Meteorite

Stephanie Cherrett: I am Stephanie Cherrett and I'm the Public Programme Officer here at RAMM.

For me, one of the most awe-inspiring objects in our collection is our meteorite. What blows my mind about the meteorite is it's 4 billion years old and it's an early relic from the formation of our planet.

The meteorite was discovered in the geology collection during the 1990s, whilst doing some organising, and nobody actually knows how it got there. We don't know where it landed or when it arrived, and so therefore it required a bit more investigation to find out exactly what it was and to confirm whether it was actually a meteorite or not.

So, the meteorite was sent to London and they undertook some studies which required them slicing off a very thin section, which was then looked at under a polarising microscope, and this allowed them to be able to confirm that it was in fact a meteorite.

The meteorite is housed in our Case Histories gallery. The Case Histories gallery has some really interesting objects: for example, Gerald, our giraffe, who's very well known. And the objects that are in that area tend to be ones with significant stories. They might be the smallest, the largest, the oldest, and that's why the meteorite's in there.

What we find is that visitors are really surprised to come across it as they're looking around. They'll have just finished looking at a giraffe, and then suddenly they're looking at something that's come from space.

Watch RAMM staff and volunteers tell us why they love each of the 16 objects, and hear the fascinating stories that make these items so special.