Enstatite is a member of the pyroxene group of minerals. The hardness is 5.5 but its two directions of prismatic cleavage make it a challenge to facet.
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| Known Facts |
| Color Key: |
Gray, green, brown, orange-brown, yellowish-brown, colorless, pale yellow. |
| Refractive Index: |
1.663-1.673 |
| Chemical Composition: |
MgSiO3 |
| Hardness: |
5.5 |
| Density: |
3.26-3.28 |
| Crystal Group: |
Orthorhombic |
| Ocurrence: |
South Africa, Burma, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Germany, Norway, Greenland |
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Enstatite is a common mineral in meteorites. Crystals have been found in stony and ferrous meteorites, including the one that fell at Breitenbach, in Saxony. In some meteorites, together with olivine it may form the bulk of the material. Enstatite can occur in small spherical masses, or chondrules, with an internal radiated structure. It is one of the few silicate minerals that have been observed in a crystalline form outside our Solar System. Enstatite is thought to be one of the early stages for the formation of crystalline silicates in space and many correlations between the occurrence of the mineral and the structure of the object around which it has been observed have also been noted. |
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