Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

Dwaleni is an ordinary (H4-6) chondrite that fell the morning of October 12, 1970, near Nhlangano, Swaziland.   According to the Meteoritical Bulletin (MB 50): Explosions, variously described as eight distinct explosions, a series of crackling explosions, three explosions and a series of staccato reports, accompanied disintegration of the meteorite over southwest Swaziland. The descent…

Fairfield is an iron (IAB-MG) meteorite found in Butler County, Ohio, in 1974.   According to the Meteoritical Bulletin (MB83): An iron mass of 1600 g was found by Mr. Roy Ballinger among material dredged by the American Materials Company from 120 feet depth in a gravel pit in Pleistocene glacial deposits.    Fairfield is…

In 2013, two small fragments of the Tissint Martian meteorite were "planted" in Arizona's Sonoran Desert in order to deliberately expose them to terrestrial desert weathering. The first piece was recovered for analysis after 12 months of exposure, and the remaining fragment  in 2016 (read about Tissint's recovery from the Arizona desert here). During their…

July 27th marks the first observed meteorite fall in Arizona's Valley of the Sun!  While multiple Valley residents reported fireball sightings to the American Meteor Society that evening, Center for Meteorite Studies Curator Professor Laurence Garvie speculates that many additional witnesses likely mistook the meteorite's entry into Earth's atmosphere for monsoon lightning. So far, only…

Scientists believe the solar system was formed some 4.6 billion years ago when a cloud of gas and dust collapsed under gravity, possibly triggered by a cataclysmic explosion from a nearby massive star or supernova. As this cloud collapsed, it formed a spinning disk with the sun in the center. Piece by piece, scientists have…