Campo del Cielo Meteorite
Nearly as old as our Solar System, this 352 lb meteorite is the oldest thing you’ll ever touch!
This rare meteorite is on display in the center of MOSI’s Grand Lobby. Go ahead, touch it!
Around 450 years ago, a Spanish governor in Argentina sent soldiers to investigate rumors of a huge amount of iron with a strange story. People nearby said that it had fallen from the sky.
The aboriginal people in the area had made weapons out of the iron, and they had given the special area a unique name, which translated into Spanish as Campo del Cielo, or “Field of Heaven.”
The soldiers found the iron, but they could not be sure whether it came from the sky.
It would take another 200 years before members of the Royal Society of London were able to study a sample and determine that it was made up of 90% iron and 10% nickle — and did fall to Earth as a meteorite.
Meteorite Type: Iron nickle
Specimen Weight: 352 pounds (160 kg)
Date of Fall: Around 5,000 years ago
Found: Campo del Cielo, Argentina
Age: 4.5 billion years old