Chassigny (meteorite)
Chassigny is the first meteorite identified as a Martian meteorite .
It fell to earth on October 3, 1815 in the village of Chassigny ( Haute-Marne department ) in north-east France, but it was not until the 1980s that it was discovered that the material recovered from the meteorite was a piece of Martian rock . Of the estimated original mass of 4 kg of the meteorite, only 570 grams could be recovered and preserved for science.
The meteorite is a dunite that consists mainly of olivine with the inclusion of pyroxene and feldspar .
A subgroup of Martian meteorites, the Chassignites, was named after the Chassigny site.
See also
Web links
- NASA: The Chassigny Meteorite (English)