__NOTOC__
Esquel is a
meteorite
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...
found near
Esquel
Esquel is a town in the northwest of Chubut Province in Argentine Patagonia. It is located in Futaleufú Department, of which it is the government seat. The town's name derives from one of two Tehuelche words: one meaning "marsh" and the other m ...
, a
Patagonian town in the northwest part of the
province of
Chubut Chubut may refer to:
* Chubut Province, Argentina
* Chubut River in the Chubut Province
* Chubut steamer duck
The Chubut steamer duck or white-headed flightless steamer duck (''Tachyeres leucocephalus'') is a flightless duck endemic to Argenti ...
in Argentina. It is a
pallasite
The pallasites are a class of stony–iron meteorite.
Structure and composition
It consists of centimetre-sized olivine crystals of peridot quality in an iron-nickel matrix. Coarser metal areas develop Widmanstätten patterns upon etching. Mino ...
, a type of
stony–iron meteorite
Stony-iron meteorites or siderolites are meteorites that consist of nearly equal parts of meteoric iron and silicates. This distinguishes them from the stony meteorites, that are mostly silicates, and the iron meteorites, that are mostly meteoric ...
that when cut and polished shows yellowish
olivine (peridot)
crystals.
In 1951 a farmer uncovered a meteorite in an unknown location near Esquel while digging a hole for a water tank. The meteorite was purchased from the finders and taken to the
United States in 1992 by meteorite expert
Robert Haag. The Esquel pallasite is known worldwide among collectors and the meteoritical scientific community. Esquel is regarded as one of the most beautiful meteorites ever found and is also one of the most desirable pallasites among meteorite collectors. It is a
main group pallasite
Almost all pallasite meteorite
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or N ...
(MGP).
Specimens
The Meteoritical Bulletin no. 29 (1964) reports a main mass of "about 1500 kg".
However O. A. Turone claimed a main mass weight of .
["The weight of the main mass is 755kg and not 1500kg as indicated", O.A.Turone, Buenos Aires, priv. comm. to J.Koblitz, 1994. MetBase 7.0 for Windows. Author: Joern Koblitz, The MetBase Library of Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences, Benquestrasse 27, D-28209 Bremen, Germany]
Robert Haag, the buyer of the main mass, reported a weight of .
Almost all of the Esquel ever found on the market is cut from his piece.
Notes and references
See also
*
Glossary of meteoritics
External links
*
*
BBC article on the Esquel meteorite*
{{Meteorites by name
Meteorites found in Argentina
Chubut Province
Stony-iron meteorites