RAFSA 005 Angrite, very rare achondrite. Full slice. End of cut. Achondrite Meteorite - 2.78 g

Angrite Rafsa 005 meteorite, collected in Algeria in 2023. It features a beautiful reddish-brown coloration. It is housed in an acrylic display case.

About the Rafsa 005 meteorite

Rafsa 005 is a kind of rare meteorite: it is an angrite, a class of achondrite that is the oldest known volcanic rock on Earth! These meteorites are basalts approximately 4.5 billion years old, with unique oxygen isotopic compositions that limit their origins to the inner solar system. Their parent body was probably a destroyed parent body about the size of the asteroid 4-Vesta. Rafsa 005 is a plutonic variety of angrite, indicating that it cooled slowly beneath the outer crust of its parent body. Rafsa 005

Found north of Tindouf, Algeria, in 2023, approximately 2 kilograms were recovered. It was then sold to collectors and circulated on the commercial market. It is characterized by calcium-rich pyroxenes, sometimes with diopside and anorthite. The polishing truly does justice to this meteorite: the interior is filled with dark reddish-brown silicates and tiny mineral grains.

Weather Bulletin: Rafsa 005

About achondrites

Achondrites are a type of stony meteorite lacking chondrules, which are round grains that form from molten or partially molten droplets in space to create chondrites. Achondrites always contain grains, but their textures are highly distinct and resemble igneous processes rather than the conditions that produce chondrules in the early solar system.

Achondrites account for about 8% of all known meteorites. Almost all of them are breccias of regolith, ejected during impacts on larger asteroids and sometimes on the Moon and Mars. Most are of HED (Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite) composition, originating from the asteroid Vesta: the second largest asteroid in the solar system and the only asteroid visible to the naked eye.