UCLA’s Meteorite Gallery announced Thursday it has added two iron meteorites to its collection, including one that weighs 811 pounds and is the largest on display in Los Angeles.
The hefty meteorite was found in Namibia and is on a long-term loan to the museum by UCLA alum Peter Utas and his wife, Barbara Broide, according to the university.
The couple also provided the second meteorite, which weighs 326 pounds and was found in Texas in the late 1960s.
Both meteorites — which can be touched by visitors — are on display at the museum, which is housed in the UCLA Geology Building near the corner of Hilgard and Westholme avenues.
Meteorite Gallery curator John Wasson, a professor of geochemistry and chemistry, called the larger of the meteorites “beautiful, with parallel sets of fine bands crossing it.”
About 100 meteorites are on display at the gallery, which has nearly 1,500 in its collection.
— City News Service