Orgueil meteorite

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On May 14, 1864 the carbonaceous chondrite Orgueil meteorite landed near Orgueil in southern France. Only seven other similar meteorites exist in the world, the one in Orgueil being the largest. It contained the rare gas xenon-HL and diamond dust. For research purposes, the Orgueil meteorite was split up into several pieces which can now be seen in museums in Europe and the USA. The Museum d'Histoire Naturelle of Montauban in Tarn-et-garonne, France has a large piece of the meteorite weighing eleven kilograms.

In 1962, Claus et al. announced the discovery of 'organised elements' embedded in the Orgueil meteorite that were purportedly biological structures of extraterrestrial origin. These elements were subsequently shown to be either pollens (including that of ragwort) and fungal spores (Fitch & Anders, 1963) that had contaminated the sample, or crystals of the mineral olivine.

One fragment of the Orgueil meteorite (kept in a sealed glass jar in Montauban since its discovery) was found in 1965 to have a seed capsule embedded in it, whilst the original glassy layer on the outside remained undisturbed. Despite great initial excitement, it was shown to be that of a European rush that had been glued into the fragment and camouflaged using coal dust. The outer 'fusion layer' was in fact glue. Whilst the perpetrator of this hoax is unknown, it is thought he sought to influence the 19th century debate on spontaneous generation by demonstrating the transformation of inorganic to biological matter.

[edit] External links

• The Orgueil meteorite from The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight
• Orgueil meteorite by David Weir
• The Orgeuil meteorite hoax

[edit] References

• Nagy B, Claus G, Hennessy DJ (1962) Organic Particles Embedded in Minerals in Orgueil and Ivuna Carbonaceous Chondrites. Nature 193 (4821) p.1129
• Fitch FW, Anders E (1963) Organized Element - Possible Identification in Orgueil Meteorite. Science 140 (357) p.1097
• Gilmour I, Wright I, Wright J 'Origins of Earth and Life', The Open University, 1997, ISBN 0-7492-8182-0