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On the surface of the Earth meteorites periodically fall, which serve as a good reminder that humanity completely defenseless against various space threats. Take, for example, the sensational Chelyabinsk meteorite, the fragments of which fell in February 2013 on several Russian regions and even to the territory of Kazakhstan.
It is worth recalling other well-known objects that flew to our the planet. One of the most unusual is a meteorite, which received the name Fukan and become a real precious gift for the Earth from the universe.
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The age of this miracle is approximately four and a half billion years, that is, an amazing meteorite is the same age Of the earth. It was discovered in 2000 in the vicinity of the Chinese city. Fukana, in whose honor the find got its name.
The meteorite, which has a striking appearance, is half from olivine and half from a nickel-iron base. Olivine also called chrysolite, is a precious metal however on on our planet, it is found in the form of incomparably smaller in size crystals.
The author of the find was an American traveler who visited China and often went on solo trips near Fukang. IN for a whole month the tourist stopped near the cliff, which had weight over a ton, and daily snacking, sitting right on it. IN a certain moment the american noticed that the stone has an unusual view. Armed with a hammer and a chisel, the man broke away from the breed piece and sent it to the USA for research. American scientists After conducting an examination, they reported that this is a unique meteorite.
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Information about the miracle lump spread with lightning fast speed, and many tourists visiting Fukang began breaking fragments from a meteorite, taking away the received trophies to their homeland. Thanks to this, the weight of the “space presentation” began to melt before our eyes. When Chinese experts finally fenced off the territory and wanted to to extract a meteorite from the earth, the stone weighed forty kilograms already smaller. The Chinese decided to divide the block into several hundred pieces and sell each of them at auction.
In 2008, a Fukan shard weighing four hundred and twenty kilograms was put up for New York auction. Is it worth it say that the starting price of such a lot was very impressive. When no one wanted to buy a meteorite fragment for at least two million dollars, the stone was divided into several parts, each of which is limited. A piece weighing thirty-one a kilogram was transferred to the American Museum of Natural History.
The yellow-green olivine crystals in Fukan perfectly pass and reflect light – under certain lighting conditions it may seem that the meteorite glows with a fantastic radioactive tint. However real radiation in a stone of alien origin is absent.
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Stones China
