Rare California Meteorite to be Divided Among 5 U.S. Institutions

The Field Museum of Natural History announced that the remains of a rare California meteorite will be divided among five U.S. institutions where they will be preserved for future scientific studies.

The rarest type of meteorite that hit Earth was dubbed Sutter's Mill Meteorite. It exploded into the Earth's atmosphere on April 22, 2012 and was visible from Sacramento, California including certain regions of northern Nevada. This carbonaceous chondrite meteorite has some of the oldest cosmic material in the solar system.  The largest fragment detected weighed 205 grams that is the main mass and the second largest weighed just 42 grams.

The main mass of Sutter's Mill Meteorite has finally found a permanent home. The fragments will be divided among five U.S. academic institutions namely; University of California, Davis (5 percent); Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. (32 percent); American Museum of Natural History in New York City (34 percent);'The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (16 percent); and Arizona State University in Tempe (13 percent).

"With these museums and institutions storing the meteorite's main mass, it leaves it in a pristine condition to preserve for future generations to study," said UC Davis geology professor, Qing-zhu Yin. "Fifty or 100 years from now, we may have new technology that will enable later generations to revisit the meteorite and do research we haven't thought of. This gives us a better chance to realize the full scientific value of the meteorite, rather than have it be just a collector's item."

The meteorite that was approximately the size of a minivan before it hit Earth's atmosphere was formed some 4.5 billion years ago. Less than 950 grams of its fragments have been detected.

A CT scan was done to determine the age and chemical composition of the rare meteorite. The researchers believe that this main mass will offer insights into origin of life as well as the formation of the planets.

The meteorite's main mass was owned by a private collector Robert Haag, who later contacted Meenakshi Wadhwa from the Arizona State University. She is the director of the Center for Meteorite Studies.