Description
Here is a large part slice of Cape York.
The meteorite is sold with a separate label / signed certificate of authenticity.
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The meteorite collided with Earth about 12,000 years ago. The iron masses were known to Inuit as Ahnighito (the Tent), weighing 31 metric tons (31 long tons; 34 short tons); the Woman, weighing 3 metric tons (3.0 long tons; 3.3 short tons); and the Dog, weighing 400 kilograms (880 lb). For centuries, Inuit living near the meteorites used them as a source of metal for tools and harpoons.
The first stories of its existence reached scientific circles in 1818. Five expeditions between 1818 and 1883 failed to find the source of the iron. It was located in 1894 by Robert E. Peary, the famous American Navy Arctic explorer.
In 1963, a fourth major piece of the Cape York meteorite was discovered by Vagn F. Buchwald on Agpalilik peninsula. The Agpalilik meteorite, also known as the Man, weighs about 20 metric tons (20 long tons; 22 short tons), and it is currently on display in the Geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Cape York asteroid has been suggested to be a part of the asteroid which created the Hiawatha crater which split off prior to impact by the discoverers of the crater.
DISCOVERY OF CAPE YORK (AGPALILIK) IRON METEORITE, NORTHWEST GREENLAND
Name: CAPE YORK (AGPALILIK).
The place of fall or discovery: Agpalilik Peninsula, 125, km Southeast of Thule and 15, km North of the Savigsivik settlement, Melville Bay, Northwest Greenland.
Date of fall or discovery: FOUND, in the summer of 1963.
Class and type: IRON, medium octahedrite.
Number of individual specimens: 1.
Total weight: Estimated 15 tons. Still not fully excavated. Dimensions: about 210 X 200 X 125 cm.
Circumstances of the fall or discovery: The meteorite was discovered by Dr. Vagn Buchwald (Copenhagen, Denmark), during a study of the locality where the Greenland meteorites were previously discovered. It was 6 km to the west of the point where the two known specimens «Woman» and «Dog» were found and is undoubtedly a part of the Cape York meteorite shower. The meteorite lay on an ice-free slope 500 m from the shore and was partly covered with gneiss boulders. There was no crater and no crushing of rocks discovered. The meteorite has temporarily been left where discovered. The specimen found is the sixth from the Cape York meteorite shower. Dr. Vagn Buchwald has drawn up a summary of precise data on all the known specimens as of September 1963.
Name | Weight | Found | Place
|
1. Ahnighito | 31 tons | 1984-1897 | Meteorite Island
76°04’N – 64°58’W |
2. Woman | 3 tons | 1984-1897 | Saveruluk
76°09’N – 64°56’W |
3. Dog | 400 kg | 1984-1897 | Saveruluk
76°09’N – 64°56’W |
4. Savik I | 3.4 tons | 1913 | Savequarfik
76°08’N – 64°36’W |
5. Savik II | 7.8 kg | 1961 | Savequarfik
76°08’N – 64°36’W |
6. Agpalilik | about 15 tons | 1963 | Agpalilik
76°09’N – 65°10’W |
Report of Dr. Vagn Buchwald (Copenhagen, Denmark) in a letter, IX.20.1963.