* Astronomy

Title: The Hautes Fagnes meteorite find: A new LL5 (S1) chondrite from Belgium
Author:  Veerle Vandeginste, Herman Goethals, Walter De Vos, Jan Hertogen and David Lagrou.

Around 1965 a meteorite was found in the Hautes Fagnes region in eastern Belgium. It was made available for scientific investigation in 2007. The meteorite specimen has a mass of 185 g and a density of 3.56 g/cm³. It is light grey with darker angular fragments, and a thin fusion crust. It contains specks of metal of submillimetre size that show little weathering. Submillimetre sized chondrules with blurred outlines make up ca. 40 % of the specimen, and consist mainly of olivine and orthopyroxene. Troilite, kamacite and taenite were found in the chondrules and in the matrix. Native copper was identified at the contact of troilite and iron-nickel grains. Minor minerals in the matrix include albitic plagioclase, clinopyroxene, chromite, and chlorapatite. The average molar fayalite content of olivine was estimated at 29.37 % , and the ferrosilite content of orthopyroxene was estimated at 23.75 %. Bulk chemical analysis with ICP-OES was carried out (1) after fusion with LiBO2 and (2) after microwave digestion in strong acids. The meteorite is distinctly magnetic, with a mass specific magnetic susceptibility logX of 3.83. This meteorite can be classified as a LL ordinary chondrite of petrologic type 5, and of shock classification stage S1 (unshocked).

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