International Comet Quarterly

Some interesting meteorite falls of the last two centuries

A small natural object (smaller than a minor planet) is considered a meteoroid when outside the earth's atmosphere prior to entering, a meteor when in the earth's atmosphere, and a meteorite if the object (or pieces -- meteorites) survives entry through the atmosphere to land on the earth's surface. A bright meteor is often called a fireball or bolide. This list is not intended to be comprehensive catalogue but rather to give a good idea of the frequency of such falls that are actually observed or realized in real time by people, and it includes meteorites that have hit artificial structures, animals, and people. Consult the references at the end for additional information (including additional events); many of the more interesting ones are listed here. Note that some of the earlier events listed here need additional verification (despite being cited in astronomical or other scientific literature).

Date Location Remarks Ref.

1807 12 14 Weston, CT, USA meteor visible half a minute, loud sounds heard, many stones found scattered over 6-10 miles, weighing as much as 200 lbs. total (largest meteorite weighed 35 lbs) [21]

1825 01 16 Oriang, Malwate, India man killed, woman injured in meteorite fall [considered "possible" by LaPaz (1958)] [14, 17, 25]

1827 02 16 Mhow, India man wounded "severely in the arm" when hit by meteorite [12, 17, 25]

1836 11 11 Macau, Brazil cattle killed when hit by shower of meteorites [considered "possible" by LaPaz (1958)] [12, 17, 25]

1847 07 14 Hauptmannsdorf, Braunau, Bohemia 37-pound Braunau iron meteorite smashed into a room, covering three children with ceiling debris but not hurting them [12, 17, 25]

1860 05 01 New Concord, OH, USA horse struck and killed by meteorite [12, 17, 25]

1863 08 08 Pillistfer, Latvia 5.4-kg stony meteorite penetrated tile roof and floor of building [25]

1868 01 30 Pultusk, Poland meteorite shower of more than 100,000 fragments; bright fireball [12, 27]

1882 02 03 Mocs, Romania meteorite shower of thousands of fragments; bright fireball [12, 27]

1890 05 02 Forest City, IA, USA meteorite shower of some 2000 fragments; one fragment fell into a pile of hay (no fire); bright fireball seen [12, 27]

1893 09 02 Zabrodje, White Russia 3-kg stony meteorite fell through house roof [25]

1906 11 04 Constantia, South Africa 1-kg stony meteorite smashed through roof and ceiling (2-pound piece recovered) [25]

1907 09 05 Hsin-p-ai Wei, Weng-li, China meteorite caused a house to collapse, killing a family; evidently no evidence [1]

1908 06 30 Tunguska, Siberia apparent airblast (no recovered meteorites) of an object entering earth's atmosphere; leveled hundreds of square miles of forest, killing hundreds of reindeer; unverified two people killed [15, 26, 27]

1911 06 16 Kilbourn, WI, USA 772-gm stony meteorite passed through roof and floorboard of barn, penetrated 2.5 inches into clay floor [25]

1911 06 28 Nakhla, Egypt dog struck and killed by meteorite (part of meteorite shower) [12, 17, 25]

1912 07 19 Holbrook, AZ, USA meteorite shower of more than 14000 fragments; meteorite fell a few meters from a person; largest fragment 9 pounds [12, 13]

1915 04 25 Ta-yang, east of Mai-po, China meteorite tore off a woman's arm; several meteorites, ranging from about 2 to about 3.5 kg [1]

1916 01 18 Baxter, MO, USA 611-gm stony meteorite penetrated roof of house [25]

1921 12 31 Beyrout, Syria 1.1-kg stony meteorite fell through hut roof [25]

1924 07 06 Johnstown, CO, USA meteorites fell within a few feet of two men; 50-pound stone went 5 feet into wet soil [13]

1927 04 28 Aba-mura, Inashiki-gun, Ibaragi-ken, Japan young girl suffered two head injuries when struck by a stony meteorite [16, 25]

1929 11 20 Zvezvan, Yugoslavia man riding in a carriage in a wedding party was killed when hit by a 40-cm meteorite; a woman sitting opposite him was badly injured; "meteor ... was glowing hot" [28]

1932 08 10 Archie, MO, USA meteorite fell less than 1 m from person [12, 13]

1936 04 02 Yurtuk, Ukraine 2-kg stony meteorite smashed hole in roof of house [25]

1938 03 31 Kasamatsu, Japan 721-gm stony meteorite penetrated house roof, landed on floor [25]

1938 06 16 Pantar, Philippines numerous buildings hit by thousands of meteorites "as big as corn and rice grains" [12, 25]

1938 06 24 Chicora, PA, USA cow's hide injured, presumably by a fragment belonging to the meteorite shower in that area on that day [17, 25, 27]

1938 09 29 Benld, IL, USA building and car hit by stony meteorites; the car was hit by a 4-pound fragment after it crashed through the roof of a garage, then through roof, seat, and floorboards of car [12, 13, 25]

1947 02 12 Sikhote-Alin, south-eastern Siberia largest meteorite shower on record; estimated 100 tons of total debris fell, the largest weighing 1745 kg; some 9000 fragments weighing about 28 tons recovered; largest crater 28 m wide [[2, 27]

1949 09 21 Beddgelert, N. Wales 794-gm stony meteorite broke through roof and fell into hotel room [25, 27]

1950 09 20 Murray, KY, USA five buildings hit by meteorites [12, 27]

1950 12 10 St. Louis, MO, USA car hit by meteorite [12]

1954 11 30 Sylacauga, AL, USA woman in home hit by meteorite after breaking through roof [3, 12, 25]

1965 12 24 Barwell, England two buildings and a car hit by by meteorites [12]

1971 04 08 Wethersfield, CT, USA 12-ounce meteorite entered house through roof, lodged in living-room ceiling; ordinary chondrite; less than two miles away, another house was hit 11.5 yr later [4, 12]

1976 03 08 Jilin City, Jilin, China largest stony-meteorite shower in recent times; more than 100 fragments, the largest being 1770 kg in weight and making an impact crater 6 m deep; H5 chondrite [1, 12]

1977 01 31 Louisville, KY, USA three buildings and a car hit by meteorites [12, 24]

1982 11 08 Wethersfield, CT, USA meteorite entered house through roof; second house hit in same town in 11.5 years; L6 chondrite [4, 12, 26]

1984 09 30 Binningup, WA, Australia meteorite fell 4-5 m from two sunbathers on soft beach sand [12]

1984 12 10 Claxton, GA, USA mailbox hit by meteorite [12]

1986 07 29 Kokubunji, Japan several buildings hit by meteorites [12]

1991 08 31 Noblesville, IN, USA meteorite fell 3.5 m from two children outside; ordinary stony chondrite [5]

1992 08 14 Mbale, Uganda meteorite shower; boy hit on head by 3.6-g fragment after it hit tree first [6]

1992 10 09 Peekskill, NY, USA car hit by meteorite, which passed through steel trunk and impacted ground underneath; fireball widely visible and imaged along east coast [7]

1992 12 10 Mihonoseki, Honshu, Japan 6.5-kg L6 ordinary chondrite meteorite crashed through house to ground [10]

1994 06 14 St-Robert, QC, Canada meteorite shower caused sonic boom in Montreal; scattered strewnfield in rural area; more than 25 kg recovered; H5 chondrite [8]

1994 06 21 near Getafe, Spain 12-cm-wide, 1.4-kg meteorite broke windshield and bent steering wheel of moving car, breaking finger of driver; more than 50 kg of meteorites found within 200 m of accident [11]

2003 03 26 Chicago, IL, USA meteorite shower; buildings hit in Park Forest, IL; ordinary chondrites [9]

2003 09 27 Mayurbhanj, Orissa, India bright fireball(s) lit up sky just after sunset; widely observed meteorite shower yielding numerous highly magnetic meteorites [18]

2004 06 12 Ellerslie, suburban Auckland, N.Z. 1.3-kg (2.8-lb) 7-cm x 13-cm meteorite broke through roof of house and bounced off sofa [19]

2007 09 15 Carancas, Peru (near Lake Titicaca at alt. 3824 m) 13.5-m-diameter crater created by mid-day visible fireball meteorite, numerous ordinary chondrites H4-5 recovered; made international news when local people complained of illness -- not yet definitively explained [22]

2008 10 06 Nubian desert, northern Sudan (Almahata Sitta) 47 meteorites weighing 3.95 kg were found in Dec. 2008 via a systematic search along the suspected debris path for the small minor planet 2008 TC₃, discovered 20 hours prior to impact by R. A. Kowalski with the 1.5-m telescope at Mt. Lemmon in Arizona, when it was about 370000 miles from the earth; a bright fireball was seen by airline pilots and orbiting satellites when the object entered the Earth's atmosphere; the largest earth's atmosphere; the largest recovered meteorite weights 1.5 g (classified as a polymict ureilite, an achondrite) [23]

2013 02 15 near Chelyabinsk, south-central Russia extremely bright fireball (apparent brightness rivalling that of the apparent brightness of the sun) entered atmosphere over Alaska and moving westward toward Chelyabinsk, near its termination point shortly before sunrise, creating a huge airblast shock that damaged thousands of buildings in Chelyabinsk (mostly broken glass) and injuring more than 1000 people; apparently meteorites were found in water under a large circular broken- ice feature found soon after the event [20]

Date	Location	Remarks	Ref.
1807 12 14	Weston, CT, USA	meteor visible half a minute, loud sounds heard, many stones found scattered over 6-10 miles, weighing as much as 200 lbs. total (largest meteorite weighed 35 lbs)	[21]
1825 01 16	Oriang, Malwate, India	man killed, woman injured in meteorite fall [considered "possible" by LaPaz (1958)]	[14, 17, 25]
1827 02 16	Mhow, India	man wounded "severely in the arm" when hit by meteorite	[12, 17, 25]
1836 11 11	Macau, Brazil	cattle killed when hit by shower of meteorites [considered "possible" by LaPaz (1958)]	[12, 17, 25]
1847 07 14	Hauptmannsdorf, Braunau, Bohemia	37-pound Braunau iron meteorite smashed into a room, covering three children with ceiling debris but not hurting them	[12, 17, 25]
1860 05 01	New Concord, OH, USA	horse struck and killed by meteorite	[12, 17, 25]
1863 08 08	Pillistfer, Latvia	5.4-kg stony meteorite penetrated tile roof and floor of building	[25]
1868 01 30	Pultusk, Poland	meteorite shower of more than 100,000 fragments; bright fireball	[12, 27]
1882 02 03	Mocs, Romania	meteorite shower of thousands of fragments; bright fireball	[12, 27]
1890 05 02	Forest City, IA, USA	meteorite shower of some 2000 fragments; one fragment fell into a pile of hay (no fire); bright fireball seen	[12, 27]
1893 09 02	Zabrodje, White Russia	3-kg stony meteorite fell through house roof	[25]
1906 11 04	Constantia, South Africa	1-kg stony meteorite smashed through roof and ceiling (2-pound piece recovered)	[25]
1907 09 05	Hsin-p-ai Wei, Weng-li, China	meteorite caused a house to collapse, killing a family; evidently no evidence	[1]
1908 06 30	Tunguska, Siberia	apparent airblast (no recovered meteorites) of an object entering earth's atmosphere; leveled hundreds of square miles of forest, killing hundreds of reindeer; unverified two people killed	[15, 26, 27]
1911 06 16	Kilbourn, WI, USA	772-gm stony meteorite passed through roof and floorboard of barn, penetrated 2.5 inches into clay floor	[25]
1911 06 28	Nakhla, Egypt	dog struck and killed by meteorite (part of meteorite shower)	[12, 17, 25]
1912 07 19	Holbrook, AZ, USA	meteorite shower of more than 14000 fragments; meteorite fell a few meters from a person; largest fragment 9 pounds	[12, 13]
1915 04 25	Ta-yang, east of Mai-po, China	meteorite tore off a woman's arm; several meteorites, ranging from about 2 to about 3.5 kg	[1]
1916 01 18	Baxter, MO, USA	611-gm stony meteorite penetrated roof of house	[25]
1921 12 31	Beyrout, Syria	1.1-kg stony meteorite fell through hut roof	[25]
1924 07 06	Johnstown, CO, USA	meteorites fell within a few feet of two men; 50-pound stone went 5 feet into wet soil	[13]
1927 04 28	Aba-mura, Inashiki-gun, Ibaragi-ken, Japan	young girl suffered two head injuries when struck by a stony meteorite	[16, 25]
1929 11 20	Zvezvan, Yugoslavia	man riding in a carriage in a wedding party was killed when hit by a 40-cm meteorite; a woman sitting opposite him was badly injured; "meteor ... was glowing hot"	[28]
1932 08 10	Archie, MO, USA	meteorite fell less than 1 m from person	[12, 13]
1936 04 02	Yurtuk, Ukraine	2-kg stony meteorite smashed hole in roof of house	[25]
1938 03 31	Kasamatsu, Japan	721-gm stony meteorite penetrated house roof, landed on floor	[25]
1938 06 16	Pantar, Philippines	numerous buildings hit by thousands of meteorites "as big as corn and rice grains"	[12, 25]
1938 06 24	Chicora, PA, USA	cow's hide injured, presumably by a fragment belonging to the meteorite shower in that area on that day	[17, 25, 27]
1938 09 29	Benld, IL, USA	building and car hit by stony meteorites; the car was hit by a 4-pound fragment after it crashed through the roof of a garage, then through roof, seat, and floorboards of car	[12, 13, 25]
1947 02 12	Sikhote-Alin, south-eastern Siberia	largest meteorite shower on record; estimated 100 tons of total debris fell, the largest weighing 1745 kg; some 9000 fragments weighing about 28 tons recovered; largest crater 28 m wide	[[2, 27]
1949 09 21	Beddgelert, N. Wales	794-gm stony meteorite broke through roof and fell into hotel room	[25, 27]
1950 09 20	Murray, KY, USA	five buildings hit by meteorites	[12, 27]
1950 12 10	St. Louis, MO, USA	car hit by meteorite	[12]
1954 11 30	Sylacauga, AL, USA	woman in home hit by meteorite after breaking through roof	[3, 12, 25]
1965 12 24	Barwell, England	two buildings and a car hit by by meteorites	[12]
1971 04 08	Wethersfield, CT, USA	12-ounce meteorite entered house through roof, lodged in living-room ceiling; ordinary chondrite; less than two miles away, another house was hit 11.5 yr later	[4, 12]
1976 03 08	Jilin City, Jilin, China	largest stony-meteorite shower in recent times; more than 100 fragments, the largest being 1770 kg in weight and making an impact crater 6 m deep; H5 chondrite	[1, 12]
1977 01 31	Louisville, KY, USA	three buildings and a car hit by meteorites	[12, 24]
1982 11 08	Wethersfield, CT, USA	meteorite entered house through roof; second house hit in same town in 11.5 years; L6 chondrite	[4, 12, 26]
1984 09 30	Binningup, WA, Australia	meteorite fell 4-5 m from two sunbathers on soft beach sand	[12]
1984 12 10	Claxton, GA, USA	mailbox hit by meteorite	[12]
1986 07 29	Kokubunji, Japan	several buildings hit by meteorites	[12]
1991 08 31	Noblesville, IN, USA	meteorite fell 3.5 m from two children outside; ordinary stony chondrite	[5]
1992 08 14	Mbale, Uganda	meteorite shower; boy hit on head by 3.6-g fragment after it hit tree first	[6]
1992 10 09	Peekskill, NY, USA	car hit by meteorite, which passed through steel trunk and impacted ground underneath; fireball widely visible and imaged along east coast	[7]
1992 12 10	Mihonoseki, Honshu, Japan	6.5-kg L6 ordinary chondrite meteorite crashed through house to ground	[10]
1994 06 14	St-Robert, QC, Canada	meteorite shower caused sonic boom in Montreal; scattered strewnfield in rural area; more than 25 kg recovered; H5 chondrite	[8]
1994 06 21	near Getafe, Spain	12-cm-wide, 1.4-kg meteorite broke windshield and bent steering wheel of moving car, breaking finger of driver; more than 50 kg of meteorites found within 200 m of accident	[11]
2003 03 26	Chicago, IL, USA	meteorite shower; buildings hit in Park Forest, IL; ordinary chondrites	[9]
2003 09 27	Mayurbhanj, Orissa, India	bright fireball(s) lit up sky just after sunset; widely observed meteorite shower yielding numerous highly magnetic meteorites	[18]
2004 06 12	Ellerslie, suburban Auckland, N.Z.	1.3-kg (2.8-lb) 7-cm x 13-cm meteorite broke through roof of house and bounced off sofa	[19]
2007 09 15	Carancas, Peru (near Lake Titicaca at alt. 3824 m)	13.5-m-diameter crater created by mid-day visible fireball meteorite, numerous ordinary chondrites H4-5 recovered; made international news when local people complained of illness -- not yet definitively explained	[22]
2008 10 06	Nubian desert, northern Sudan (Almahata Sitta)	47 meteorites weighing 3.95 kg were found in Dec. 2008 via a systematic search along the suspected debris path for the small minor planet 2008 TC₃, discovered 20 hours prior to impact by R. A. Kowalski with the 1.5-m telescope at Mt. Lemmon in Arizona, when it was about 370000 miles from the earth; a bright fireball was seen by airline pilots and orbiting satellites when the object entered the Earth's atmosphere; the largest earth's atmosphere; the largest recovered meteorite weights 1.5 g (classified as a polymict ureilite, an achondrite)	[23]
2013 02 15	near Chelyabinsk, south-central Russia	extremely bright fireball (apparent brightness rivalling that of the apparent brightness of the sun) entered atmosphere over Alaska and moving westward toward Chelyabinsk, near its termination point shortly before sunrise, creating a huge airblast shock that damaged thousands of buildings in Chelyabinsk (mostly broken glass) and injuring more than 1000 people; apparently meteorites were found in water under a large circular broken- ice feature found soon after the event	[20]

---------- REFERENCES ----------

[1] Yau et al. (1994), Meteoritics 29, 864

[2] Fessenkov (1955), "Sikhote-Aline Meteorite", in Meteors (ed. by T. R. Kaiser, Pergamon Press, London), p. 179; Gallant (1997), Sky Telesc. 93(2), 50; website with info

[3] Swindel and Jones (1954), Meteoritics 1, 125

[4] di Cicco (1983), Sky Telesc. 65, 118

[5] Sky Telesc. 83, 372 (April 1992)

[6] website with info; Jenniskens et al. (1994), Meteoritics 29, 246; Sky & Telescope, June 1993, p. 96

[7] Brown et al. (1994), Nature 367, 624; di Cicco (1993), Sky Telesc. 85(2), 26

[8] Brown et al. (1996), Meteoritics & Planetary Sci. 31, 502; Hildebrand et al. (1997), J. Roy. Astron. Soc. Canada 91, 261

[9] http://www.fmnh.org/research_collections/geology/meteor.htm

[10] Sky Telesc. 86(2), 13 (Aug. 1993)

[11] Sky Telesc. 88(6), 12 (Dec. 1994)

[12] Spratt and Stephens (1992), Mercury, Mar./Apr. 1992, p. 50; Spratt (1991), J. Roy. Astron. Soc. Canada 85, 263

[13] Nininger (1952), Out of the Sky: An Introduction to Meteorites, Univ. of Denver Press

[14] Gritzner (1997), WGN 25, 222

[15] Sekanina (1983), A.J. 88, 1382; Melosh (1993), Nature 361, 14; Lyne and Tauber (1995) Nature 375, 638; Sekanina (1998), Planet. Space Sci. 46, 191; Bronshten (2000), Planet. Space Sci. 48, 855; Hou et al. (2000), Planet. Space Sci. 48, 1447

[16] Yamamoto and Murayama (1951), Pop. Astron. 59, 431, 432

[17] LaPaz (1951), Pop. Astron. 59, 433

[18] CCNet reports

[19] Aug. 2004 issue of Meteorite, article by Brenda Archer; Summer 2005 issue of Inside Smithsonian Research (No. 9, p. 16), article by John Barrat; video of the aftermath; also numerous WWW news articles, such as http://www.geo-earth.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t2490.html (do a Google search with +"Brenda Archer" +meteorite).

[20] Orbit diagrams and additional information are posted at this webpage. Much information has been compiled at this website. With standard caution, see the the Wikipedia article on this event.

[21] Elements of Astronomy, Descriptive and Physics, by Hervey Wilbur (1839, New York: Scofield and Voorhies; and Boston: Whipple and Damrell), pp. 106-107.

[22] J. Borovicka and P. Spurny (2008), Astron. Astrophys. 485, L1; G. Tancredi et al. (2009), Meteoritics & Planetary Sci. 44, 1967. With standard caution, see also the Wikipedia article on this event.

[23] P. Jenniskens et al. (2009), Nature 458, 485-488 (26 March).

[24] A. L. Graham and R. S. Clarke, Jr., eds. (1978), "The Meteoritical Bulletin" No. 55, in Meteoritics 13, 341.

[25] L. LaPaz (1958), "The Effects of Meteorites Upon the Earth", Adv. in Geophys. 4, 217ff.

[26] J. S. Lewis (1996), Rain of Iron and Ice (New York, NY: Addison Wesley Publishing Co.), pp. 162-182.

[27] A. V. Nielsen (1968), "Catalogue of Bright Meteors", Meddelelser fra Ole Romer-Observatoriet, No. 39 (Aarhus, Denmark).

[28] "Little Thing Like a Meteor Fails to Discourage Bride", New York Times, 1929 Dec. 8, page E1.

Text version of this page (with slightly more information): http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/meteorites.html.

Catalogue of meteorites available on the WWW: National History Museum, London, 2000 catalogue is online.

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Some interesting meteorite falls of the last two centuries