Ahnighito Meteorite
The largest fragment of the great nickel-iron Cape York meteorite to be removed from the site where it fell in Greenland some ten thousand years ago. It measures 3.4 meters x 2.1 meters x 1.7 meters, and weighs approximately 32 tons.
The Ahnighito ("tent") and the other large fragments (the "Woman" and the "Dog") were used by the local Inuit people for thousands of years as a source of iron for their tools and harpoons. The Arctic explorer Robert Peary brought this portion of the meteorite from Greenland to the United States in the late 1800's, selling it to the American Museum of Natural History for USD $40,000. It now resides in the Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites at the Hayden Planetarium, along with the Woman, the Dog, and four other smaller fragments of the Cape York meteor. The Ahnighito is the largest meteor on museum display in the world: its massive weight means that its supports must reach straight down through the structure of the museum into the native bedrock.
In HW, Kit communes with the meteorite and gets a sense of what its long history was like before its fall. (HW)
(See also: Inanimate objects)