Touat 005 — A Complete Slice of a Lunar Meteorite

Pieces of the Moon are among the rarest objects on Earth — fewer than 1,200 kilograms are documented. The portion recovered from the Apollo Missions (382 kilograms) is untouchable to the public. As for lunar meteorites, a good deal of that is also unavailable as a result of its residency in the world’s great museums.

This is a complete slice of a lunar meteorite (i.e., a piece of the Moon ejected from the lunar surface following an asteroid impact). Lunar specimens are identified by specific geological, mineralogical, chemical, and radiation signatures. Analyzed by Dr. Carl B. Agee, the Director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico, Touat 005 reveals white anorthitic plagioclase megacrysts in a dark shocked matrix. On account of the thinness of this slice, these megacrysts are beautifully translucent.