Maribo (meteorite)

The Maribo - meteorite fall occurred January 17, 2009 in the skies over the island of Lolland ( Denmark ) shortly before 20:09 Central European Time . The event could be observed in Denmark, Northern Germany , Sweden , Poland and the Netherlands . The meteor could be easily observed there for a few seconds. Because it was initially assumed that fragments of the meteorite had fallen into the Baltic Sea , the press referred to the meteorite fall as a Baltic Sea meteorite .

Observations

The fall of the fireball was accidentally recorded by a private webcam in Svensköp (Sweden). In Oostkapelle (Netherlands) a meteor camera also took a picture of the racing car. Other cameras showed brightening of the surroundings or the sky. The lightening in the sky was even recorded at Tegernsee . In Northern Europe there were many eyewitnesses who reported to the police and radio stations. Weather phenomena as the cause could be ruled out immediately by meteorologists and there were hardly any doubts about a meteorite fall, especially since noises were perceived after the light in Denmark and on the Baltic coast. The aggregated observations suggested that the fireball detonated over the Baltic Sea. If meteorite fragments had reached the surface of the earth, it was assumed that there was a high probability that they would have fallen into the Baltic Sea.

Search and find

Regardless of the low chances of success in finding a meteorite, the German Thomas Grau went in search of the meteorite. After interviewing many witnesses and evaluating the observations, he was able to narrow down the possible fall area on the Baltic island of Lolland. After several days of unsuccessful search, reports were made on March 13 that a 30 g heavy meteorite had been found. The meteorite, which had already broken into several pieces, gave off an indefinable, strong smell and it was evidently a carbonaceous chondrite . Since according to Danish law (Danekrae) all meteorites found in Denmark belong to the state, the find had to be delivered and the finder was entitled to an appropriate reward.

Media coverage

The striking, spacious light phenomenon led to television, radio and many newspapers reporting on the meteorite fall. The discovery of the meteorite was later a widely published event and was also documented in films.

Classification and name

The official classification of the meteorite was published by the Meteoritical Society on May 18 . The meteorite is a carbonaceous chondrite of the type CM2 and is named Maribo after the place on Lolland that is closest to the site.

Web links

• FAZ (January 19, 2009) "Meteorite over the Baltic Sea"
• Hamburger Abendblatt (March 16, 2009) "Baltic Sea Meteorite Found on Lolland Island"
• KOSMOlogs (January 18, 2009) "Meteorite fall over the Baltic Sea?" And (March 16, 2009) "The Baltic Sea meteorite has been found"
• Maribo — A new CM fall from Denmark. Retrieved January 10, 2012
• Maribo Meteorite finding situation Video youtube Retrieved February 19, 2011

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Video recording of the fireball
2. ↑ Klaas Jobse, Oostkapelle
3. ↑ Webcam Tegernsee; animation
4. ↑ Politiken.dk (March 13, 2009) ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Meteoritical Bulletin

swell

• APE "Re: Big ball of fire over Sweden / Denmark" (March 22, 2009, 21:00:48)

Coordinates: 54 ° 45 ′ 43 ″  N , 11 ° 28 ′ 3 ″  E