Meteorite of the Month

Bondoc

Month: 
November 2009

Bondoc is a mesosiderite found on the Bondoc Peninsula, Philippines, and obtained by H.H. Nininger in 1962.  Over 850 kg of the meteorite was recovered, 550 kg of which is now housed at the Center for Meteorite Studies.

Bondoc is an extremely unusual, heterogeneous, brecciated meteorite consisting of a silicate matrix of cumulate pyroxene with interstitial plagioclase and clasts of pyroxenite and dunite, together with metal nodules and minor troilite.

Peekskill

Month: 
October 2009

October's meteorite of the month is Peekskill.  A fireball was spotted in Peekskill, NY, the evening of October 9, 1992.  After a loud noise, a chondrite meteorite weighing over 12 kg fell on a car parked in the owner's driveway.  Two pieces, totaling 12.57 kg, were identified.

Murchison

Month: 
September 2009

Shergotty

Month: 
August 2009

August's meteorite of the month is Shergotty, a 5 kg martian meteorite that fell August 25th, 1865, in Sherghati, India. 

Shergotty is an achondrite belonging to the SNC meteorite group, which encompasses Shergottites, Nakhlites and Chassignites.  These meteorites have been strongly linked to Mars through comparison to the isotopic composition of the Viking spacecraft's measurements of the martian atmosphere. 

Johnstown

Month: 
July 2009

July's meteorite of the month is Johnstown.  The Johnstown meteorite fell the afternoon of July 6, 1924, in Weld County, Colorado.  It is a diogenite, part of the HED (Howardites, Eucrites and Diogenites) group of achondrites, which originate in the crust of Asteroid 4-Vesta.  According to radioisotope dating, the HED achondrites crystallized between 4.43 and 4.55 billion years ago. 

Juvinas

Month: 
June 2009

June's meteorite of the month is Juvinas, which fell in Ardeche, France. Juvinas is a eucrite, a type of achondrite meteorite that, along with howardites and diogenites, is believed to have originated on the surface of the asteroid 4-Vesta. The word eucrite is derived from the Greek term eukritos, meaning "easily distinguished". Juvinas is named for the French commune, or municipality, in which it was witnessed falling on June 15, 1821.

New Concord

Month: 
May 2009

May's Meteorite of the Month is New Concord, an L6 ordinary chondrite, Group L6 that fell in Muskingum County, Ohio. Over thirty individual meteorite fragments weighing a combined 500 pounds fell in a broad swath over eastern central Ohio near 12:45 PM on May 1, 1860. The meteorites are named after the town nearest the largest concentration of stones, New Concord, home of Muskingum College and the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn.

L'Aigle

Month: 
April 2009

April's Meteorite of the Month is L'Aigle, an L6 ordinary chondrite that fell in Orme, France on April 26, 1803. The L'Aigle fall event, which produced a shower of over 3000 stones, proved to European scientists that rocks fall from the sky. Although people had seen meteorites fall from the sky before 1803, their stories had typically been doubted by the scientific community. L'Aigle is on display in the Center for Meteorite Studies Museum.

Bishopville

Month: 
March 2009

March's meteorite of the month is Bishopville, an aubrite that fell in South Carolina on March 25, 1843.

Ensisheim

Month: 
November 2008

This month's Meteorite of the Month is Ensisheim, an LL6 ordinary chondrite.