Lissa is an L6 meteorite that fell in 1808. And that’s a long time ago by any meteorite collecting measurement. I feel fortunate to have a slice in my collection because Lissa fell when the ancestors on my father’s side lived in what was once Bohemia, then Czechoslovakia, and now the Czech Republic.
This crust is so fresh, it doesn’t look a day over two hundred years old.
In general, L6 chondrites are not the most colorful of meteorite matrices, but there are exceptions and Lissa is one of them. But then again, I wonder if the L6 classification might have been a little hasty. There are many visible roundish chondrules with distinct edges. The L seems within reason, but the six…. Five maybe? Four anyone?
As historic meteorites become smaller and ever harder to get, specimens such as Lissa become even more valuable. And not just as meteorites, but as something both physical and conceptual that ties us to the people who centuries before wondered many of the same things we do today about these magical stones from space.
Until next time….
