<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_meteorite" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> the first meteorite of Lunar origin wasn't identified until 1982. Today 306 Lunar meteorites have been identified.</p>

<ul>
<li>Why weren't they identified as Lunar already a decade earlier, when
the Apollo samples had been analyzed?</li>
<li>How do Lunar meteorites differ, the Lunar surface consists of
meteoroid material anyway?</li>
<li>Were there suggestions before 1982 that certain meteorites were of
Lunar origin, and did they turn out to be correct?</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-07T13:26:12.767Z
I think it's a matter of confidence level -- distinguishing lunar rock composition from other sources
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-07T16:40:55.033Z
For your first question, "why weren't lunar meteorites identified in the early 1970's", the Wikipedia article says that the first one identified was not found (meaning not picked up) until 1982. Obviously, you cannot identify something that is not in anyone's possession. :-) The Japanese had picked one up in 1979 (among other meteorites), but my guess is that they were not completely analyzed. Or maybe the lunar meteorite  was analyzed but they did not have a lunar sample to compare it to.
JohnHoltz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-07T16:55:47.287Z
@JohnHoltz Were those really the first ones found? And now there are 306 known ones. Isn't that strange?
LocalFluff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-10T01:57:09.493Z
Related Q&A: [Meteor shower from Moon's “debris”](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/21365/10589). Also, this [list](http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/moon_meteorites_list_alumina.htm) suggests that meteorite [Yamato 791197](http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/stones/yamato791197.htm) was found in 1979.
Dhruv Saxena
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-11-18T13:19:02.457Z
[Yamato 791197 is the first lunar meteorite to be found in Antarctica but was not recognized to be of lunar origin until 1984 (Yanai K. and Kojima H., 1984), after ALHA 81005 was recognized](https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/lm_yamato_791197/)
Nilay Ghosh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-20T07:40:38.907Z
There seems to be an [official list of lunar meteorites](http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/moon_meteorites_list_alpha.htm) which as of May 2020 lists 452 objects.
B--rian
<the-moon><history><meteorite>
Why weren't Lunar meteorites identified until 1982?
LocalFluff
# Why weren't Lunar meteorites identified until 1982?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-07)

According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_meteorite) the first meteorite of Lunar origin wasn't identified until 1982. Today 306 Lunar meteorites have been identified.

* Why weren't they identified as Lunar already a decade earlier, when
  the Apollo samples had been analyzed?
* How do Lunar meteorites differ, the Lunar surface consists of
  meteoroid material anyway?
* Were there suggestions before 1982 that certain meteorites were of
  Lunar origin, and did they turn out to be correct?

**Tags:** the-moon, history, meteorite

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I think it's a matter of confidence level -- distinguishing lunar rock composition from other sources  
> **username_2**: For your first question, "why weren't lunar meteorites identified in the early 1970's", the Wikipedia article says that the first one identified was not found (meaning not picked up) until 1982. Obviously, you cannot identify something that is not in anyone's possession. :-) The Japanese had picked one up in 1979 (among other meteorites), but my guess is that they were not completely analyzed. Or maybe the lunar meteorite  was analyzed but they did not have a lunar sample to compare it to.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 Were those really the first ones found? And now there are 306 known ones. Isn't that strange?  
> **username_3**: Related Q&A: [Meteor shower from Moon's “debris”](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/21365/10589). Also, this [list](http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/moon_meteorites_list_alumina.htm) suggests that meteorite [Yamato 791197](http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/stones/yamato791197.htm) was found in 1979.  
> **username_4**: [Yamato 791197 is the first lunar meteorite to be found in Antarctica but was not recognized to be of lunar origin until 1984 (Yanai K. and Kojima H., 1984), after ALHA 81005 was recognized](https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/lm_yamato_791197/)  
> **username_5**: There seems to be an [official list of lunar meteorites](http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/moon_meteorites_list_alpha.htm) which as of May 2020 lists 452 objects.  

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## 0 answers

