Note: This page will be updated in a somewhat more professional manner in the next few days with a great deal of information on the Tatahouine Meteorite.

Specimen approximate weight: 14.3 grams Pronounced: Tat-Oh-Ween (pronunciation is a bit contentious, no accentuation) Classification: Achondritic Diogenite (ADIO) Date: 27 June, 1931. Location: Foam Tatahouine, Tunisia - Lat. N. 32° 57' Long. E. 10° 25'. Color: Olive Green with dark/black shock veins up to 2 mm wide. Approximate Density: 3.3 g/mL. Texture: Agate-like, sometimes translucent. Cumulate with exceptionally large unbrecciated orthopyroxene (hypersthene) crystals, many reaching 2 cm length, a few up to 3 cm in length, with inclusions of chromite, iron sulfide, metal and glass inclusions throughout.

The Tatahouine meteorite fell on June 27, 1931 at 1:30 am in Foum Tatahouine, Tunisia. A fireball was seen to explode in the Tunisian desert and many hundreds of small fragments showered down on the desert four kilometers Northeast from the village. The achondritic stones were thought to be apparently dispersed over a small strewn field (less than 1 square kilometer) on a hillside composed of Jurassic limestone and having a sandy desert soil. Over 12 kilograms was immediately collected by local Bedouins, principally as minute fragments, though they ranged in weight from 1 g or less to 2 kilograms. These were sent to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. In 1994, the French meteoriticist Dr. Alain Carion and his colleague and son Louis recovered many more specimens at the strewn field raising the total weight recovered apparently to approximately 13.5 kg. Recently, several more kilograms have been found. Tatahouine typically has no fusion crust since it is thought to have exploded from atmospheric shear forces shortly before impact at a low altitude. Thus, there was not enough time nor energy left for a secondary fusion crust typical of most exploding meteorites to form during the fall on the newly exposed surfaces. This is due to the accumulated atmospheric damping before the explosion and the additional viscosity of the lower atmosphere after the explosion which quickly quenches excess velocity over that of free fall. For the lack of a fusion crust, fragments do not fit the typical description of a meteorite. Since most are quite small, a larger piece is considered to be premium among museum collections (over 10 grams, especially those over 50 grams). Some pieces do exhibit remnants of the fusion crust but significant fusion crust is exceptional.

A team of researchers lead by Philippe Gillet, Lab. Sciences de la Terre, ENS Lyon, studied the differences between the freshly collected material from the Paris Museum and the material collected in 1994, to characterize any differences as the meteorite experienced what meteoriticists refer to as "terrestrialization". The results of this study were as timely as they were dramatic: Secondary mineralization was found that included carbonates with rod shaped objects, these being similar in size and shape to those found in the Martian meteorite from Allan Hills, Antarctica, named ALH 84001. This particular Martian meteorite had caused a stir in the scientific community a few years earlier with the announcement that such structures found in the meteorite were from life forms on Mars: proposed to be extraterrestrial micro-rod bacteria. Also found due to terrestrialization were increased Strontium metal concentrations and appearances of calcite and iron hydroxide.

Beryllium-Neon cosmic ray measurements indicate that the entire Tatahouine mass traveled in space as a meteoroid for approximately 38 million years. Meteoriticists have studied a proposed impact event believed to have occurred on the differentiated asteroid (4)Vesta.

Due to its intrinsic properties, Tatahouine is classified by petrologists, as a DIOGENITE class meteorite. Diogenites are part of the greater class of achrondritic "H-E-D" family of meteorites, or Howardites, Eucrites, and Diogenites, the basic three types of classifications well accepted to be from the (4) Vesta impact event described. This fact corresponds nicely with the (4)Vesta parent body theory for Tatahouine, as all Diogenites are currently considered to be from (4)Vesta.

While Howardites and Eucrites are generally thought to be material closer to the surface of the (4)Vesta parent body, Diogenites are believed to be from somewhat deeper. (4)Vesta is one of the few asteroids which exhibits differentiation, where the original frictional, pressure and nuclear fission heating during formation of these bodies caused a molten state sufficient to have heavily elements such as iron and nickel sink to the center and lighter components rise to the surface in a gravity induced liquid-state separation. During this differentiation process, the spherical chondrites present in non-differentiated bodies melt (hence the classification is achrondritic) and mix to create a liquid matrix. A layer of Diogenite is believed to have been thus formed which can be visualized as a concentric shell or alternatively, like an onion rind. While Howardite is a somewhat anomalous classification and similar to Eucrite, it is thought to have been the actual transitional skin between the Diogenite and Eucrite layers of the asteroid which occurs at a depth somewhere between 9 and 12 kilometers on (4) Vesta, at least at the south pole where a large impact crater 13 km deep has been characterized that is presumably the source for the ejected H-E-D material arriving on Earth. Both Howardites and Eucrites typically will contain some Diogenite, indeed, based on the Diogenite content, the distinction between these two other classifications is typically made, though this can be tricky for an individual meteorite due to the samples own variations. While Tatahouine exhibits a very unique green color, a resemblance is also in other diogenites and it is incorrect to say that it is not seen in other meteorites as the author of this website has actually seen several different Howardites and Eucrites with what appear to be quite small but quite notable green diogenite inclusions.

Note related to the original movie, Star Wars (1977)

The "Tatooine" scenes from the town in the science fiction movie Star Wars were also actually filmed in Tunisia. The town of the Tatahouine meteorite fall, "Tatahouine" or "Tataouine" indeed was the same one that inspired Director George Lucas of the original Star Wars, to name the home planet of protagonist Luke Skywalker "Tatooine". While some of the interiors of Luke's house were filmed in at the Berber style Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmâta Ancienne (a Tunisian town 78 kilometers as the bird flies SSE of the town Tatahouine). This hotel was fashioned out of five dug out "crater" pits which is typical of traditional desert construction due to the moderation of extreme temperatures in pits and especially in caves. According to Star Wars, Luke S.´s (pronounced Lucas, the director was unabashedly full of borrowed "surprises") Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen Lars lived in the town of "Sidi Driss" on the desert planet "Tatooine". The exterior of the house was an actual home in the village of Matmâta Ancienne (Old Matmata), where these caves and artificial dugout craters have been inhabited by Berbers for over a milenium.

Comment for no special reason other than to promote a Mexican connection: Star Wars' Princess Leia's hair was modeled after styles of Mexican rebel Pancho Villa's feminine traveling companions.