Rare Mercurian meteorite 3D scanned at IPCH’s Digitization Lab

Artistic rendering of the Mercurian meteorite by Michael Anderson. Image taken by Fred E. Davis and provided courtesy of the Yale Peabody Museum; side of cube is 1 cm
November 18, 2014

A meteorite that may have originated from the planet Mercury and estimated to be 4562.8 ± 0.3 million-years-old was brought to the IPCH Digitization Lab by the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History’s Collections Manager for Mineralogy and Meteoritics, Stefan Nicolescu, for 3D laser scanning. The surface of the meteorite, known as NWA 7325, was digitally acquired via a NextEngine triangulation laser scanner. A to-scale 3D print - to be used for teaching purposes – was then made courtesy of the Yale Center for Engineering, Innovation and Design (CEID).

Prior to scanning, the meteorite spent nine months on display in a special exhibit at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History entitled From Mercury to Earth? A meteorite like no other.

 
Click here to read the blog entry about the scanning process at the IPCH Digitization Lab, written by IPCH’s Chelsea Graham.