Martian Meteorite
At the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, MA.
This inconspicuous rock is a small fragment from an 18-kilogram (40 lb.) meteorite that fell into a cornfield in Zagami, Nigeria on October 3, 1962. The presence of water and traces of gases from the Martian atmosphere identify this meteorite as a piece of a lava flow on Mars that erupted about 180 million years ago. Zagami was launched from Mars and sent on its way to Earth by an impact almost 3 million years ago. Meteorites from Mars or the Moon are exceedingly rare. So far, only a few dozen of each have been discovered.


















