UCLA Meteorite Collection & Gallery

The UCLA Collection of Meteorites is the largest on the West Coast and contains over 2500 samples from about 1500 different meteorites. It is the fifth largest collection of meteorites in the United States and the second largest housed at a university.

Our collection includes the main masses of about 40 meteorites and the type specimens of more than 300 meteorites collected from hot deserts; 60 of these are iron meteorites. Eighty of these meteorite type specimens are from the state of California. These were collected by local citizens during the past few decades, mainly from the playas (dry lakes) scattered around the Mojave Desert.

Our Meteorite Gallery, located in room 3697 of the Geology Building, opened in January 2014. The Gallery is open to the public weekdays from 9 am to 4 pm and on Sundays from 1 to 4 pm when it is staffed with volunteer docents. Admission is always free. *The UCLA Meteorite Gallery is temporarily closed due to COVID-19.