Iron, fine octahedriteGibeon, Great Nama Land, Namibia

Most iron meteorites originated from the cores of asteroids that existed billions of years ago between Mars and Jupiter. Namibian tribesmen located the mass from which this slice originated with the aid of a metal detector. When cut and etched, Gibeons exhibit a fine-octahedral latticework of metallic alloys, troilite and taenite. This exquisite natural design is known as a Widmanstätten pattern. As this pattern does not appear in terrestrial iron ores, its presence is diagnostic of iron meteorites.