Nature

Massive 760-Pound Meteorite Found in Texas

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Tony Maples Photography

 

A year ago, Frank Hommel noticed a huge rock out on his property in Clarendon, Texas after his horse abruptly stopped near it. He used a tractor to pull the rest of the rock out from the surface of the land and saw that about two-thirds of the stone had been hiding underground. Strangely, there were quite a few shards of rock laying around as well.

Frank and his wife, DeeDee, used the feed scale to weigh what they thought to be a meteorite and found out that it measured 760 pounds! Universe Today adds the the additional fragments weighed an impressive 70 pounds all on their own.

Of course, the couple couldn’t be certain that their find was a meteorite until it was confirmed by a scientist. Dr. Tony Irving at the University of Washington studied a sample of the structure and found “bright grains of iron-nickel metal and an abundance of chondrules, round grains composed of minerals that were flash-heated into a ‘fiery rain’ in the solar nebula 4.5 billion years ago.” This confirmed that they had a real meteorite on their hands, and the largest space rock to be found in Texas.

After meeting meteorite dealer and collector Ruben Garcia, the couple sold the rock to the highest bidder for an undisclosed amount.