A May 1874 Witnessed Fall: Castalia, North Carolina, USA Geologic Poetry from Space: Drink from the fountain of Castilia and be inspired to write meteorite verse. Castalia fell to earth on May 14, 1874. Three pieces were collected totaling about 7.3kg with a majority of the material in one 5.5 kg individual.Being a xenolithic and brecciated H5 chondrite simply
An April 1936 Witnessed Fall: Yurtuk, Ukraine A Double Hammer Stone! Borne from Impact on an Asteroid. Hammered a House here on Earth. To behold a howardite is to gaze upon the physical manifestation of the past and present dynamic processes of our solar system.Although howardites command some of the highest prices of the HEDs, essentially they are just
An March 1865 Witnessed Fall: Vernon County, Wisconsin, USA Foreshadowed the Death of a President Posing with an faux antique scale cube, Vernon County rests patiently as it has in collections for almost 150 years. It is written that its fall attracted little attention, but today meteorite collectors worldwide covet such historic witnessed falls of small TKWs. For the fledgling
An February 1883 Witnessed Fall: Alfianello, Italy A Beauty Forged by Air. A Form Destroyed by Rage. A Treasure Lost through Excess. My specimen of Alfianello reminds me of a polished rock bookend sold by the pair in small town gift shops. Its weight in can be measured in pounds, and its dimensions in inches- including its thickness. Of course
An January 1946 Witnessed Fall: Krymka, Ukraine The Chondrite That Keeps on Giving Stretch your imagination and pretend the surface of Krymka is the view outside your spaceship as you jump to hyperdrive while cruising the early solar system. Let’s be honest, usually when we talk about a meteorite being gorgeous, beautiful, amazing, stunning, or magnificent, the average person might
An December 1923 Witnessed Fall: Nakhon Pathom, Thailand Breccia like you give a Damn. (*and an important TKW discrepancy) Nothing shouts history like a good breccia. Not just earthly history, but 4.6 billion years of orbital adventures. At 9:00 o’clock in the evening on the winter solstice of 1923, the earth welcomed the fifth and final witnessed meteorite fall
Nakhon Pathom, Thailand Breccia like you give a Damn. Read Post »
An November 1994 Witnessed Fall: New Halfa, Sudan 100 Grams is Large? I’m glad someone thought so. In all its crusted glory, my “large” individual of New Halfa radiates dimpled darkness. I appreciate the unique form this specimen holds. Many individuals of this size prefer more of an ovalized form with smooth sides and muted corners. This stone,
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An October 1933 Witnessed Fall: Pesyanoe, Russia The Rarest Look the Part The year 1933 was the best ever in terms of witnessed meteorite falls. No less than 18 were reported that year which amounts to an average of one new meteorite fall every 20 days! The picture below shows the dirty gray crust on my sample of Pesyanoe carrying
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An September 1768 Witnessed Fall: Lucé, France The Conservation of Mass: Always here. But where? The law of conservation of mass states that the mass of a closed system will remain constant over time, regardless of the processes acting inside the system. Every meteorite came after. None came before. Lucé, France is truly a treasure to behold. As the
In this installment of the Accretion Desk, I have put together some of the experiences I have collected over the years with the Cassini spacecraft. For me the upcoming four-year mission around Saturn only adds more enjoyment to my personal Saturn experience, one that began formally 32 years ago. Saturn has always been the planet of my dreams. Although the
