São Julião de Moreira is a 162 kg

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

found in Moreira do Lima,

Ponte de Lima Ponte de Lima () is the oldest ''vila'' (chartered town, head of a municipality) in Portugal. It is part of the district of Viana do Castelo. The population in 2011 was 43,498, in an area of 320.25 km2. The town proper has about 2,800 inhabi ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

History

The meteorite was found in 1877. The fall was not observed, but was dated to 770,000 years ago. It is a single meteorite, with a mass of 162 kg, almost spherical in shape and about 35 cm in diameter, which was later divided into many pieces. It was covered with a thick layer of rust and buried in an agricultural land at Quinta das Cruzes, 1.2 meters deep, when the land was being prepared for planting vines.

Composition and classification

It is a

octahedrite Octahedrites are the most common structural class of iron meteorites. The structures occur because the meteoric iron has a certain nickel concentration that leads to the exsolution of kamacite out of taenite while cooling. Structure Octahedri ...

References

{{coord missing, Portugal Meteorites found in Portugal 1877 in Portugal 1877 in science