The universe is in your hand

Geologists from the University of Twente offer a solution. They have a spectrometer in their lab that can perform analysis without destroying meteorites. They view the flakes of the Moon and Mars in infrared light and take magnified images.

Then they compared my meteorites to their two Martian meteorite slices. And then it turned out that the exact structure of the Martian meteorite grains does not resemble theirs. In a Martian meteorite, the crystals are coarser and larger. Geologist Arjan Dykstra says they also flow more into each other. “We were very surprised by that.”

Still fake, then? The Certificate of Authenticity shows the official name: NWA 13276. Thus, geologists are looking for research in which the stone of which this is a slice was classified as a Martian meteorite. “And guess what,” says Dijkstra excitedly. “It totally matches the texture it’s described in.”

It is not clear where the difference with other Martian meteorites comes from. But if this is a fake, then this is an excellent copy. Made by someone with a lot of geological knowledge.” He asserts that the same applies to the lunar slice.

The original analysis is also very convincing, says geologist Frank van Rottenbeek. For example, scientists analyzed air bubbles in a meteorite and examined variants – so-called isotopes – of oxygen. It turns out that the relationship between them is similar in a Martian meteorite to what experts expect on the red planet itself. “This piece of rock really looks like it came from Mars.”

Six space rocks, all six are real. Catch them and you will instantly get stuck in the vast universe. They connect us to the history of the universe, a link that stretches across billions of years of deep time and nearly endless miles. They illustrate the fascinating scientific creation story in which the particles in our bodies once formed in the explosions of distant stars. And in any crust of the moon can rotate toward the Earth to end up on your desk.