black fusion crust with some indications of flight marks, which seemed to have spalled of on one corner by impacting the ground. The stone felt somewhat heavier than one would expect for a planetary one. Here you have a picture of the intact mass: http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/uncut-mainm-klein.jpg The first cut then revealed the outstanding nature of that small stone. The overall fresh appearance of the exterior was trumped by the pristinely looking cross section and you may comprehend our sudden elatedness, if you take a look at this picture of the unpolished cut surface: http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/6.995g-end-kl.jpg As you can see, that stone looks simply different from all other Martians we know. Well, with the numerous partially blackened olivines, one could tend to think into the direction of a lherzolithe, but it turned out, that the stone contains by far too much plagioclase to be lherzolithic. The grain size however fits to a diabase. That material is currently under analyses with a high priority at Dr.Irving, Dr.Herd et al. - and perhaps as early as in January an abstract will be already available. Therefore we beg for your understanding, that we can't forecast the exciting results, but have to leave the first publication to the researchers, avidly working on that surprising material. Maybe the one or other being already the proud owner of a slice will share his/her observations here in this thread with us instead. And here starts our dilemma - you may wonder, why we go public with this new Martian already without being able to name and explain the particularities and specifics of this new material - especially so shortly before a paper is scheduled; also it is planned to introduce the stone at the next Lunar & Planetary Science Conference in Houston in beginning March.. Well the reason is simple - until then the material will have been completely gone and you would have to miss out that important new Martian. As the tkw was so low and this unique meteorite has such a scientific brisance, we had of course to address firstly to research institutes, like we had to do with NWA 5789 too. Afterwards we supplied the Martian enthusiasts from our address book (and we cordially recommend and invite the planetary specialists to contact us, if they want to be added there too). So in the end and at present there are only two specimens left! Half a fullslice with fusion crust. 2.338g Price is 1600$/g http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/2_338g.jpg And a crusted partial endcut. 1.908g at 1500$/g http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/1_908g_endcut.jpg http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/1_908g-end2.jpg Else there would be only these two pieces, but they are on hold for a museum, the negotiations aren't finished yet. So most probably they won't be available. A cap of the stone with a lot of crust and flight marks. (Largest intact piece, hence depending on definitions the "main mass"): http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/6.955g-end2-kl.jpg http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/6.995g-end-kl.jpg And a partslice. http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/2_055g.jpg If these specimens will have been gone, not a single grain of the stone will remain available. We hope you're as fascinated as we are from that new Christmas greeting from the Red Planet and wish you a peaceful time. Stefan Ralew & Martin Altmann Chladni's Heirs Munich - Berlin Fine Meteorites for Science & Collectors http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/ ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list