As with Iowa’s other meteorites, fragments now are widely distributed in museums and private collections. Rock fragments showered an eight square-mile area, and local residents reported a smell of sulphur. The fall was observed from Sioux City to Grinnell and Mason City, and as far away as Chamberlain, S.D., 300 miles from the Winnebago County impact site. A monument near Estherville commemorates the event.įorest City Meteorite: Late in the afternoon of May 2, 1890, a meteorite sounding like heavy cannon fire, throwing off sparks, and trailing black smoke exploded about 11 miles northwest of Forest City in Winnebago County. Pictures should be sharp and each show the entire stone or sample and be clear enough to zoom in and see surface detail. To Begin: use the 'Choose image' button above to upload up to 5 high resolution pictures in good lighting from several angles. Three large fragments (weighing 431, 152, and 101 pounds) and hundreds of smaller pieces were recovered. The initial 50 visual evaluation fee will be credited towards the 125 XRF analysis fee. An exploding meteorite roared to Earth along a seven-mile path from south of Superior in Dickinson County to north of Estherville. Irish, an Iowa City civil engineer, described the blinding light and loud explosions from what he called the “Detonating Meteor.” More than 800 pounds of fragments were recovered south of the Iowa River and southwest of Homestead in Iowa County.Įstherville Meteorite: Residents of Estherville in Emmet County received an extra-terrestrial visitor at 5 pm on May 10, 1879. 12, 1875, a brilliant fireball dazzled people from Omaha to Chicago and St. Korotex put together this Meteorite or Meteorwrong Self-Test Check-List, based on Is There an ET In Your Backyard?, presented to the 2010 Meteoritical Society Meeting by Deborah Guedes and her colleagues.Amana Meteorite: Just before 10:30 pm on the wintry evening of Feb. Open the pdf to print: Do you have a meteorite? Flowchart When you determine your meteorites, meteorwrongs or meteormaybes, take a picture and send them in to us at or use the social media hashtags: #meteorite, #meteormaybe or #meteorwrong! Some have not changed since the beginning of the solar system. What’s a rock in space made of? Mostly the same things rocks on Earth are made of actually, except there are less volcanoes, tectonic plates, running water and weather on asteroids and smaller bodies. They’re rocks that have traveled very fast (up to 60 km/s) through the atmosphere, spinning and burning all the while. We’ve adapted a flow chart from some planetary scientists* to help you determine if that rock is from space. Perhaps you can test your rock collection, or why not, the whole backyard!īefore you check through the flow chart, what kinds of properties do you think a meteorite would have? If the stone you expect to be a meteorite is attracted by a magnet, before thanking your lucky stars, remember that many earth rocks are also attracted by a magnet. Tens of thousands of meteorites fall to Earth every year, so perhaps you actually found a meteorite on that last camping trip. Commonly, meteorites contain a significant amount of iron and nickel, so testing the rock with a magnet is the first step for meteorite hunters. How do you know if it’s a meteorite or meteorwrong?Įver wondered whether that weird looking rock you saw was something special?
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