The ten heaviest individual meteorite masses ever recovered on Earth, ranked by estimated mass in tonnes, from Namibia's 60-tonne Hoba giant down through the great irons of Argentina, China, and Greenland.
Quick answer: 1. Hoba, 2. Ahnighito (Cape York), 3. Gancedo (Campo del Cielo), 4. El Chaco (Campo del Cielo), 5. Armanty (Aletai), 6. WuQilike (Aletai), 7. Bacubirito, 8. Agpalilik (Cape York), 9. Akebulake (Aletai), 10. Mbozi.
Every meteorite on this list is a mountain of space iron that survived a fall through the atmosphere and now sits somewhere you can visit. These are the heaviest individual masses ever recovered, and almost all of them are iron meteorites, because iron holds together on entry where stony ones shatter and burn. This list is for anyone who wants to know just how big a rock from space can get. It ranks the single largest recovered masses by weight, notes where each one landed and where it lives today, and treats each named individual as its own entry, the way meteoriticists do.
At more than 60 tonnes, Hoba is the largest known single meteorite mass on Earth and the biggest naturally occurring chunk of iron near the surface. It has never been moved from where it landed near Grootfontein because of its sheer weight.
The largest fragment of the Cape York meteorite and the heaviest meteorite ever relocated by humans. It stands at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where its support pillars reach all the way down to bedrock.
The largest recovered mass of Argentina's Campo del Cielo strewn field, unearthed in 2016 and weighed at 30.8 tonnes on precision scales. It edged out the nearby El Chaco mass, which was re-weighed at the same time.
The second-largest Campo del Cielo mass, located in 1969 and extracted in 1980. Long cited at about 37 tonnes, it was revised to 28.84 tonnes when re-weighed with precise instruments in 2016.
The largest mass of the Aletai iron meteorite in Xinjiang, China, estimated at about 28 tonnes. It was transported to Urumqi in the 1960s and is displayed at a museum there.
A 23-tonne mass of the Aletai iron meteorite, unearthed in a Xinjiang pasture in 2021. It is one of several giant individuals from the Aletai strewn field, the longest meteorite strewn field known.
Found near Sinaloa de Leyva, Mexico, and estimated at 20 to 22 tonnes. At roughly 4 metres it is one of the longest meteorites known, and it is displayed at the Centro de Ciencias de Sinaloa in Culiacan.
Nicknamed 'The Man,' this is the second-largest fragment of the Cape York meteorite, recovered in 1963. It is now held at the Geological Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.
An 18-tonne mass of the Aletai iron meteorite, recovered in Xinjiang in 2011 and later moved into a local city hall. It is the third-largest individual of the Aletai strewn field, after Armanty and WuQilike.
A single ungrooved iron mass in the Mbeya Region of southern Tanzania, estimated at about 16 tonnes. The soil around it has been dug away to leave it sitting on a plinth as a national monument.
| # | Name | Country | Year found | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hoba | Namibia | 1920 | Iron (ataxite, IVB) |
| 2 | Ahnighito (Cape York) | Greenland | 1894 | Iron (octahedrite, IIIAB) |
| 3 | Gancedo (Campo del Cielo) | Argentina | 2016 | Iron (octahedrite, IAB) |
| 4 | El Chaco (Campo del Cielo) | Argentina | 1969 | Iron (octahedrite, IAB) |
| 5 | Armanty (Aletai) | China | 1898 | Iron (octahedrite, IIIE-an) |
| 6 | WuQilike (Aletai) | China | 2021 | Iron (octahedrite, IIIE-an) |
| 7 | Bacubirito | Mexico | 1863 | Iron (octahedrite) |
| 8 | Agpalilik (Cape York) | Greenland | 1963 | Iron (octahedrite, IIIAB) |
| 9 | Akebulake (Aletai) | China | 2011 | Iron (octahedrite, IIIE-an) |
| 10 | Mbozi | Tanzania | 1930 | Iron (octahedrite) |
Ranked by the estimated mass of the individual recovered meteorite mass, in metric tonnes, with rank 1 being the heaviest. Each entry is a single intact meteorite mass as recovered. Where a fall broke into several large pieces (Cape York, Campo del Cielo, Aletai), each named individual mass is ranked separately, as is conventional in meteoritics, rather than summing the strewn field. Masses are drawn from the Meteoritical Bulletin Database and published records; where a mass was later re-weighed on precision scales (Campo del Cielo's El Chaco and Gancedo), the revised figure is used. Inclusion is limited to naturally recovered meteorites documented in the primary meteoritical record.
The Hoba meteorite in Namibia is the largest single meteorite mass known, estimated at more than 60 tonnes. It is also the largest naturally occurring piece of iron near Earth's surface and has never been moved from where it fell near Grootfontein.
Iron meteorites are dense and hold together during the violent passage through the atmosphere, while stony meteorites tend to fragment and ablate. That is why the heaviest recovered masses are overwhelmingly iron, even though iron meteorites are far less common than stony ones overall.
Each was a single fall that broke into several large pieces, creating a strewn field of named individual masses. Meteoriticists rank each recovered individual separately rather than summing the whole fall, so masses like Ahnighito and Agpalilik (both Cape York), or Armanty, WuQilike, and Akebulake (all Aletai), each get their own entry.
Many are on public display: Ahnighito is at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Agpalilik is in Copenhagen, Armanty is in Urumqi, and Bacubirito is in Culiacan. Hoba and Mbozi remain in place at their landing sites as monuments.