# the moon Rocks! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088 "2007-02-28T21:38:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/1 "2007-02-28T21:38:19Z")
Let’s say I want to have an actual moon rock on my coffee table. I think there’s about 800 pounds of moon rocks that were brought back from the Apollo missions. Some of it is in museums, some is in research labs, and some is probably still in storage somewhere. Are there any moon rocks that are “out there” which are owned by regular people, and thus might be for sale somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/2 "2007-02-28T21:43:22Z")
[Probably not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rock#Curation_and_availability). ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/3 "2007-02-28T22:00:55Z")
2002: [Three Plead Guilty in Stolen Moon Rock Scheme](http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=658) 2004: [$5M Moon Rock Stolen From Malta Museum](http://www.space.com/news/malta_moon_040521.html) 2004: [NASA Formally Returns Stolen Moon Rock to Honduras](http://www.space.com/news/honduras_moon_040229.html) 2006: [Moon rocks stolen from vehicle in Virginia Beach](http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2006/01/another_moon_ro.html) Rocks also disappeared in Pakistan, 1972, and Nicaragua, 1979. It does seem _possible_ to [come by the stuff legally](http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1430/is_n9_v15/ai_13768774): > [@](#): > > one dealer, Robert Haag of Tucson, Arizona, owns his own moon rock legally, and he estimates the gem value of the stone at $20,000 per carat. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/4 "2007-02-28T22:06:17Z")
You can get bits of lunar origin meteorites. Something smacks the moon, blasts a hunk of material into orbit, it eventually ends up on earth, you know… About $5000/gram, IIRC. The biggest I’ve seen for sale is .73 grams for about $4000 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/5 "2007-02-28T22:19:06Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] You can get bits of lunar origin meteorites. Something smacks the moon, blasts a hunk of material into orbit, it eventually ends up on earth, you know… About $5000/gram, IIRC. The biggest I’ve seen for sale is .73 grams for about $4000 [/QUOTE] 1. Slam nuclear warhead into moon. 2. ??? 3. Profit! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/6 "2007-02-28T22:30:49Z")
**Ludovic** , that’s brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/7 "2007-02-28T23:50:48Z")
Man, in a hundred years the premise of this thread is gonna seem SO dumb! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/8 "2007-03-01T00:19:29Z")
More evidence of the liberal bias on this board. Bush threatens to invade Iran and everybody condemns him. But Ludovic threatens to launch an unprovoked nuclear attack on the Moon and nobody says a word against him. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/9 "2007-03-01T02:38:30Z")
How much is britney Spears’ hair selling for? Is it more valuable than Moon rock? And how do you verify either? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/10 "2007-03-01T06:06:35Z")
Steve Martin has one for his Google-phonic sound system! 😃 (sounds like shit…) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/11 "2007-03-01T09:36:03Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] You can get bits of lunar origin meteorites. Something smacks the moon, blasts a hunk of material into orbit, it eventually ends up on earth, you know… About $5000/gram, IIRC. The biggest I’ve seen for sale is .73 grams for about $4000 [/QUOTE] So how do they know it came from the moon? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/12 "2007-03-01T09:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=Hail Ants] Steve Martin has one for his Google-phonic sound system! 😃 (sounds like shit…) [/QUOTE] That’s goog **ol** -phonic sound system, and it _doesn’t_ sound like shit, but it’s certainly not something you’d want to have in your house. It’d be okay for your car, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/13 "2007-03-01T15:34:46Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] So how do they know it came from the moon? [/QUOTE] The mineral composition is unique, although similar to earth (I believe). [Here](http://www.unm.edu/~market/cgi-bin/archives/000437.html) they briefly mention late stage crystallization and incompatible elements. I can’t find the source, but I recall a site that mentioned isotopic signatures and trapped gasses and the like. Each planetary body is unique, and since we’ve plenty of samples from the moon, we are pretty sure what it’s like. Now back to your regularly scheduled jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/14 "2007-03-01T18:09:56Z")
I thought everyone knew that these supposed “moon rocks” were brought back by Wernher Von Braun after a trip to Antarctica ( [The Apollo Hoax](http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html) ). There are probably tons more just sitting on the ground waiting to be picked up. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/15 "2007-03-01T18:42:19Z")
I’ve seen two moon rocks: one in Nepal and one in Laos. They’re more like moon pebbles. They’re in museums and were given by the US government as a friendship gesture. Mounted on some sort of backing. The one in Laos is in the old royal palace in Luang Prabang and was given to the king before the 1975 communist takeover. ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-rocks/394088/16 "2007-03-01T22:24:57Z")
[QUOTE=Nancarrow] Man, in a hundred years the premise of this thread is gonna seem SO dumb! 😉 [/QUOTE] We won’t have coffee tables in a hundred years? 🙂