Krasnojarsk (meteorite)


Krasnojarsk was the first pallasite meteorite ever found.

History

A mass of about was detected in 1749 about 145 miles south of Krasnoyarsk. It was seen by P. S. Pallas in 1772 and then, on his orders, transported to Saint Petersburg.
Krasnojarsk was the first pallasite ever found and studied first time as meteorite in 1794 by Ernst Chladni, and led to the creation of the Pallasite group, named after Pallas.
It was also the first meteorite ever etched with acid and therefore was the first one to show to human eyes the Widmanstätten pattern.
The main mass of is now in Moscow at the Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Composition and classification

It is a stony–iron meteorite of the Main Group Pallasite group.