#MeteoriteSpotlight! - Swayyah 001 This is a lunar meteorite found in North Africa, like all others in the Museum's Space Rocks Gallery, but it is a different type of Moon rock than most. Feldspathic breccias from the lunar highlands make up the majority of lunar meteorites, but this is an igneous rock from a lunar mare, or sea, which is a large area of younger volcanic basalt and gabbro. This meteorite contains tranquillityite, the last of three minerals first identified in Apollo lunar samples to be identified in Earth rocks (in 2011). Less than 5% of lunar meteorites are unbrecciated (unbroken, original igneous) basalt and gabbro, and lunar meteorites are less than 1% of known meteorites, so rocks like this are exceptionally rare on Earth. They match samples of low-titanium basalts collected by Apollo astronauts. Brecciated lunar meteorites, including some on display at the Museum, can contain significant amounts of basalt or gabbro mixed with feldspathic material. Name - Swayyah 001 Type - Lunar (gabbro) Location Found - Northwest Africa Year Found - 2018 Weight - 2340 g *featured meteorites are not for sale* #MeteoriteSpotlight #lunar #lunarmeteorite #moonrock #moon #meteorite #MaineMineralMuseum (fb)

What’s in a granite, and how is it made? Granite is a coarse grained intrusive igneous rock of a felsic chemical composition. It forms when magma cools beneath earth’s surface, with the slower cooling allowing for larger crystals than in its fast-cooling sibling rhyolite. The primary minerals that make up a granite are quartz, potassium feldspar (ie microcline), and plagioclase (ie albite), with other common minerals including muscovite and biotite micas and amphiboles like hornblende. Other accessory minerals can be found in granite, including garnet and even tourmaline! Trivia Time : What is granite used for? What other minerals can be found in granite? #TriviaTuesday #minerals #geology #geoscience #geologyfacts #geologyrocks #mineralmuseum #MaineMineralMuseum (fb)