NWA 482 - Lunar meteorite for sale. Buy a piece of the moon.

Specimens of the Moon, especially lunar meteorites, are the rarest substances on Earth. The total amount of lunar meteorite material known to exist weighs less than 80 pounds. There are less than 55 lunar meteorites, 18 of which will never be available to the public as they are held, by treaty, in the possession of the countries involved in the program to recover meteorites in Antarctica.

Of all recovered lunar meteorites, North West Africa 482 is the freshest ever found and the most pristine oriented lunar meteorite ever found. Research has determined that the classification is crystalline impact-melt breccia with lunar highland affinities, making NWA 482 comparable to lunar samples brought back by Apollo 15. NWA 482 has been compared to the Genesis Rock returned by that mission because of the high concentration of anorthosite contained in the meteorite. ( Genesis Rock Image) The Genesis rock was named as such because of it's importance in determining the origin of the Moon's outer crust. Anorthositic rocks are formed deep within the Moon, early in its history. Apollo 15's Genesis Rock is a piece of nearly pristine anorthosite.

It has glassy and vesicular melt veins and melt pockets indicate shock subsequent to compaction by an impact event.... e.g. an impact on the moon projected this meteorite free of the gravitational pull of the moon into space. Millions of years later, it entered Earth's atmosphere where it eventually fell in the Western Sahara desert. The age is approximately 4.5 billion years old. It is the only lunar meteorite in private hands with an off-white matrix. The other specimens have a dark Grey to black matrix and are not nearly as visually appealing. NWA 482 has been examined and classified by UCLA's A. Rubin and P. Warren as well as D. Kring and I. Duabar of The University of Arizona.

NWA 482 also has other unique properties which make it stand head and shoulders above other Lunar samples, including the belief that it originated from the DARK SIDE OF THE MOON !!! The far side of the moon looks much different than the side we see here from earth. A NASA photo of a section of the far side shows in detail that it is much more heavily cratered. Based on terrestrial age and location, lithology, and chemistry, NWA 482 is unique among all other known lunar meteorites.

Click on the images to view larger photos:

A thin section of NWA 482 is now available. A generous surface area of material is included. This thin section has been made to the highest quality standards possible. It is ready for the microprobe as it has been double polished with no slip cover. - $1000-

.048 grams measuring 5.5mm by 3.7mm by .9mm thick. First photo shows specimen in removable membrane suspension box, third photo is for size reference. The top edge of the specimen, as referenced in the photos has fusion crust - $240-

.084 grams measuring 6.5mm by 6.4mm by .8mm thick. First photo shows specimen in removable membrane suspension box, third photo is for size reference. Beautiful glass melt vein and anorthositic clasts. - $420-

.110 grams measuring 7.0mm by 6.6mm by .8mm thick. Beautiful glass melt vein and stunning glass melt pocket. - $550-

.150 grams measuring 7.6mm by 7.5mm by .9mm thick. First photo shows specimen in removable membrane suspension box, third photo is for size reference. Beautiful dark glass melt veins and anorthositic clasts. - $750-

.158 grams measuring 8.2mm by 7.0mm by .9mm thick. First photo shows specimen in removable membrane suspension box, third photo is for size reference. Beautiful glass melt veins. - $790-

.172 grams measuring 9.6mm by 7.8mm by .7mm thick. Stunningly beautiful glass melt veins, and anorthositic clasts. - $860-

NWA 482 postage stamps

NWA 482 dust presentation

Click image to enlarge:

When NWA 482 was originally cut, we thoroughly cleaned the saw and lined it with plastic to secure the distilled water that it was cut with. This water was then evaporated off leaving the clean cutting dust. I put together some presentation sets as shown in the photo above. It is available in 1/10th, 1/4, or 1/2 gram samples. The samples are available for $1000- per gram packaged as shown above. Shipping is included in the price.

2003 Meteoritie Calendar

NWA 482 has been featured in the 2003 Meteorite calendar. Each month features a stunning presentation of a different famous meteorite and NWA 482 is the month of September (shown in the image above). I highly recommend checking out this photographic record of world-class meteorites.

The Third Millenium Meteorite Calendar

LINKS:

For photos of the oriented NWA 482 meteorite before cutting - click here.

Read a full account of the trip to Northwest Africa - Kim Farmer's trip report

The Washington University of St. Louis has a website giving information on all Lunar meteorites at Lunar Meteorites

The following two references require an Acrobat Reader (it is free), to view as they are PDF documents:

Warren P. H. and Kallemeyn G. W. (2001) New lunar meteorite Northwest Africa 482: An anorthositic impact melt breccia with low KREEP content (abstract). 64th Meteoritical Society Meeting, CD-ROM no. 5453.

Nishiizumi K. and Caffee M. W. (2001) Exposure histories of lunar meteorites Dhofar 025, 026, and Northwest Africa 482 (abstract), 64th Meteoritical Society Meeting, CD-ROM no. 5411.

Consolmagno G. J., Russell S. S., and Jeffries T. E. (2004) An in–situ study of REE abundances in three anorthositic impact melt lunar highland meteorites. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV, abstract no. 1370, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Daubar I. J., Kring D. A., Swindle T. D., and Jull A. J. T. (2002) Northwest Africa 482: A crystalline impact-melt breccia from the lunar highlands, Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 37, 1797-1814.

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Certificate of Authenticity	Postcard before cutting	Postcard of 2003 calendar	Metal ID tag	Membrane suspension box