Meteorite Museum - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Space Specimens on Display

Located within Northrup Hall on the main campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, the Meteorite Museum features displays of meteorites that have been discovered throughout the world. The specimens are part of the research and teaching collection of the Institute of Meteoritics (IOM), which operates in conjunction with UNM's Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences.

The IOM was founded in 1944 to conduct studies of the early solar system and planetary evolution. Over the years, it has collected more than 600 different meteorites. One of the main highlights at the museum is a piece of a stony meteorite named Norton County that fell in Kansas in 1948. The sample weighs one ton.

Also on display at the Meteorite Museum is an exhibit entitled "Looking at the Solar System through a Microscope.'' It demonstrates the ways in which scientists learn about comets, asteroids, the Moon, and planets by studying extraterrestrial materials that have fallen to Earth from space and samples collected during spacecraft missions.

The address of the Meteorite Museum is 200 Yale Boulevard Southeast, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001. It is open from 9am to 4:30pm every Monday through Friday, but closed on weekends and during the lunch hour from noon to 1pm. Admission is free of charge. Guided tours are offered as an optional extra.