Report an accessibility problem
Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

Krähenberg

Krähenberg is an ordinary (LL5) chondrite that fell May 5, 1868, in the Rheinland-Pfalz region of Germany.  The meteorite’s fall to Earth was well-witnessed, and described by English chemist Walter Flight in his 1875 publication History of Meteorites:

"A single stone was seen to fall, the sky being clear and bright.  The noise of the explosion is described as having been louder than that of a cannon; this was followed by one resembling a roll of musketry, terminating with a sound as of the rushing steam from a locomotive; the tone of the last sound increased in pitch, and abruptly ended with another loud noise."

He goes on to say that the 33-lb Krähenberg meteorite hit the ground within a few feet of a little girl, making a “perfectly vertical” hole almost 4 feet deep.

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meteorit_von_Kr%C3%A4henberg.jpg
Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meteorit_von_Kr%C3%A4henberg.jpg