Meteorites at the Warwickshire Museum

These meteorites were loaned to the Warwickshire Museum for our 2009 summer exhibition. This was entitled ‘Once in a Blue Moon’, and celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the first lunar landing by the crew of Apollo 11. They are thought to represent fragments of asteroids; small rocky bodies dating back over four and a half billion years to the birth of our Solar System. Many thousands of asteroids are concentrated in the so-called Asteroid Belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. Occasionally asteroids drift out of the Asteroid Belt. Pieces of these asteroids fall to Earth as meteorites. The meteorites were loaned to the museum by the Science and Technologies Facilities Council. Importantly, the loan included samples of lunar rock and soil, collected by astronauts during later Apollo missions. The lunar samples were on display at the Market Hall Museum in Warwick Market Place until the end of August.

		Part of the Imilac meteorite, from the Atacama Desert of Chile. This is a typical ‘stony-iron’ meteorite.
		A piece of the Henbury iron meteorite from Henbury, Australian Northern Territory. This is part of the metallic core of an asteroid. The Earth’s core may well be made of similar material.
		A piece of the Indian Parnalee meteorite. This is classified as a ‘stony’ meteorite.
Warwickshire Museum geology home page Email: Warwickshire Museum

How do you rate this information / service?

Welcome to Warwickshire County Council