Author name: Martin Horejsi

For a brief period in August 1992, a meteorite fall captured the attention of those few on the planet who were enamored by such things. The shower of stones arrived at 3:40 in the afternoon creating quite a disturbance. One hundred fifty kilos of anything falling from the sky and landing on a town would raise serious questions, but when

A July 1910 Witnessed Fall: The St. Michel, Finland Meteorite A Lifetime of Breakage   Impressive breccias such as St. Michel provide obvious visual evidence of near-catastrophic injury before arriving on earth. Breccias are rocks composed of various sized visible pieces of angular rock cemented together. But that was just the beginning for St. Michel. Although its body was already

First, let me say that it’s really great to be here. Frankly, it was getting pretty nip-and-tuck as the fuse on 2012 burned short, but as we all discovered, 2013 arrived on schedule and in like-new condition. So now we can all shift our attention to the next world-ending event. If you are like me and enjoy having constant reminders

An August 1887 Witnessed Fall: Ochansk, Russia Ochansk: If it’s abundant, it better be good.   With 500kg of the brecciated H4 named Ochansk arriving on earth, a collector desiring a piece should focus on collectability and a historical paper trail. In this particular case, the specimen has traveled through at least four documented collections. At about one o’clock in

An August 1904 Witnessed Fall: Shelburne, Canada A Mud-Slinging Meteorite   The classis L5 look of Shelburne is nothing to write home about, but it does offer plenty of eye candy chondrules for those who take the time to look…closely. The Shelburne chondrite fell back in 1904, and although an exciting event at the time, Shelburne is one of many

Pantar: The Sky is Falling. Really! Lets hope its not a bomb!   Pantar, Philippines is an amazing meteorite. Not for its H5 class, the second most common type of chondrite after the oft-shunned L6. But instead Pantar has several wonderfully detailed descriptions about its 1938 fall and its travel from the island and into our collections. The heavily crusted

Linum, Germany: It’s What’s For Breakfast!   Linum is one of those rare meteorites whose date of fall is within a few years of its TKW in grams. In this case, the Linum fell in 1854 with a total known weight of 1862 grams. Mike Bandli has an excellent description of the fall of Linum, translated by Werner Schroer on

Lissa is an L6 meteorite that fell in 1808. And that’s a long time ago by any meteorite collecting measurement. I feel fortunate to have a slice in my collection because Lissa fell when the ancestors on my father’s side lived in what was once Bohemia, then Czechoslovakia, and now the Czech Republic.    This crust is so fresh, it

Back in the fall of 1837… a  small meteorite fell in Esnandes, France. What makes this small especially interesting is that, and I quote, “A peasant, who observed the fall, said to have been burnt while collecting the stone.” Burnt?  Yet again, someone reported that a meteorite was hot when it landed. Esnandes was a mere 1500 grams so it

Friendly Fire from Space: Berlanguillas, Spain   Berlanguillas fell 200 years ago on July 8, 1811 adding to the earth’s pile of L6 chondrites. But while the classification is not too exciting, the arrival of Berlanguillas did scare soldiers and draw crowds in anticipation of a battle. The following translations were kindly provided by Bernd Pauli in Germany. Thanks Bernd!

Where it all began: Mundrabillia, Australia   The etched face of of this 69g end section of Mundrabillia brought joy to its owner, and the touchable wonders of space to hundreds if not thousands of students in its several decades as the cornerstone of my collection. Twenty or so years ago, I bought my first meteorite, an etched end section

I like to make up term for describing meteorites such as F2F as in Find to Fall (when an meteorite listed as a find might actually be a fall; or a Toolbox meteorite where the particular specimen was used as a tool of some sort before moving to a higher status in life, and even Meteorites 2.0 describing the meteorite collecting

An October 1902 Witnessed Fall: Crumlin, Northern Ireland Crumlin: Fame Through a Satirical Cartoon   Like many collectors, I was first introduced to the Crumlin meteorite through the cartoon that appeared in John Burke’s must-read book Cosmic Debris. The caption of the cartoon reads: The British Museum has “Collared” another Irish Treasure…the remarkable meteorite that fell near Belfast during the

An September 1997 Witnessed Fall: Worden, Michigan USA Worden: A Fender Bender Meteorite   For a five, Worden is filled with superb round chondrules. This 113g complete slice captures the essence of what was once a kilo and a half stone. Meteorites that land on cars deserve a special place in the subcategory of witnessed falls affectionately known as hammers.