Observed_fall

Meteorite fall

Meteorite fall

Falling of meteors


A meteorite fall, also called an observed fall, is a meteorite collected after its fall from outer space was observed by people or automated devices. Any other meteorite is called a "find".[1][2] There are more than 1,300 documented falls listed in widely used databases,[3][4][5] most of which have specimens in modern collections. As of February 2023, the Meteoritical Bulletin Database had 1372 confirmed falls.[3][6]

Witnessed bolide

Importance

More information Era, Number of falls ...

Observed meteorite falls are important for several reasons.

Material from observed falls has not been subjected to terrestrial weathering, making the find a better candidate for scientific study. Historically, observed falls were the most compelling evidence supporting the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites.[7] Furthermore, observed fall discoveries are a better representative sample of the types of meteorites which fall to Earth. For example, iron meteorites take much longer to weather and are easier to identify as unusual objects, as compared to other types. This may explain the increased proportion of iron meteorites among finds (6.7%), over that among observed falls (4.4%).[3] There is also detailed statistics on falls such as based on meteorite classification.

As of January 2019, the Meteoritical Bulletin Database had 1,180 confirmed falls.[3] Statistics by decade are listed in the table in this section.

List of meteorite falls

Oldest

The German physicist Ernst Chladni, sometimes considered as the father of meteoritics,[8] was the first to publish in modern Western thought (in 1794) the then audacious idea that meteorites are rocks from space.[9] There were already several documented cases, one of the earliest was the Aegospotami meteorite of 467 BC and which became a landmark for 500 years, of which Diogenes of Apollonia said:[10]

With the visible stars revolve stones which are invisible, and for that reason nameless. They often fall on the ground and are extinguished, like the stone star that came down on fire at Aegospotami.

showing that the Greeks had a much earlier idea that meteorites are rocks from space.

Below is a list of eight confirmed falls pre-1600 AD. However, unlike the Loket (Elbogen) and Ensisheim meteorites, not all are as well-documented.

More information Fall observation date, Country ...

Largest

While most confirmed falls involve masses between less than one kg to several kg, some reach 100 kg or more. A few have fragments that total even more than one metric ton. The six largest falls are listed below and five (except the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteorite) occurred during the 20th century. Presumably, events of such magnitude may happen a few times per century but, especially if it occurred in remote areas, may have gone unreported.

For comparison, the largest finds are the 60-ton Hoba meteorite, a 30.8-ton fragment (Gancedo) and a 28.8-ton fragment (El Chaco) of the Campo del Cielo, and a 30.9-ton fragment (Ahnighito) of the Cape York meteorite.

More information Fragments' total mass (in tonnes), Fall observation date ...

Recent

As of 31 August 2021, there have been 90 found since 2010.

More information Fall observation date, Country ...

Others

On 18 August 1907 multiple newspapers[34] reported that a meteor fall had occurred in Amaganzett, Long Island.

These have all been found between 1610 and 2010 and arranged alphabetically (mostly).

More information Fall observation date, Country ...

See also


References

  1. Weisberg, Michael K.; McCoy, Timothy J.; Krot, Alexander N. "Systematics and Evaluation of Meteorite Classification" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2014.
  2. Oriti, Ronald A.; Starbird, William B. (1977). Introduction to astronomy. Glencoe Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-02-478560-2.
  3. "Meteoritical Bulletin Database". Archived from the original on 23 December 2015.
  4. "The Meteorite Catalogue Database at the Natural History Museum". internt.nhm.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 20 August 2006.
  5. "MetBase". metbase.de. Archived from the original on 19 December 2006.
  6. "Meteoritical Bulletin Database". The Meteoritical Society. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  7. "Hraschina". Historic Falls. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  8. McCoy, T. J.; Steele, I. M.; Keil, K.; Leonard, B. F.; Endress, M.; Steele; Keil; Leonard; Endress (1993). "Chladniite: A New Mineral Honoring the Father of Meteoritics". Meteoritics. 28 (3): 394. Bibcode:1993Metic..28Q.394M.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. Williams, Henry Smith (1904). "5". A history of science. Vol. 3. Harper. p. 168ff. ISBN 0-250-40142-8.
  10. Horejsi, Martin (1 July 2019). "The Johnstown Meteorite: Crater Symbolism?". Meteorite Times. Retrieved 11 October 2019. Diogenes of Apollonia: With the visible stars revolve stones which are invisible, and for that reason nameless. They often fall on the ground and are extinguished, like the stone star that came down on fire at Aegospotami.
  11. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Nogata". www.lpi.usra.edu. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016.
  12. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Narni". www.lpi.usra.edu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  13. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Search the Database". Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016. table&code=7823
  14. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Sikhote-Alin". www.lpi.usra.edu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  15. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Jilin". www.lpi.usra.edu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  16. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Allende". www.lpi.usra.edu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  17. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Kunya-Urgench". www.lpi.usra.edu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  18. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Norton County". www.lpi.usra.edu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  19. "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Chelyabinsk". www.lpi.usra.edu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  20. "Meteoritical Bulletin 99" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  21. "Meteoritical Bulletin 100" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  22. "Meteoritical Bulletin 104" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  23. "Meteoritical Bulletin 103" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  24. "Meteoritical Bulletin 102" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  25. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  26. "Meteoritical Bulletin 101" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  27. "Meteoritical Bulletin 108" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  28. "Meteoritical Bulletin 109" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  29. "Meteoritical Bulletin 107" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  30. "Meteoritical Bulletin 105" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  31. "Meteoritical Bulletin 106" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  32. "Meteoritical Bulletin 110" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  33. National Endowment for the Humanities (23 August 1907). "The Nebraska advertiser. (Nemaha City, Neb.) 18??-1909, August 23, 1907, Image 4". The Nebraska Advertiser. ISSN 2163-6788. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  34. Borovička, Jiří; Spurný, Pavel; Brown, Peter (11 February 2015). Small Near-Earth Asteroids as a Source of Meteorites. arXiv:1502.03307. Bibcode:2015aste.book..257B. doi:10.2458/azu_uapress_9780816530595-ch014.
  35. "岐阜の地学 / 岩石・鉱物 / 美濃隕石". chigaku.ed.gifu-u.ac.jp. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011.
  36. "Grimsby" (PDF). Meteorical Bulletin Database. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  37. "From the archives: 100 years ago". The Cornishman. 7 November 2013. p. 7.
  38. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Observed_fall, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.