Meteorites | Historic Falls

Apt, France, *1803

Apt landed in France in 1803, in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur. Another very rare early specimen, this 1.66 part slice has a little crust. The total known weight of this L6 chondrite is 3,200g.

Albareto fell in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy in 1766, Only 2,000g were recovered, of which this fragment represents 0.7g. A very rare 18th century specimen, traded out from the Museo Mineralogico at the University of Modena.

Wold Cottage, England, *1795

As noted elsewhere, 18th century meteorites are pretty thin on the ground. At this time they weren’t considered ‘real’ by men of science, despite the numerous accounts of peasants, blacksmiths, farmers, and the rest. It’s hard to get hold of even small amounts of this material, and it’s generally pretty expensive. My small fragment above weighs 0.1g.

Weston, USA, *1807

Weston was the meteorite fall which really got things going in the States, being one of the examples (like L’Aigle) where so many people observed the shower of stones fall to earth that it was difficult to argue it away. Despite this, Thomas Jefferson is reputed to have said: “I would rather believe two Yankee professors would lie, than that stones have fallen from the heavens.” Which just goes to show, politicians aren’t always to be believed

Parnallee, India, *1857

Parnallee is a particularly attractive stone, an LL3.6, which landed in Tamil Nadu in 1857. The total known weight is around 77.6kg – a large lump of which sits in the Natural History Museum, London. It is famous for its beautiful and plentiful chondrules.

Juvinas, France, *1821

Juvinas fell to earth in the Rhones-Alpes part of France in 1821. It’s a rare monomict eucrite, with a total weight of around 91kg. This specimen is a nice 0.8g part slice obtained from Erik Twelker.

Elbogen, Czech Republic, *1400

Many people – including some meteorite collectors – believe that the earliest witnessed fall for which material is still extant is the famous one in Ensisheim, 1492. In fact, it’s not – Elbogen is a type IIID iron meteorite which fell in the Zapadocesky region of what is now the Czech Republic. Its total known weight is around 107kg, but much of it is in institutions. My specimen here weights 1,8g and was purchased from, and prepared by, Mirko Graul.

Drake Creek, USA, *1827

Meteorites from the US don’t normally interest me so much as European ones, but Drake Creek is one of the earliest examples of a witnessed fall from that country. This is a lovely 1.287g part slice from a meteorite with a total known weigt of only 5kg.

Cold Bokkeveld, South Africa, *1838

Cold Bokkeveld fell in South Africa in 1838. It is a remarkably rare meteorite; only 5,200g were ever recovered. This fragment has a beautiful crust round most of one side, and was traded from the London NHM. The circumstances of the fall and recovery are given here. One of the things I love about this specimen is that it’s a crusted piece from the NHM, London. This means that, according to the reports linked above, there’s a good chance that Michael Faraday himself may have held this very piece of stone!

Allende, Mexico, *1969

Allende is a remarkable meteorite. It fell in Mexico at the peak of the moonshot frenzy, and was analysed by NASA as a dry run for analysing material being brought back from the moon by the Apollo missions. Allende is a carbonaceous chondrite – rich in carbon-based chemicals and compounds. It contains some of the oldest material known, believed to be left over from the formation of the solar system. Of the 2 tonnes which fell over Chihuahua that day, the above is a nice 5g collection specimen.