The Allende (pronounced "eye-endy") CV3 carbonaceous chondrite is the most studied meteorite to date, and from a scientific standpoint, probably the most important. Allende contains not only pristine chondrules and interstellar grains in the dark matrix, but also white calcium-aluminium inclusions (CAI's), which at 4.6 billion years old, represent some of first material to have condensed in the solar nebula. This is the oldest material in the known universe ...and certainly the oldest matter that mankind has ever touched!
