Fall That Glitters: Microscopy Reveals Stained-Glass Beauty in Ancient Meteorites [Slide Show]
Under a polarizing light microscope, chondrules—melted bits of silicate-rich material in meteorites—turn slices of the space rocks into bedazzling art
![Fall That Glitters: Microscopy Reveals Stained-Glass Beauty in Ancient Meteorites [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/E8878783-708A-4934-B6A404B3A85AC9AD.jpg?w=590&h=393)
Fall That Glitters: Microscopy Reveals Stained-Glass Beauty in Ancient Meteorites [Slide Show]
- CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITE UP CLOSE: Three large chondrules dominate this slice from a meteorite recovered in Antarctica in 2007; the slice is 3.4 millimeters across. The one at the top harbors large grains of olivine separated by devitrified glass—once-real glass that was turned into tiny grains by mild heating and other processes... Alan E. Rubin, University of California, Los Angeles
- CARBON-RICH CHONDRITE: This rock, known as the Allende CV carbonaceous chondrite, represents one of the asteroids that were rich in organic matter and that orbited far from Earth, probably beyond three astronomical units from the sun... Alan E. Rubin and Paul Warren, University of California, Los Angeles
- RARE ROCK: Unlike ordinary chondrites, those in the Rumuruti (R) group are rare. The only ones directly observed as they fell rained down on Rumuriti, Kenya, on January 28, 1934. The transmitted light microscope image here shows a slice from a specimen known as Mount Prestrud 95404, uncovered in Antarctica in 1995... Junko Isa, University of California, Los Angeles
- JEWELED JULESBURG: Viewed through a polarizing light microscope, a thin slice through a dull-looking ordinary chondrite becomes a dazzling specimen studded with glittery bits—the chondrules. The slice, less than 10 millimeters across, was cut from the Julesburg chondrite, found in a landfill in Julesburg, Colo., in 1983... Alan E. Rubin, University of California, Los Angeles
