Iron, coarse octahedrite – IAB-MG Gran Chaco, Argentina (27°28' S, 60°35' W)

Campo del Cielo (“Valley of the Sky”) meteorites are the result of a cataclysmic collision between two asteroids that were flying at a cosmic velocity in interplanetary space. At least one of the asteroids completely shattered resulting in large fragments. When one such fragment later struck Earth’s upper atmosphere approximately 5,000 years ago, the result was further explosive fragmentation into thousands of meteorites. The larger meteorites struck the ground at such a high velocity that an array of at least 26 impact craters formed, the largest measuring a football field in diameter. Campo del Cielo meteorites were first written about by 16th century Spanish explorers when their unearthly origins had yet to be understood. The first large meteorite to be displayed in a museum — and it was at the famed British Museum of Natural History — was a Campo, and several large masses can today be found in the foremost museums throughout the world. This meteorite was once part of the iron core of an asteroid between Jupiter and Mars.