PALLASITE
Pallasites are widely regarded as the most beautiful meteorites in existence (with the possible exception of bencubbinites). Pallasites are a type of stony-iron meteorite. They contain mixtures of metallic iron-nickel (silver-colored) plus an abundance of forsterite olivine (yellowish to greenish), which is a ferromagnesian silicate mineral. Backlit pallasite slices show that the olivine component is transparent. Pallasites appear to represent samples from near the core-mantle boundary of a once-intact, differentiated asteroid.
Pallasite - cut & polished slice of the Esquel Meteorite, found in 1951 in Chubut, Argentina. FMNH Me 3194 (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA). (More info. on the Esquel Meteorite)
Pallasite - cut & polished slice of the Esquel Meteorite, backlit to show olivine transparency. Public display at meteorite museum at Odessa Impact Crater, Texas, USA.
Pallasite - cut & polished slice of the Esquel Meteorite. Public display at meteorite museum at Odessa Impact Crater, Texas, USA.
Pallasite (above & below; ~3.3 cm across) - cut & polished slice of the Fukang Meteorite, back-illuminated to show forsterite olivine transparency. The black areas are metallic iron-nickel (Fe-Ni). Fukang is a spectacular pallasite found in the 2000s in the Gobi Desert of northwestern China's Xinjiang Province.
(More info. on the Fukang Meteorite)
Pallasite (~3.3 cm across) - cut & polished slice of the Fukang Meteorite (same sample as above), tilted to show silvery color & luster of iron-nickel metal. The dark areas are forsterite olivine.