展品专文
Unknown millennia ago - the exact date is lost to prehistory - an object weighing more than 26,000kg crashed into Earth. It originally formed 4 1/2 billion years ago from the core of a planetary-like body located between Mars and Jupiter, whose shattered remains are now part of the asteroid belt. An impact event ejected what was to become the Gibeon mass into interplanetary space before its fateful descent to Earth, exploding in the atmosphere and raining down in what is now the Kalahari Desert.
First discovered in 1836, specimens of Gibeon were sent to the scientist John Herschel, who confirmed their extraterrestrial origins. Most iron meteorites display a metallic iron-nickel latticework, known as a Widmanstätten pattern; the presence of which is diagnostic in the identification of an iron meteorite.
The final shape is the product of its composition, the soil chemistry where it landed, its orientation in the ground, the amount of groundwater to which it was exposed — and the amount of time this meteorite was exposed to the earthly elements. In very rare instances those forces of terrestrialisation combine to form aesthetic shapes featuring natural holes, reminiscent of sculptures by Henry Moore, and a dynamic appearance. The meteorite presented here represents one of the best examples of the famous Gibeon and comes from one of the most important collections of aesthetic iron meteorites in private hands.
First discovered in 1836, specimens of Gibeon were sent to the scientist John Herschel, who confirmed their extraterrestrial origins. Most iron meteorites display a metallic iron-nickel latticework, known as a Widmanstätten pattern; the presence of which is diagnostic in the identification of an iron meteorite.
The final shape is the product of its composition, the soil chemistry where it landed, its orientation in the ground, the amount of groundwater to which it was exposed — and the amount of time this meteorite was exposed to the earthly elements. In very rare instances those forces of terrestrialisation combine to form aesthetic shapes featuring natural holes, reminiscent of sculptures by Henry Moore, and a dynamic appearance. The meteorite presented here represents one of the best examples of the famous Gibeon and comes from one of the most important collections of aesthetic iron meteorites in private hands.