Every once in a great while there is a discovery which becomes a game changer. It's the unexpected...the unimagined. It's the data points that couldn't be predicted. And theories are debunked, revised or newly created in its wake.

NWA 5717 is indisputably such a discovery. One of just 14 documented ungrouped chondrites (CHUNGR), NWA 5717 is the only meteorite known to exist with two distinct 3.05 lithologies. More significantly, neither of the lithologies have ever before been seen. 5717 is unique and originates from a previously unknown parent body.

To put this in context: prior to NWA 5717's certification, only 17 ordinary chondrites with a subtype less than 3.1 were documented. The most famous is Semarkona, the single most important meteorite of all. While the aforementioned 17 are extremely primitive, their lithologies are familiar. Incredibly, the total known weight of these unmetamorphosed meteorites is less than 2700 grams, and 12 of the 17 were found in Antarctica and are off-limits to the collector. Even with the addition of the 7.3 kg NWA 5717 mass, such unequilibrated meteorites are vastly more rare than meteorites from either the Moon or Mars.

Devoutly sought-after by scientists, unequilibrated chondrites are unchanged since their origins in the early solar nebula—they are among the rawest of ingredients which formed our solar system. Accordingly, half of the 5717 mass will be placed in institutions and, after cut loss, less than 3 kg will available to the collecting community.

No wide-ranging meteorite collection will be complete without an example of 5717. For chondrite devotees, nine large complete slices have been prepared (example pictured)—which are the largest complete slices of some of the most unmetamorphosed planetary body material known to exist.