This 9.14g slice of Orotukan has been etched on one face to reveal a bold Widmanstätten pattern, with broad, dark kamacite bands crossing at several angles and bright, finely textured fields between them. Two strong vertical bands run down one side of the slice, framing a large pale panel that makes the pattern easy to read at a glance. It is supplied in a clear display case with an OuterSpacer Meteorites label.
Orotukan is an iron meteorite found in August 2022 at the foot of a river valley slope, downstream of Strelka Creek, a small tributary of the Orotukan River in the Magadan region. It was approved by the Meteoritical Society in December 2022 and published in Meteoritical Bulletin 111, with a total recorded mass of 555kg.
Structurally, Orotukan is a medium octahedrite, with kamacite bands 0.7 to 1.1mm wide forming a well-developed Widmanstätten pattern. This pattern grows only when iron-nickel metal cools extremely slowly, over very long periods, which is why it is one of the clearest signatures of a meteoritic iron. Orotukan's chemistry is what sets it apart. Its gallium and germanium contents resemble those of the IAB and IID irons, but its gold and germanium values fall outside both groups, so the classifying team placed it among the ungrouped irons. Ungrouped irons are generally interpreted as samples of parent bodies that are otherwise unrepresented, or poorly represented, in meteorite collections, though that remains an interpretation rather than something proven for each individual meteorite.
For collectors, Orotukan combines a bold etched pattern with a recent, formally documented classification and a clearly recorded find locality. Ungrouped irons are far less common in collections than members of the large iron groups, with only around 150 approved worldwide, which makes a well-presented etched slice like this one a useful reference specimen as well as a fine display piece.
How the scales and gridlines work.
Each small square is 1x1mm, and each bold-lined square is 10x10mm, or 1cm² (1 square centimetre).
Imperial measurements.
1 inch is is easy to figure because it is about 25 small squares, which is 2½ bold squares.
The piece shown in the photo on the left (a Gebel Kamil Iron) is about 70mm from left to right, which is about 2¾ inches, and around 60mm (about 2⅓ inches) from top to bottom.
Please note that any scale cubes, measuring grids, stands, or photographic props shown in listing images are used for display and size reference purposes only and are not included unless specifically stated.
Items are supplied in the packaging shown in the photographs where applicable. Where packaging is not shown, specimens will be carefully packaged to ensure safe transit.
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