Carved from the Aletai iron meteorite, these spheres originate from a meteorite discovered in 1898 in the Altay region of Xinjiang, northwest China. The meteorite belongs to the coarse octahedrite classification and formed more than 4.5 billion years ago in the metallic core of an ancient asteroid. After polishing, the spheres are etched to reveal the Widmanstätten pattern, a distinctive nickel-iron crystal structure that forms only during extremely slow cooling in space.
The etched surface displays a natural pattern of interlocking metallic crystals unique to each sphere. These structures developed over millions of years while the parent asteroid cooled. Aletai meteorite spheres are appreciated for their natural patterns, well-documented origin, and connection to the earliest stages of solar system formation.