[meteorite-list] Wethersfield Meteorite - Part 3 of 4

From: bernd.pauli_at_paulinet.de <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Feb 25 15:08:40 2005
Message-ID: <DIIE.00000004000033FF_at_paulinet.de>

DENNIS di CICCO (1983) Target Wethersfield - Wethersfield meteorite:
The odds were astronomical (Sky & Telescope, 1983 Feb., pp 118-119):

A preliminary examination made at the Smithsonian revealed that the stone was an L6
chondrite (the most common type of meteorite found on Earth). Furthermore, it is almost
identical in type to the one that hit Wethersfield in 1971. The main difference between
them is that the earlier object showed more signs of having withstood violent shock due
to preterrestrial impacting.

The stone was shipped to John Evans of Battelle's Pacific Northwest Laboratories in
Richland, Washington, where it was studied for the effects of cosmic-ray exposure while
in space. In this way the meteorite was used as a probe to determine how cosmic-ray
intensity within the solar system varies with time. As an aside, Evans notes that the
radioisotope cobalt-60 was below detectable levels in the stone. From this he deduced
that it was probably not part of a considerably larger body when it hit the Earth's
atmosphere.

The fireball associated with the meteorite's passage through the air was widely observed
across New England, New York, and New Jersey. David Menke of the Central Connecticut
State College (CCSC) Copernican Observatory collected eyewitness reports. In the days
following the event he fielded hundreds of telephone calls from persons who saw the
fireball.

According to Menke, most observers claim that the object broke into three or more pieces
during its flight. This gave rise to the speculation that more fragments might be located
around Wethersfield. Also, the thin fusion crust suggests that the meteorite is part of a
larger body that broke up in the atmosphere.
Received on Fri 25 Feb 2005 03:08:38 PM PST