Meteorites with a Question Mark

These meteorites are real meteorites that may have been proven to be another meteorite, have questionable past and/or find circumstances, or have not found scientific consensus regarding their meteoritic origin.

In alphabetical order:

    1. Al Haggounia 001 – Listed and still often sold as an aubrite, but due existence of many chondrules was reclassified by Dr. Alan Rubin as a “vesicular, incompletely melted, EL chondrite impact melt rock”. Also, this meteorite is extensively weathered.
    2. Baygorrya – Classified as an independent find from Uruguay, this meteorite was found to be Campo del Cielo. Due to Argentina’s strict rules, it appears that the scammers smuggled out a Campo del Cielo meteorite and claimed to have found it just over the border in Uruguay in a grass field near the Baygorria dam.
    3. Datil – This supposed find by Michael Cottingham has never been published in the Meteoritical Bulletin and never will do to its highly suspect history.
    4. Hambleton – This pallasite was found in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, beside a forest track by meteorite dealer and hunter, Rob Elliot, in 2005. There is no proof of mischief, but some in the meteorite community at large find the circumstances to be suspect.
    5. Lovina – This meteorite is classified in the Meteoritical Bulletin as an Iron, Ataxite. However, buyers should be aware that there is a great deal of controversy among museum curators and meteoriticists as to whether it is even a meteorite. The anomalous structure of Lovina is thought by some to be the byproduct of metal smelting furnace. In the follow-up paper titled, “LOVINA: IS THIS A METEORITE?” by K. Nishiizumi and M. W. Caffee, they stated that “based oncosmogenic radionuclide concentrations, it is our opinion that
      Lovina is unlikely to be of extraterrestrial origin.”
    6. Mercantour – The trace elements measurements conducted by M. D’Orazio at University of Pisa reveal significant Ba and Sr enrichment, a signature similar to meteorites found in hot deserts. This meteorite is now called Nova 054.
    7. Shirokovsky – At the time of its introduction, many collectors, dealers and some institutions were fooled into buying this “new” pallasite. Labeled now as a pseudo-meteorite in the Meteoritical Bulletin, it is now considered by collectors as a collectible “meteor-wrong” and ironically sells for more per gram than real pallasite meteorites.

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