Lunar Meteorite NWA 13739 (3.9g)

This is 1 of 98 approved meteorites classified as Lunar.

Weight: 3.9g

OFFICIAL METEORITE NAME:  NWA 13739 Lunar meteorite

Abbreviation: NWA 13739

Observed fall: No

Year found: 2020

Country: Algeria Africa

Classification: Lunar (feldspathic breccia) Based on textures and mineral compositions, this sample is a lunar feldspathic breccia.

A lunar meteorite is a meteorite that is known to have originated on the Moon. A meteorite hitting the Moon is normally classified as a transient lunar phenomenon.

Most lunar meteorites are launched from the Moon by impacts making lunar craters of a few kilometers in diameter or less.^[6] No source crater of lunar meteorites has been positively identified, although there is speculation that the highly anomalous lunar meteorite Sayh al Uhaymir 169 derives from the Lalande impact crater on the lunar nearside.^[7][8]

Cosmic-ray exposure history established with noble-gas measurements have shown that all lunar meteorites were ejected from the Moon in the past 20 million years. Most left the Moon in the past 100,000 years. After leaving the Moon, most lunar meteoroids go into orbit around Earth and eventually succumb to Earth’s gravity. Some meteoroids ejected from the Moon get launched into orbits around the Sun. These meteoroids remain in space longer, but eventually intersect the Earth’s orbit and land.