New England
Meteoritical Services
Nakhla SNC Martian
Meteorite
On June 28, 1911, at 0900
hours UT, more than 40 stones fell to the ground in Abu Hommos, Alexandria,
Egypt. The fall was preceded by the appearance of a cloud and many atmospheric
detonations. The total recovered weight from this fall is reported to be 40 kg.
It has been stated that a dog was killed by one of the stones although we have
been unable to adequately verify this report. Nakhla is part of a unique suite
of meteorites referred to as the SNC group. It is believed to be of Martian
origin and is one of the "Crown Jewels" of meteorites. The vast majority of the
Nakhla mass is held by the Cairo Museum.
The acronym SNC refers to an
association of three distinct classes of meteorites and stands for the
geographic fall areas from which they were recovered - Shergotty (India),
Nakhla (Egypt), and Chassigny (France). The Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. and
Zagami, Nigeria meteorites are also SNCs.
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Group
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