NASA has announced the discovery of a new mineral inside a “historically significant”* meteorite recovered from Antarctica in December 1969.
The exotic blend of sulphur and titanium was spotted in the 4.5bn-year-old Yamato 691 enstatite chondrite, which may have once formed part of an asteroid orbiting between Jupiter and Mars.
It has a “unique crystal structure that has not been previously observed in nature”, according to NASA space scientist Keiko Nakamura-Messenger, who led the research.
The mineral has been dubbed “Wassonite”, in honour of John T Wasson, a professor at the University of California, “known for his achievements across a broad swath of meteorite and impact research”….
Rakovanite is found as crystals up to one millemeter in maximum dimension that vary in habit from blocky to prismatic.
It is orange with an orange-yellow streak, transparent and displays brittle tenacity.
Rakovanite is one of several new decavanadate minerals that have been discovered in the West Sunday mines, according to Miami.
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