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Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

Portales Valley

Portales Valley, an ordinary (H6) chondrite that fell the morning of June 13, 1998, in New Mexico.

According to the Meteoritical Bulletin (MB 83):

"After detonations were heard and smoky trails seen in the sky, a shower of meteorites landed near Portales, New Mexico. 53 objects have been recovered, with a total mass of 71.4 kg. The largest pieces weighed 16.5 kg (witnessed to fall by Nelda Wallace and Fred Stafford), 17.0 kg (found by Elton Brown), and at least nine others over 1 kg. A 530 g fragment went through the roof of Gayle Newberry's barn and embedded itself in a wall, indicating a trajectory west to east."

Portales Valley is one of 225 approved meteorites recovered in New Mexico.