Wold Cottage (Meteorite)
The Wold Cottage meteorite (also known as Wold Newton meteorite ) is as L6 chondrite classified meteorite , which in December 1795 near the village of Wold Newton , in the English county of Yorkshire , came down.
Impact
On December 13, 1795 at 3 p.m. (local time) the meteorite struck near the Wold Cottage farm. The event was observed by several eyewitnesses, who also reported at least one explosion. The chondrite left a crater about 90 cm in diameter and reached a depth of almost 50 cm. Immediately after its discovery, the weight of Wold Cottage was determined to be around 25 kg.
Aftermath
Together with other meteorites such as L'Aigle , Wold Cottage made an important contribution to the recognition of the cosmic origin of these rocks. At that time, this was still very controversial among scientists (see history of meteorite research ). The owner of the land on which the meteorite hit, Edward Topham, erected a memorial at the site of the impact in 1799. It bears the inscription
"Here on this spot, December 13, 1795 fell from the atmosphere of an extraordinary stone. In breadth twenty-eight inches, in length thirty-six inches and whose weight was fifty-six pounds. This column in memory of it was erected by Edward Topham, 1799. "
The meteorite has been in the Natural History Museum in London since 1835 .
literature
- James Sowerby : British mineralogy, or, Colored figures intended to elucidate the mineralogy of Great Britain . 1806, p. 5 ff.
- Ursula B. Marvin: Meteorites in history: an overview from the Renaissance to the 20th century . In: McCall, GJH; Bowden, AJ: The History of Meteoritics and Key Meteorite Collections: Fireballs, Falls and Finds . Geological Society 2006, pp. 39-40, ISBN 1-86239-194-7
Individual evidence
- ^ The Meteoritical Society: Wold Cottage , Retrieved February 18, 2013
- ^ Wold Cottage meteorite Natural History Museum, Retrieved February 18, 2013
Coordinates: 54 ° 8 ′ 12 ″ N , 0 ° 24 ′ 48 ″ W.