The Aletai meteorite is a spectacular iron meteorite from the remote Altai Mountains of northwestern China, representing one of the most significant meteorite discoveries of recent decades. The first and largest fragment, Armanty, was discovered in 1898, though the meteorite's full significance wasn't understood until over a century later when additional massive fragments were found throughout the early 21st century.
What makes Aletai truly exceptional is its remarkable preservation and distinctive Widmanstätten pattern - the beautiful crystalline structure that forms naturally in space over millions of years as the meteorite slowly cooled. When etched and polished, this pattern reveals intricate geometric designs that are impossible to replicate on Earth, making each piece a unique work of cosmic art.
This massive iron specimen belongs to the IIIE chemical group and originated from the metallic core of an ancient asteroid that formed over 4.5 billion years ago in the early solar system. The meteorite's composition is so unique that no other samples in the world meteorite collection are comparable, belonging to the extremely rare IIIE-anomalous subgroup.
The Aletai meteorite field has yielded several massive specimens, including some weighing over 400 kilograms, making it one of the largest iron meteorite finds in modern history. The strewn field spans at least 430 km and is by a margin the largest meteorite debris scattering field found on the planet, created by the asteroid's unique "stone-skipping" trajectory through Earth's atmosphere.
The meteorite's high nickel-iron content gives it exceptional durability and a distinctive metallic luster that has remained unchanged since its formation billions of years ago. Each Aletai specimen represents a tangible piece of deep space - a fragment from the building blocks of our solar system that traveled millions of miles before finding its way to Earth. For collectors and enthusiasts, owning a piece of Aletai means possessing authentic extraterrestrial material that predates our planet itself, making it not just a meteorite specimen, but a genuine piece of cosmic history.