Wassonite | |
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General | |
Category | Sulfide mineral |
Formula (repeating unit) |
TiS |
Crystal system | Trigonal |
Crystal class | Hexagonal scalenohedral (3m) H-M symbol: (3 2/m) |
Space group | R3m |
Identification | |
References |
Wassonite is an extremely rare titanium sulfide mineral with chemical formula TiS. Its discovery was announced in a 2011 NASA press release as a single small grain within an enstatite chondrite meteorite called "Yamato 691", which was found during a 1969 Japanese expedition to Antarctica. This grain represents the first observation in nature of the synthetic compound titanium(II) sulfide.
The mineral was named after John T. Wasson, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and was approved by the International Mineralogical Association.