The Heart of Space meteorite is a 4.5 billion year old heart-shaped chunk of iron. This beauty fell to earth during a meteorite shower on February 12th, 1947. What makes this heart-shaped meteorite unique is that the other meteorites from the shower are either "twisted like shrapnel or smooth and rounded". I can't imagine the excitement of being the person who found something this cool looking on the ground, and then learning that it's billions of years old.
From Instagram:
"The Heart of Space" Meteorite
'This meteorite, which is 4.5 billion years old, was part of a giant chunk of iron that broke off from a larger mass in an asteroid belt some 320 million years ago — more than 70 million years before the first dinosaurs appeared,' explains Christie's Science and Natural History specialist James Hyslop.
At 10.30am on the 12 February, 1947, eyewitnesses saw the meteorite slam through the Earth's atmosphere. As it sailed over the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in Russia it created an impact flash that was seen for almost 200 miles around.
'Among the fragments collected from the site was this incredible heart-shaped specimen,' says Hyslop. 'Typical meteorites from this shower are twisted like shrapnel or smooth and rounded. Examples in this shape just aren't seen.'
It is to be sold at Christies.
