L3-6The Sahara Desert, near the Moroccan/Algerian Border

This sphere was created from a prosaically shaped stone meteorite recovered in Algeria and purchased in a Moroccan market. Given the amount of material lost in the sphere-making process, such rendering would never occur if this material were more exotic. Moreover, only when the needs of research institutions and collectors are satisfied, does the luxury exist to create a sphere at all — exotic or not — and such is the case with the current example. The meteorite from which this sphere was hewn was part of the massive NWA 869 meteorite shower that pelted the Sahara centuries ago. Based on the amount of material recovered, the NWA 869 meteorite shower is among the largest documented meteorite showers of all time. The meteorite is a breccia, a rock composed of many small inclusions that have experienced different degrees of metamorphic heating within its parent asteroid. Some material (type-3 chondrite fragments) largely escaped heating and still retain their primitive textures and compositions; other materials (e.g., type-6 chondrite fragments) have been extensively heated and recrystallized.