A rare type of iron meteorite lacking the crystalline Widmanstätten pattern typically found in other iron meteorites.
From ataxia (disorder/lack of arrangement) plus -ite (mineral or rock suffix), literally meaning 'disorderly stone.' Named for its apparently random crystalline structure compared to orderly patterned iron meteorites.
Scientists found meteorites with no orderly crystal pattern and thought 'these are disordered'—so they named them after the Greek word for disorder, even though the disorder itself is actually fascinating physics we still don't fully understand.
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