On the Trail of the World's Great Meteorites
British Natural History Museum
Photos taken May 19 2023
Wold Cottage
Yorkshire, UK - 1795. Chondrite.
Great Britain's most famous historic meteorite. In 1795, this 25.4 kg object was seen to fall near Wold Cottage. A farmer, John Shipley witnessed this meteorite landing at very close range. He heard an explosion “like the report of a distant cannon“ then this crashed a short distance from him, spraying him with mud in the process.
This event was very important as it contradicted the prevailing explanations of meteorites being caused by lightning or forming in clouds or by volcanoes.
It was examined by British chemist Edward Howard, who found it contained nickel-iron. In 1802, he published his analysis, convincing many scientists that meteorites represented material falling from space. It took time and many other reported witnessed falls before scientists agreed that these were indeed objects from space.
A monument was erected in 1799 by Edward Topham with the inscription “here on this spot December 13, 1795 fell from the atmosphere an extraordinary stone”.
Barwell
UK - Christmas Eve 1965. Chondrite
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Hundreds of pieces from a large fireball hit this village in Leicestershire, some impacting buildings, roads and reportedly a car. An individual stone was found in a vase.​ Total known weight 44kg.
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A commemorative plaque in Barwell states "one of the largest meteorite falls recorded in British history landed close to this site. Its flaming arrival was followed by a sonic boom, before the 4.5 billion-year-old rock exploded into hundreds of pieces".
Winchcombe
UK - 2021. Carbonaceous.
Britain's most recent arrival, this fragile space rock hit a driveway.
Campo del Cielo
Argentina - 1576. Iron.
Around 5000 years ago, a shower of huge meteorites rained down on northern Argentina. This left over 26 craters and many iron-nickel meteorites on the ground. The first account of this crater field was in 1576 when Spanish invaders noted the presence of iron in Chaco province. Indigenous people of the area had known of this event.
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Campo del Cielo Means “Field of Heaven”. The total weight of meteorites recovered exceeds 100 tons. A piece weighing 30.8 tons was found in 2016 in Gancedo. A previous piece El Chaco weighing 28.8 tons had been found nearby. This picture is of the 635kg Otumpa mass found in 1783.
When cut and etched, Campo shows a beautiful pattern.
Photo credit - Anton Clemens
Imilac
Chile - 1822. Pallasite.
Pallasites are olivine (peridot) crystals in an iron-nickel matrix. They are believed to be from the stone - metal core transition zone of a destroyed planet or large asteroid.
Nakhla
Egypt - 1911. Martian.
A famous meteorite which was a witnessed fall of multiple pieces in 1911. It was later proven to be from Mars ( broken free of Mars gravity by an early impact on the planet, ending up on Earth)! A piece reportedly struck and killed a dog when it landed !!
Henbury
Australia - 1931. Iron.
This meteorite is associated with a field of 12 impact craters, which is now a protected site.
Cranbourne
Australia - 1854. Iron.
Total weight 8.6 tons ! This huge piece is displayed in the gift shop at the museum.
Crab Orchard
This mesosiderite was found in Tennessee in 1887.
Stannern
Czech Republic - 1808. Eucrite.
Eucrites are believed to be pieces of the asteroid 4-Vesta. They may be from cooled magma basalt from 4-Vesta's surface.
The fall event was observed in the early morning by inhabitants of the village of Stonarov (in German, Stannern) and neighbouring villages.
Up to 300 stones fell over the course of 6 to 8 minutes, with no reported injuries. Total weight was 52kg.
Tenham
Queensland, Australia - 1879. Chondrite.
Dar Al Gani 400
Libya - 1998. Lunar achondrite.
