One of the strangest findings, ever!
Micrometeorite [NMM 3854] was found on the very first stardust hunt in Sweden, and is one of the strangest ones I have ever seen! It is a cryptocrystalline (CC) type, which apparently was on its way to become a “turtleback”. But it ended up like something best described as an umbrella. Or parachute, I have never seen anything like it.
In the front is small shiny nickel-iron bead, covered in beautiful pink oxidation, perhaps due to content of chromium? It has not yet been analyzed. Out from the metal bead are speed lines out to the flowery petals, before it unexpectedly and abruptly ends in a glass hemisphere in the back. A unique micrometeorite, one that will appear in books for decades to come. The jewel in the crown.
The stone was found September 21, 2022, at Strömstad Shoppingcenter, Strömstad, Sweden.
NMM 3854 - Strömstad
Top quality micrometeorite mounted on a signed microslide (cardboard/aluminum/glass). The stone is from Jon Larsen’s own collection and is in pristine condition (no sign of weathering, low terrestrial age), complete and oriented.
The catalogue number refers to his index, the NMM archive (the main index of Norwegian Micro Meteorites, Jon Larsen’s urban Stardust Collection). The stone was found and curated by Jon Larsen.
VERIFICATION: The MM has been confirmed extraterrestrial by SEM/EDS analysis and visual identification by Jon Larsen, and is a verified micrometeorite, hereby confirmed in writing. The stone is delivered with a signed Certificate of Authenticity incl. classification, and one digital color photo by Jan Braly Kihle and Jon Larsen.