[meteorite-list] Shergotty History

From: bernd.pauli_at_paulinet.de <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Nov 5 05:54:14 2005
Message-ID: <DIIE.0000003400003F0A_at_paulinet.de>

Hello Matteo and List,

"where is possible find a complete Shergotty history of
 the fall? In the web I have find to much few material."

This will be difficult because information about the fall and
find circumstances is rather scanty. Here is what I can offer:

(Translation German => English, B. Pauli):

The Shergotty and Gopalpur Meteorites (excerpt)

By G. Tschermak, Member of his Majesty's Academy of Sciences

(with 4 tables and 2 woodcuts)

(Presented at the meeting of 22 February 1872.)

In 1867, the k.k. Mineralogical Museum acquired some fragments of the aforesaid
meteoric stones through the kindness of Dr. T. Oldham in Calcutta. Later the Indian
Museum in Calcutta kindly sent three photographic pictures of the second meteorite
in its original state and a plaster cast as well. I am very pleased to extend my
appreciative thanks to the honorable senders now that the mineralogical examination
has been successfully carried through with rewarding results.

Shergotty

This meteoric stone fell on 25th August 1865 at 9 o'clock a.m. near Shergotty close to
Behar in Eastern India. It has been reported that the weather was calm and the sky
cloudy when a loud sonic boom was heard and then a stone fell and buried itself knee-
deep in the ground. When the stone was recovered [from the impact hole], it was broken
in two pieces.

There is no information on the accompanying circumstances. The fragment in the Vienna
Museum is a somewhat roundish, rather angular edge of the stone and thus displays a
fusion crust on three sides, the remaining parts showing a grainy texture. The crust is
pitch-black and glossy, resembling the crusts of the meteorites Stannern, Juvinas, Jonzac.

The melt droplets are prominent in many places and partly seem to be arranged parallel to
each other. In some places the substance of the crust has penetrated the interior a little.
The appearance of the crust makes it likely that the stone belongs to the group designated
as eucrite(s) by G. Rose. This group, as is widely known, comprises only a few members.

The broken surface is distinctly grainy, the grains being almost of equal size, the broken planes
displaying a yellow-gray color. The coherence is minor. The stone easily crumbles. Melting the
stone results in a black, glossy glass.

Cheers,

Bernd
Received on Sat 05 Nov 2005 05:54:11 AM PST