NWA 16315 Lunar Melt Breccia - 5.2g - From The Moon

You are viewing NWA 16315, a lunar melt breccia meteorite! Some lunar meteorites are described as lunar melt breccias because they formed during powerful impact events on the Moon. When a large asteroid struck the lunar surface, the energy of the impact shattered existing rocks while simultaneously melting part of the target material. Fragments of older lunar rocks were mixed together and cemented by this impact melt, which later cooled and solidified, producing a brecciated rock with angular clasts set in a fine-grained or glassy melt matrix. These rocks preserve clear evidence of shock and melting, recording the violence of the impact that formed them. Subsequent impacts were able to eject pieces of these melt breccias off the Moon, and some of those fragments eventually traveled through space and fell to Earth as lunar meteorites.

***How do we know it’s from the Moon? ***

Our moon lacks an atmosphere. When asteroids encounter these celestial bodies (which happens frequently), fragments eject from the impact and occasionally make their way into Earth’s orbit. If the stone survives its cataclysmic entry into Earth, it lands on the ground and becomes known as a meteorite. Once studied under a microscope by leading scientists in the field of Meteoritics, the stone's origin is then plotted based on its compositional property to the different classes of asteroids and samples returned to Earth. Lunar meteorites specifically are compared to samples returned by NASA's Apollo mission astronauts. From there, meteorites make their way into museums, universities and to the general public all around the world. 

The Interstellar Collection, LLC is acknowledged by the IMCA (#3950), the Global Meteorite Association (GMA #042) and the Meteorite Club. We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of all of our meteorites.