AN ADMIRE METEORITE NODULE

Admire is a pallasite formed at the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid that melted about 4.5 billion years ago. Deep inside the asteroid, molten metal from the top of the core mixed with olivine grains (a magnesium-rich silicate mineral) that had crystallized from the mantle and were pulled downwards, towards the core, by the body’s modest gravity. Things remained quiet for Admire until a major collision shattered the asteroid roughly 100 million years ago; this event and subsequent, less-energetic collisions set some of the pallasites on a collision course with Earth. The first piece of Admire to be found was ploughed up in Lyon County, Kansas in 1881.

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