Recent Donations

Field Museum received donation of rare, ungrouped achondrite

Thu, 03/08/2012 - 13:55 -- admin

Collections and Research Committee Member Terry Boudreaux and fellow meteorite collector Greg Hupé donated a beautifully polished 4.9-gram-slice of a rare, ungrouped achondritic meteorite (NWA 6704) to The Field Museum. The meteorite fell in the Sahara desert in northwestern Africa and did not experience much weathering. The interior is a beautiful yellowish green (see photo) and is composed of the mineral plagioclase, pyroxene, olivine, chromite, and of metal, and does not show signs of shock due to the impact.

New Kenyan Meteorite Thika Donated

Thu, 01/05/2012 - 13:13 -- Anonymous (not verified)

The Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies is proud to announce the newest addition to the meteorite collection. The newly named meteorite Thika, recently classified as a L6 ordinary chondrite, was donated to the Center by Collections and Research Committee member Terry Boudreaux in mid-September. Falling on the morning of July 16, this bright fireball was observed traveling from southern Kenya to the northwest. Residents in the Thika District in Kiambu County reported loud explosions and screaming noises.

"Google Earth" Meteorite Gebel Kamil donated to the Field Museum

Thu, 10/21/2010 - 14:18 -- admin

Private meteorite collector and Collections & Research Committee member Terry Boudreaux donated to the Field Museum two specimens of the iron meteorite Gebel Kamil that formed a 45-m-wide impact crater in the southwestern corner of Egypt (East Uweinat Desert) near the Sudanese and Lybian border. The crater was discovered through Google Earth in 2009 on a Cretaceous sandstone surface; the impact has occurred less than 5000 years ago.