Jilin (meteorite)
The Jilin Meteorite is a stone meteorite that fell on March 8, 1976 near the Chinese city of Jilin ( Jilin Province ). It is a class H5 meteorite ( olivine - bronzite - chondrite ).
The meteorite fall
On March 8, 1976, at 3:01 p.m. Beijing time (8:01 a.m. CET ), the meteorite penetrated the earth's atmosphere . The angle of incidence was 16 degrees, the speed about 17 km / s. Observers saw a blinding ball of fire . The object exploded at a height of 17 km above the suburbs of Jilin. The explosion caused a quake measuring 1.7 in magnitude.
As a result of this explosion, the meteorite burst into 138 large and around 3,000 smaller fragments. These were scattered over an area of 576 square kilometers (72 km in an east-west direction, 8 km in a north-south direction). The largest of these objects (the main mass) has a mass of 1,770 kg.
At 3:02:36 p.m. (8:02:36 a.m. CET) this main mass hit the ground on the western edge of the litter field . The impact created a pit two meters in diameter and six meters deep. 15 km east of it two other large pieces of 400 and 123.5 kg fell.
particularities
- On June 21, 2003, the People's Republic of China issued three postage stamps showing the meteorite fall, as well as a first day cover with all three stamps and a picture of a meteorite fall.
- Traditionally, meteorite falls in China are associated with earthly events. The case was seen as an omen for the death of Mao Zedong , the end of the Cultural Revolution , the fall of the Gang of Four and the Tangshan earthquake .
