Edscottite

{{Short description|Iron carbide mineral}}

Edscottite is an iron carbide mineral, with the formula Fe₅C₂. It was previously known to occur during iron smelting, but in 2019 was identified as occurring in nature, but not naturally occurring on Earth, when it was discovered in a meteorite.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/this-meteorite-came-from-the-core-of-another-planet-inside-it-a-new-mineral-20190830-p52mhg.html|title=This meteorite came from the core of another planet. Inside it, a new mineral|last=Mannix|first=Liam|date=2019-08-31|website=The Age|language=en|access-date=2019-09-01}}

The source, the Wedderburn meteorite, was found in 1951 just outside Wedderburn in Australia, and is held in the Museums Victoria collection.{{Cite web|url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/specimens/328|title=Wedderburn meteorite|website=Museums Victoria Collections|access-date=2019-09-01}}

During a re-investigation of a section of the meteorite housed at the University of California, Los Angeles, Chi Ma and Alan Rubin verified the presence of a new mineral.{{Cite journal |last=Ma |first=Chi |last2=Rubin |first2=Alan E. |date=2019 |title=Edscottite, Fe5C2, a new iron carbide mineral from the Ni-rich Wedderburn IAB iron meteorite |journal=American Mineralogist |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=1351–1355 |doi=10.2138/am-2019-7102 |issn=1945-3027|doi-access=free }} They named it edscottite in honor of Edward (Ed) R. D. Scott of the University of Hawaii, USA, a pioneering cosmochemist.{{Cite web|url=https://mineralchallenge.net/edscottite/|title=Edscottite {{!}} New Carbon Mineral|website=mineralchallenge.net|access-date=2019-09-01}}