[anjan_c2007]

There was a meteorite shower around Nagpur around 2.30 to 2.32 pm on 22/05/2012. The event was first recorded at the Broadband Seismic Observatory (BBS) of the Geological Survey of India as one that had created a flutter of 2.1 magnitude. It seemed to be a small tremor. The location was 30 kms East North East of Akola town and this event lasted for 90 seconds.The newspapers flashed this information, but many people reported seeing flying objects falling from the sky like balls of fire at this time.Nothing was confirmed. A local reporter with daily Tarun Bharat who was near Akola (250 kms away west of Nagpur), saw a similar fireball and detoured from the main road to follow the object falling on the ground. He missed it later.

But then on 23/05/2012 we got confirmed reports from people of Katol town (70 kms north of Nagpur) that they have recovered such objects that fell in the town and adjoining areas. Our team reached there on 23/05/12 evening. To our surprise four localities were found to have recovered these rocks that were later confirmed as meteorites.These fell almost at the same time (2.30 to 2.32 pm) and had not caused any loss of human life or property.But an amazing incident happened when one meteorite weighing less than 100 gms pierced through a GI sheet (pictures below) and created a crater on the cement floor of a shed where fodder was kept. Another one pierced 10 cms of the ground surface and was dug out with a crowbar.


The largest one in the field- luckily this did not damage anything

Neatly done up for viewing

From the other side, the light coloured rock is exposed inside the burnt crust

Broken

In pieces

The one that pierced through the GI sheet

The forced entry !

The GI Blues

This one shows the crater

The villagers in front of a dwelling place

The phrase "meteorite shower" is being used here as there was evidently a shower. Only four peices could be recovered from Katol. Work is in progress in the belt between Nagpur to Akola to ascertain more facts.
(all pictures by the Petrology Division, GSI, Central Region, Nagpur)

India had witnessed a large scale shower on the Orissa coast in 2003, and there was also one in Tamil Nadu in 2008 in Hosur district.

A meteorite is a derivative of the Solar Nebula from which the Sun and planets are also formed.The meteorites are usually in fixed orbits around planets and are comprised of the primordial (oldest rocks found in the earth's core) melt that can throw light on the origin of the Solar System.When these go astray and lose their orbit or collide with similar space debris, they have a free falling an dare attracted towards planets that exert gravitational force. Once they descend they can disintegrate and also become dusty. There are usually splinters but there is always a huge chunk which is the largest in the lot.

[sudev]

Excellent input.

I do not think many people were aware of such event. Much less concerned. Sad thing is that we give the cosmos - we are part of it - a go by in our daily life.

[swarnava.m]

^^ Agreed.

Another thing is, there is nothing surprising about it that a meteorite weighing less than 100 gm pierces a hole in a GI sheet. Even though it's mass is less, the acceleration due to gravity acting on the stone, that too with the huge distance that it travels through to approach the earth, creates a humongous momentum. This is very normal.

[alpha1]

What on earth!
Why are such things not covered in the main pages of newspapers?

We have all stupid stuff like Amitabh Bacchan contracting flu and Sachin Tendulkar celebrating his birthday ... but for stuff like this!

Right from the time I came to know about Meteor and Meteorites (and saw them in the sky) - I always had this urge to see them fall to ground in front of my eyes and pick them up once they have cooled down.



And its good to know that there was no harm to life because of this phenomenon.

[ariesonu]

Some interesting facts:

Meteorites that are recovered after being observed as they transited the atmosphere or impacted the Earth are called falls. All other meteorites are known as finds. As of February 2010, there are approximately 1,086 witnessed falls having specimens in the world's collections. In contrast, there are over 38,660 well-documented meteorite finds.
Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories: stony meteorites are rocks, mainly composed of silicate minerals; iron meteorites are largely composed of metallic iron-nickel; and, stony-iron meteorites contain large amounts of both metallic and rocky material. Modern classification schemes divide meteorites into groups according to their structure, chemical and isotopic composition and mineralogy.

Courtesy: WIKIPEDIA (Meteorite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Raab rakha.

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Why are such things not covered in the main pages of newspapers?

We have all stupid stuff like Amitabh Bacchan contracting flu and Sachin Tendulkar celebrating his birthday ... but for stuff like this!

Only a few people can write articles about news like this with the authoritativeness shown here by anjan_c2007. You won't come across stories at least 1 in a year in our national press like that appear in Popular Mechanics and National Geographic Mag every month.

The situation is the same for rural economics (except P Sainath of the The Hindu), defense tech and pharmacology/medicine also, to name a few.On the other hand almost anyone can comment about Aish and her labor.

But then "a people get the government (and fourth estate) they deserve"...

[hvkumar]

Quite a celestial happening, thanks for this thread!

Whenever I drove at night, I used to be blessed with a sighting of at least 1 meteorite trail - the streak of light descending to earth. I used to be happy at this symbol of good luck for my drive ahead!

I don't know what has changed, but I have hardly seen any in the last decade!

[anuragn]

I am always awestruck looking at pics of such falls & finds. Just think about it: how many orbits it would have crossed, how many planets it would have passed by, since how many years (or eons?) it would have been journeying in this universe and now its lying before are very eyes!
These truly are foreign objects.

Thanks anjan for this news.

[anjan_c2007]

Thanks Sudev,swarnava,alpha1,ariesonu,sandeepmdas,hvkumar and anuragn for your inputs and observations.
Ariesonu thanks for the wikipedia input. This is a silicate rich stony meteorite, but has a significant iron content too. It also has olivine, a mineral that is characteristic of the primordial melt.
There is a minor correction. The Tamil Nadu meteorite fall of 2008 was in Hosur dist. and not Kodaikanal.
There was another such event after the one at Tamil Nadu (2008). This was in the Thar desert on 05/05/2012- now thats very recent.

[bblost]

This is such an awesome celestial event. Thanks a lot for sharing.

HVK, I think the increasing ambient light could be the reason behind not being able to see such events on a regular basis.

[vnabhi]

Fantastic thread, and great pictures. I am dumbstruck!

I wonder why not a single newspaper has carried this news today.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Fantastic thread, and great pictures. I am dumbstruck!

I wonder why not a single newspaper has carried this news today.

Thanks bblost and vnabhi.
In fact the press in Central India is going gaga over the event. UCN, Aaj tak and Zee News crews had also visited.
Three links to newspaper clippings here:

Friday, May 25, 2012 | Hitavada

http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.c...w/13413369.cms

Meteorites add to Tuesday sound mystery - The Times of India

[Trojan]

Wow!
Awesome thread, thanks Anjan_007 for the pictures, I did read about them in the newspaper. Truly a celestial affair and something that has always raised the curiosity of us humans of the great beyond and yet we are far from discovering the truth.

Me and my wife have been lucky in witnessing these celestial events many a times, but every time we see, it just creates an awe of things around us and the magnitude of the Universe.

Just a 'small' bit of news I found while surfing and definitely something to be happy about "or so we think - who knows"
On friday the 13th April, 2029, Asteroid 2004 MN4 will come scarily close to home (Earth) but it will not hit (phew!)
Why do I say phew! coz - The asteroid is about 320 meters wide. "That's big enough to punch through Earth's atmosphere," devastating a region the size of, say, Texas, if it hit land, or causing widespread tsunamis if it hit ocean (from NASA website)

Some more details - On April 13, 2029, asteroid 2004 MN4 will fly past Earth only 18,600 miles (30,000 km) above the ground. For comparison, geosynchronous satellites orbit at 22,300 miles (36,000 km). "At closest approach, the asteroid will shine like a 3rd magnitude star, visible to the unaided eye from Africa, Europe and Asia--even through city lights,"

So Friday the 13th wont be that bad after all, what with a truly classical view of the asteroid.
But Friday the 13th has never been unlucky for me ( i was born on that day!)

Regards,
Trojan

[kippu]

what if the asteroid slightly got deviated from its present course by some freakish accident

[Ragul]

Great to have a piece of rock thats travelled a trillion kms across the universe in the mysterious dark outer space!!

Are you an astrophysicist or geologist Anjan? You write like one...

--R