Numerous stones featuring distinctive green crystals were found in May 2020 in Algeria’s Erg Chech Sand Sea. The crystals are suspended in a coarse grained, tan to beige matrix with cinnamon-hued mottling. No previously known meteorite looked quite like this, and prior to a battery of rigorous testing, it was even unclear whether these stones were meteorites. Lab analyses confirmed their extraterrestrial origin and due to their unique chemical composition, Erg Chech 002 (“EC 002”) was classified as an “ungrouped achondrite”, one of only 190 known (out of about 78,000 meteorites). This classification indicates that EC 002 is a sample of a previously unknown asteroid. And that was only the beginning. On March 16, 2021, the findings of a research paper on EC 002 published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences were reported throughout the world. Following isotopic analysis, a team of international researchers determined that specimens of EC 002 were the oldest volcanic (i.e., igneous) rocks in the solar system — and 22,000,000 years older than Earth. EC 002 was part of the crust of a protoplanet (an asteroid with an iron core, mantle and crust — and volcanoes). Surface samples of the oldest protoplanets are virtually unheard of because their parent bodies are likely to have been destroyed by impacts. As a further enigma, the oxygen isotopes of EC 002 occupy a special niche shared by only four other meteorites, and EC 002 is mineralogically unlike any of them. Exceedingly large green pyroxene crystals — especially relative to the surface area of this piece — protrude from a fine-textured, warm-hued variegated matrix on one face. These crystals differ from terrestrial pyroxene as well as the pyroxene found in other meteorites due to a relatively high amount of chromium — the same element responsible for emeralds being green. EC 002 is already among the most renowned meteorites of this generation. This is a superlative offering of a fascinating meteori