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Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

Apt

Apt is an (L6) ordinary chondrite that fell October 8, 1803, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of southeastern France.

A report of the fall was recorded in “Der neueste Meteorstein”, published in the Annalen der Physik in 1804 (16(1), p. 72). According  to this report, on a slightly overcast morning, a very loud crash was heard in the town of Apt at approximately 10:30 AM.  A local married couple by a nearby vineyard were startled by a sound described as ringing or hissing, and the woman looked up to see a black stone fall into the vineyard.  As the sound had been noticed by several other people, news of the stone’s fall spread quickly throughout the area and a search was undertaken. 

The 3.2 kg (~7 lb) stone was found 2 days later,  embedded in a 10” deep hole not far from a residential home, and sent to the Paris.  It was quickly identified as a meteorite and accessioned into the collection of the Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle

Apt Meteorite