4,780 Rocks from Space

The Max Planck Society’s meteorite collection has found a new home at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen.

To the point:

• Great Diversity: With 4,780 samples from 1,932 different meteorites, the new meteorite collection at the MPS is among the largest and most diverse in the world.
• Long history: For more than 20 years, the collection was preserved at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt. It traces its origins to the Max Planck Institutes for Chemistry and Nuclear Physics.
• From space: Meteorites have fallen to Earth from space. They are fragments of celestial bodies dating back to the birth of the Solar System.
• For research: Meteorites help researchers reconstruct how the Solar System formed about 4.6 billion years ago and how it has evolved.

The new collection at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research comprises 4,780 samples from more than 1,932 meteorites. As a research collection, it offers an extraordinary range of different meteorite classes and ranks among the most extensive and diverse in the world. The samples include large slices of iron meteorites weighing hundreds of kilograms, as well as highly porous specks barely a millimeter in size; unimposing chunks as well as those whose surfaces bear bizarre patterns left by their entry into the atmosphere; fragments from our nearest neighbors in space, the Moon and Mars, as well as from bodies originating far beyond Jupiter’s orbit. “The collection reflects the entire spectrum of extraterrestrial rocks that have fallen to Earth,” said Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kleine, Managing Director of the MPS.

In recent months, the meteorite collection has been relocated to the MPS. It consists of two former research collections of the Max Planck Society, which scientists had established in the 1950s and 1960s at the Max Planck Institutes for Chemistry in Mainz and for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg. When meteorite research ceased there in 2003 and 2005, respectively, the cosmic fragments were transferred on loan to the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt. Under the direction of Dr. Jutta Zipfel, the collection was scientifically and curatorially preserved, expanded, and made accessible for research there for more than 20 years.

“It has been a great pleasure to provide a home for the Max Planck Society’s meteorite collection. During this time, we have researched, scientifically curated, and continuously expanded the collection, thereby helping to preserve it for future generations. Some special pieces will remain at our Natural History Museum in Frankfurt - ensuring that these fascinating celestial bodies will continue to be accessible to a broad audience,” said Prof. Dr. Andreas Mulch, Director of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt.

Since the appointment of cosmochemist Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kleine to the MPS, meteorite research once again has a firm place within the Max Planck Society, now within the broader context of Solar System research. The researchers’ goal is to understand how our cosmic home formed 4.6 billion years ago and how it evolved. Meteorites are rocky witnesses to these events. They are fragments of the first bodies that formed in the Solar System. With their help, researchers can, for example, reconstruct when and where asteroids formed, where Earth’s water came from, and how the Moon came to be.

Examining meteorites in the lab

To decipher the knowledge preserved in meteorites, researchers at the MPS determine their “ingredients.” The focus here is on the precise isotopic composition. Isotopes are variants of the same chemical element that differ solely in the mass of their atomic nuclei. Since such isotopes were not evenly distributed in the early Solar System, the precise composition of a meteorite provides insight into its place of origin. Impacts from other celestial bodies, as well as the formation processes of planetary bodies, also leave their marks on the isotopic composition. In addition, the decay of radioactive isotopes allows researchers to chronologically date the processes that occurred during the formation and evolution of the Solar System.

To perform high-precision isotope analyses, researchers at the MPS have access to specialized cleanrooms for preparing meteorite samples, as well as high-precision multi-collector mass spectrometers. Some of the laboratories are currently still under construction.

Facts and figures about the meteorite collection

• The 4,780 samples in the research collection have a total weight of approximately 2,660 kilograms.
• Chondrites are the most common meteorites found on Earth, accounting for about 93 percent of all finds. They are considered particularly pristine rocks that have changed very little since their formation. The collection contains 3,278 samples from 1,554 chondrites.
• Other bodies in the early Solar System became hot, melted completely, and formed a metallic core and a rocky mantle. Iron meteorites are fragments from the metallic cores of these early bodies, while achondrites are from the rocky mantles. The collection includes 819 samples from 199 iron meteorites and 387 samples from 133 achondrites.
• The achondrites include 76 samples from 39 Martian meteorites and 15 samples from 11 lunar meteorites.
• Stone-iron meteorites are the rarest type of meteorite. They are mixtures of a metallic core and a stony mantle, possibly formed by collisions. The collection includes 296 samples from 46 stone-iron meteorites.
• 21 percent of the meteorites in the collection come from observed meteorite falls.
• The collection is continuously being expanded.