Aletai Iron Meteorite Slice, IIIE-an, 161.49g, Etched Widmanstatten Pattern
SKU: 23913735627

Aletai Iron Meteorite Slice, IIIE-an, 161.49g, Etched Widmanstatten Pattern

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Description

Aletai Iron Meteorite Slice, IIIE-an, 161.49g, Etched Widmanstatten PatternA 161. 49g Aletai slice, etched on both sides This 161. 49g slice comes from one of the iron masses of the Aletai meteorite. It has been cut from the mass, polished, and etched on both faces, so the Widmanstatten pattern reads across the full length of the cross section. Aletai is an iron meteorite of the anomalous IIIE group, metal that crystallized deep in the core of a differentiated asteroid and cooled across millions of years, long enough for

A 161.49g Aletai slice, etched on both sides

This 161.49g slice comes from one of the iron masses of the Aletai meteorite. It has been cut from the mass, polished, and etched on both faces, so the Widmanstatten pattern reads across the full length of the cross section. Aletai is an iron meteorite of the anomalous IIIE group, metal that crystallized deep in the core of a differentiated asteroid and cooled across millions of years, long enough for kamacite and taenite to settle into the interlocking arrangement the etch later draws out.

Etching relies on a simple difference: dilute acid removes kamacite faster than taenite. The taenite is left raised in slight relief, and that relief is what the eye registers as the bright geometric bands. Both faces of this slice show the pattern, and the natural exterior edges of the original mass remain around the cut.

What the etch shows

Each band marks a kamacite plate that grew along a face of an octahedron set within the surrounding taenite, so the lines repeat at fixed angles wherever they cross the surface. For Aletai, the kamacite bandwidth recorded in the Meteoritical Bulletin runs about 0.9 to 1.0 mm, the figure that governs how the banding scales on the etched face.

Darker seams and patches interrupt the metal here and there, and a fracture runs through the slice with light oxidation along it. The petrography on file for Aletai records schreibersite, troilite, daubreelite, and haxonite as minor phases among the kamacite and taenite, and features of that sort sit within the metal. Their exact placement belongs to this 161.49g slice alone, so what the photographs show is the piece you receive.

Found in the Altay, paired across a strewn field

The Aletai irons were recovered from the Altay region of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northern China, beginning with a mass found in 1898. More were located across the same region in the century that followed and were catalogued under separate local names, among them Armanty, Wuxilike, Akebulake, and Ulasitai. Analysis of the metal later tied these irons together as paired, the scattered remains of a single fall.

The Meteoritical Society unified those paired masses under the one official name Aletai in 2016 and retired the earlier names as synonyms. They lie along a northwest to southeast line of roughly 425 km across China, placing Aletai among the longest strewn fields recorded for any meteorite. This slice was cut from that fall, which was submitted to the Meteoritical Bulletin by Weibiao Xu and John T. Wasson.

An iron set apart within group IIIE

Chemical groups for iron meteorites come from trace element measurements in the metal, taken by neutron activation analysis and weighed against the etch structure. Aletai belongs to group IIIE, but it is recorded as anomalous, written IIIE-an, since its chemistry stands outside the normal IIIE range. It carries the highest gold content among IIIE irons on record, with iridium above the level the group trend predicts.

As of June 2026, the Meteoritical Bulletin lists Aletai as 1 of 2 approved meteorites classified as Iron, IIIE-an. Irons of this kind are the metal cores of asteroids that melted early in solar system history, separated into metal and rock, and were later broken apart in collisions. For a fuller account of how the structure forms, see our guide to the Widmanstatten pattern explained. The Meteoritical Society keeps the official record of meteorite names and classifications.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a classified specimen? Yes. Aletai is listed in the Meteoritical Bulletin as an anomalous IIIE iron (IIIE-an) from Xinjiang, China, and the classification can be checked against the official entry. The slice ships with a Treasure Coast Meteorite Co. certificate of authenticity that documents its classification and provenance.

What does the an in IIIE-an mean? IIIE is a chemical group of iron meteorites set by trace element composition. The an marks the meteorite as anomalous, meaning Aletai sits outside the ordinary IIIE range while still being grouped with it.

What is included? You receive the 161.49g Aletai slice, etched on both faces, along with a certificate of authenticity. A display stand is not included unless the listing notes one. The cube in a photograph is a 1 cm scale reference and is not part of the sale.

How was the slice finished? It was cut from the parent mass, polished, and etched with dilute acid on both faces. Since the acid takes kamacite faster than taenite, the etched surface keeps the relief that brings the Widmanstatten pattern into view.

What care does an iron meteorite need? Iron can rust in damp conditions. Keep the slice in a dry spot, limit handling of the etched faces, and store it with silica gel desiccant. A thin protective coating is a common way to preserve the contrast of the etch.

A note for collectors

This slice brings together a published anomalous IIIE classification, an etched Widmanstatten structure, and a strewn-field history that leads back to a documented source, which is the pairing of display and provenance that many collectors look for. At 161.49g it suits a shelf or cabinet and still shows the full pattern on both faces.

It is offered by Treasure Coast Meteorite Co., IMCA Member #3323, with documented classification and provenance. Further classified irons appear in our Iron Meteorites collection.

Meteoritical Bulletin entry: Aletai | Classification: Iron meteorite (IIIE-an) | Find, Xinjiang China, 1898

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SKU: 23913735627

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This is a great resource. I thought I created great presentations before. Reading this made me realize the mistakes I was making and have me a process for really improving my decks
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This book will make a difference in your presentation.
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If you rely on Powerpoint-like presentation in your work, get Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points. I had determined that improving my company's presentations had potentially very high returns so I started poking around the net and Amazon for resources to help. At first, I struck out with books that were supposed to improve presentations, but ended up being guides on technically how to use Powerpoint. That was NOT what I was looking for. Beyond Bullet Points is very different. It is a philosophy about creating presentations whose purpose is to communicate a story, not dump information. Frankly, it was not intuitive for me so I had to decide to just trust that it would work. When I was about ¾ finished, I started to really "feel" what I was doing. And, to my surprise, the most unlikely people really liked the result. In a world where most business and how-to books are nothing more that restating what you already know (or, what you know isn't true), this one is an exception. I highly recommend it!
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C. Tucker
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★★★★★ 5
Presentations with the audience in mind
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I bought this hoping it would be a guide to creating Big-3 Consulting-style slides with fancy diagrams and eye-catching graphic design. That is not what this book is. Instead, this book is about how to tell a story with slides, using the framework of a five act drama. With this method forcing you to focus on who your audience is, what they need to know, and how much time you have to tell them (as opposed to trying to shoehorn everything you know about a subject into your pitch) you end up with a presentation that finishes on time for intelligent questions from an engaged audience. Since buying the book I have given several well-received presentations using precisely that technique. With no words on screen there is no temptation to just read the bullet points, and the audience cannot think ahead of you and must instead listen to what you're saying. You have to know your material to use this method, but when you succeed your audience will be impressed with your knowledge of the subject matter. (If you're working in a group project and want to Blue Falcon a non-contributing teammate, try giving them a few of these slides to speak to.) The recommended slide format is one picture and one headline per slide, with no bullet points at all. The book suggests creating Notes Pages with an outline of your talk as a handout, since the slides themselves don't stand alone. (And that's a good thing--visual aids are supposed to *augment* the presentation, not *be* the presentation.) In conclusion, this book might not be for everyone, but it was exactly what I needed.
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mrliteral
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An outsider's view
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When it comes to Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points, I am a bit of an outsider. I don't read many computer books and, while I have worked with PowerPoint, my presentations are very simple. Since I admittedly use my share of bullet points in these presentations, I thought learning about an alternative approach would be useful. And while there are definite benefits to reading this book, it may not be perfect for everyone. Many people use bullet points in their PowerPoint presentations; this can be a great way to organize thoughts, but Atkinson has a difference approach. Essentially, the Beyond Bullet Points method treats presentations as stories told in three "acts." Act One develops the story, Act Two develops the action and Act Three frames the resolution. Each act is broken down into scenes which provide the details. The first portion of the book explains how to work with each act; the second portion deals with the evolution from initial outline to final presentation. This book assumes a certain amount of PowerPoint knowledge; if you want to learn about the application, this is not the place to start (on the other hand, you don't need to be a PowerPoint expert). One of the nicest things about Atkinson's approach is the way he allows presentations to be pared down to fit the time frame required: his method is designed best with a 45 minute presentation, but it can be easily compressed to a 15 minute or even 5 minute presentation. Another nice thing is that he has a website that readers can access that provides some helpful materials such as template documents. On the other hand, Atkinson treats the issue of bullet points/no bullet points as something of a black-and-white issue. He doesn't really acknowledge that there may be a middle ground where bullet points should be used in certain situations, perhaps even in conjunction with his approach. I think it's more appropriate to view the Beyond Bullet Points as an alternative approach to PowerPoint presentations, not the ONLY approach. Atkinson's writing style is straightforward, and like many computer books, a little dry. But as stated earlier, I am reading this book with something of an outsider's view. This is a good book, but Atkinson's inability to look beyond his own approach keeps it from being a five-star work. Nonetheless, if you do a lot of PowerPoint presentations, there is enough useful material in here to merit a read.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2006
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Arthur E. Williams
Battle Creek, US
★★★★★ 5
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I ran across this book while researching a college workshop on perfecting presentation, dealing with public speaking and effective use of PowerPoint. As one who has suffered through numerous electronic slides that did little or nothing to augment the speaker's efforts, I was delighted to see this fresh and innovative approach. I believe this process works best, however, when one's speech is primarily persuasive in nature. Although these ideas helped me set up a strong introduction and conclusion, in a recent lecture I resorted to bullet points for the material I felt the students had to master. Perhaps as I get more used to Atkinson's technique, I'll better about using it in lecture. However, the business applications seem quite worthwhile. My students' workshop presentations that used his techniques were highly engaging. I highly recommend this book and the supporting web site.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2006

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