“this is the seventh donation in seven years”

It is the largest rock from space found on French soil. The Aube meteorite, discovered in Saint-Aubin, is now exhibited in a new museum. After Troyes, Nantes and Toulouse, it now arrives at the Angers natural sciences museum.

She was discovered on October 3, 2018 in a commune in Champagne-Ardenne. A meteorite, weighing almost nine tonnes, emerged from the earth, in the small town of Saint-Aubin (Aube), not far from Nogent-sur-Seine.

Having fallen to earth more than 55,000 years ago, it would be, according to the Astronomical Society of France, the largest mineral mass discovered in France.

Because although this meteorite was discovered in Aube, the latter is exposed in Champagne-Ardenne, but also in the four corners of France. With the discovery on several occasions of nearly nine tonnes of meteorite (1968, 2002 and 2018), this monster of iron and nickel or octraedite, then largely dethroned the title holder of Mont Dieu, at the height of its 1.1 tonnes .

After its discovery and a four-hour drive, the Dawn meteorite was moved to a new museum. A year after Nantes, another fragment arrived at the Angers natural sciences museum. It appears alongside the Angers meteorite and that of the Eagle.

Of the nine tonnes of meteorites discovered in Saint-Aubin, fragments are exhibited in different museums in France and each time almost a tonne is present.

“Initially we wanted to celebrate the centenary of the exhibition of the Angers meteorite. We had had a piece of the Saint-Aubin meteorite and we said to ourselves that for consistency, we could definitively exhibit one piece”explains Benoît Mellier, in charge of the zoology, earth and universe sciences and prehistory collections at the Angevin museum.

It was not a goal to increase the collection, but it is an opportunity.

Benoit Mellier

Curator at the Angers Natural Sciences Museum

Since December 17, it is now done, the meteorite has been delivered to the museum. “It was not an objective to increase the collection, but it is an opportunity. By discussing here and there, we were in contact with the Aube representatives and now we are exhibiting one of the fragments”explains the curator.

Already seven museums have succeeded in integrating a fragment into their collection. Troyes, Paris, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Grenoble and now Angers are the cities where meteorite samples have entered museum collections. “Every year, we make a donation in France. They are chosen according to their size, but also for the interest of their collections”says Pierre Antonin, the man who managed the Saint-Aubin site.

What is found belongs to the land owners.

Pierre Antonin

Meteorite researcher and project manager for the discovery of Saint-Aubin

“We decided with the owners of the fields in Aube to donate part of the meteorites. When we discover something, what we find belongs to the owners of the land. This time, it was farmers and They decided by mutual agreement to offer fragments of meteorites Since then, there have already been seven donations to museums.explains the researcher.

With the search for these fragments that he defines “extraterrestrial”Pierre Antonin takes care of taking the samples to the different museums and this is not likely to stop. Now, for the treasure seeker, all that remains is to decide the next establishment that will host pieces of the meteorite.

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