Authentic Darwin Glass Tektite | 0.5 Grams | Darwinite Impactite | Tasmania

This is a nicely shaped Darwinite or Darwin Glass Tektite weighing 0.5 grams and measuring 12x9x4 mm.  Tektites are natural glass of meteoric origin that are found between a narrow equatorial belt of 80 degrees wide. They are often referred to as being from "the moon" or "shooting stars", which they are not. A meteor/comet impact forced molten meteorite/earth up into the atmosphere where it quickly cooled and returned to the earth after their short visit to space, raining Tektites!

The name tektites come from the Greek word "tektos", which means melted. They are unusual, irregularly or at times intricately shaped piece of silica-rich glass. They have no crystal structure and are therefore similar to obsidian but are not associated with a volcanic formation process.

Tektites exhibit a number of meteoritic features, including ablation and atmospheric melting, flight orientation, some have been tied to certain strewn fields, are very different from native rocks, sometime nickel-iron is found in some and more. However, they don't have the isotopic characteristics of a long period of time in outer space and also lack the cosmic ray exposure.

At one time they were even quite common, however tons of them were used during the 80's for lapidary faceting. Metaphysical people have also long used tektites for channeling energy in various ways.

A crater over 1 kilometer across was discovered in the dense rainforest near Mt. Darwin Tasmania in 1972.  This massive impact occurred over 700,000 years ago leaving behind beautiful pieces of Impact Glass.  It showed hardness of 5 - 6 and specific gravity of approx. 2.5 with mostly twisted shapes

This piece displays extremely well and is a quality translucent specimen (as show in the last two pictures, which are backlit). It has an aesthetic shape and would be a beautiful addition to any new or existing collection. Comes with a Canagem Collection and a Meteor Passion specimen cards.