- Kaidun meteorite
The Kaidun meteorite is a
meteorite that fell onMarch 12 ,1980 on a Sovietmilitary base (lat. 15° N, long. 48.3° E) inYemen . It contains a uniquely wide variety of minerals, causing some confusion as to its origin. In March 2004 it was suggested that the meteorite originated from the Martian moon Phobos. [ [http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4902 "'Weird' meteorite may be from Mars moon"] April 22, 2004 "New Scientist " article. URL accessed March 18, 2006.] [Ivanov, A. V. (2004) [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2004SoSyR..38...97I&db_key=AST&data_type=HTML&format= "Is the Kaidun Meteorite a Sample from Phobos?"] (abstract only) Solar System Research, v. 38, Issue 2, p. 97-107.]It is largely made up of
carbonaceous chondrite material of type CR2, but it is known to contain fragments of other types, such as C1, CM1, and C3. Of the nearly 60 minerals found within the meteorite, several have not been found elsewhere in nature, such asflorenskiite , which haschemical symbol FeTiP.The reason Phobos has been suggested is the existence of two extremely rare
alkaline -rich clasts visible in the meteorite, each of which entered the rock at different times. This suggests that the parent body would have been near a source of an alkaline-rich rock, which is in particular a product of deep differentiation. This points to Mars and one of its moons, and Phobos is more likely than Deimos because it is closer to Mars. [ [http://www.geokhi.ru/~meteorit/publication/ivanovlpsc03-e.pdf "The Kaidun Meteorite: Where Did It Come From?"] ]References
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