Rare samples of moon rocks and meteorites landed at an Enfield school last week for a visit.

Students at Palmers Green High School enjoyed an interactive astronomy experience, getting up close and personal with the hand-sized meteorites. These included a 1.2 billion year old piece of Mars and a 4.3 billion year old nickel meteorite.

The samples, provided by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), were collected in the late 1960s and early 1970s during some of NASA’s first manned space missions to the Moon. 382kg of lunar material was brought back to Earth.

STFC chief, Professor John Womersley, said “This is a great opportunity for young people to be able to see, touch and really experience such important and exciting messengers from space –turning science fiction into science fact.”