A CAMPO DEL CIELO — PALM-SIZED COMPLETE IRON METEORITE WITH FUSION CRUST

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 6,000 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. This meteorite was once part of the iron core of an asteroid between Jupiter and Mars.