Being the Continuing Adventures of Geoff Notkin of "Meteorite Men" as he travels the world digging for space rocks.

Articles tagged with: Asteroid

The Millbillillie Meteorite: Part of the Asteroid Vesta?

Written by Geoffrey Notkin on Wednesday, 23 March 2011. Posted in Featured Meteorites, Meteorite Science

The Millbillillie Meteorite: Part of the Asteroid Vesta?

The Millbillillie eucrite belongs to one of the rarest meteorite types. It is part of the HED group, which also includes howardites and diogenites. Eucrites are achondrites, meaning "not chondrites," so they are lacking in chondrules—the small, spherical, pre-solar grains that give the common chondrites their name. Millbillillie meteorites are volcanic rock from other worlds, and are comprised largely of silicate minerals. They are light in weight—similar in feel to terrestrial pumice—and are among those extremely uncommon meteorites which contain no iron, and show no attraction to a magnet. As such, they are less dense than the majority of meteorites and even a modest specimen of 6 or 7 grams can still be enjoyed and studied without magnification.

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