Rare crystal with aluminium, copper and iron component found in Russian meteorite

<p>Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University and Luca Bindi of the University of Florence have discovered an entirely unique type of naturally-existing material called the quasicrystal in a meteorite found in Khatyrka region of Russia.<br /><br />Quasicrystal consists of an entirely unique atomic structure that combines the symmetrical properties of a crystal and the chaos of an amorphous solid. These crystals aren't just incredible because of how rare they are - their atomic structure of aluminium, copper and iron is so peculiar that their existence was dismissed as "impossible".<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="aluminium" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/QUASI%20CRYSTAL.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /><br />This is the third quasicrystal found in grains of this particular meteorite so far, which suggests that there might be more out there, and with even stranger structures.<br /><br />"What is encouraging is that we have already found three different types of quasicrystals in the same meteorite, and this new one has a chemical composition that has never been seen for a quasicrystal," one of the team, Paul Steinhardt from Princeton University, told Becky Ferreira at Motherboard.<br /><br />{googleAdsense}<br /><br />When the researchers examined the composition of the new quasicrystal, they confirmed that it was made from a combination of aluminium, copper, and iron atoms, all arranged like the pentagon-based pattern on a soccer ball. This is the first time this particular composition has ever been found in nature.</p>