UCLA Meteorite Gallery

I’m not a geology geek, but still found this collection interesting. There were plenty of cross sections of meteors on display along with a big fragment that broke off the meteor that blasted the mile-​wide meteor crater in Arizona (see
). The displays fit into a one room gallery on the third floor of the Geology Building across from parking structure 2. I came during the limited weekend hours and it felt like you’re not supposed to be in the building. The visit took 20 minutes.

want to nerd out on some space rocks? then this is the place to go!
the UCLA meteorite gallery just opened this week and it’s a petite little space. located in the geology building inside room 3697, this gallery is home to the largest collection of meteorites on the west coast, with more than 2,400 specimens from roughly 1,400 different meteorites. that’s a lot of rocks!
the meteorites on display represent a small slice of UCLA’s entire collection and it’s pretty neat to browse cases of rocks that have that have travelled many miles through outer space before falling onto our earth’s surface. in addition to the shelves lining the walls, the center of the gallery is home to the clark iron, a 357-​pound piece of metal that was part of the projectile which created the gigantic meteor crater in arizona around 50,000 years ago.
sharing the space with the meteors are myriad signs with lots of text providing information and useful interpretive knowledge. it can get a little overwhelming, though, trying to absorb all the descriptions on display so i would recommend taking in the entire gallery over several short site visits.