A meteorite fall, also called an observed fall, is a

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object ...

collected after its fall from

outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...

was observed by people or automated devices. Any other meteorite is called a " find". There are more than 1,100 documented falls listed in widely used databases, most of which have specimens in modern collections. , the Meteoritical Bulletin Database had 1211 confirmed falls.

Importance

Observed meteorite falls are important for several reasons. Material from observed falls has not been subjected to terrestrial weathering, making the find a better candidate for scientific study. Historically, observed falls were the most compelling evidence supporting the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites. Furthermore, observed fall discoveries are a better representative sample of the types of meteorites which fall to Earth. For example, iron meteorites take much longer to

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...

and are easier to identify as unusual objects, as compared to other types. This may explain the increased proportion of iron meteorites among ''finds'' (6.7%), over that among observed ''falls'' (4.4%). There is also detailed statistics on falls such as based on meteorite classification. As of January 2019, the Meteoritical Bulletin Database had 1,180 confirmed falls. Statistics by decade are listed in the table in this section.

List of meteorite falls

Oldest

The German physicist

Ernst Chladni Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni (, , ; 30 November 1756 – 3 April 1827) was a German physicist and musician. His most important work, for which he is sometimes labeled as the father of acoustics, included research on vibrating plates an ...

, sometimes considered as the father of

meteoritics Meteoritics is the science that deals with meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids. It is closely connected to cosmochemistry, mineralogy and geochemistry. A specialist who studies meteoritics is known as a ''meteoriticist''. Scientific research in ...

, was the first to publish in modern Western thought (in 1794) the then audacious idea that meteorites are rocks from space. There were already several documented cases, one of the earliest was the Aegospotami meteorite of 467 BC and which became a landmark for 500 years, of which

Diogenes of Apollonia Diogenes of Apollonia ( ; grc, Διογένης ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης, Diogénēs ho Apollōniátēs; 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, and was a native of the Milesian colony Apollonia in Thrace. He lived for some t ...

said:

With the visible stars revolve stones which are invisible, and for that reason nameless. They often fall on the ground and are extinguished, like the stone star that came down on fire at Aegospotami.

showing that the Greeks had a much earlier idea that meteorites are rocks from space. Below is a list of 8 confirmed falls pre-1600 AD. However, unlike the Loket (Elbogen) and Ensisheim meteorites, not all are as well-documented.

Largest

While most confirmed falls involve masses between less than one kg to several kg, some reach 100 kg or more. A few have fragments that total even more than one

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States ...

. The six largest falls are listed below and five (except the 2013

Chelyabinsk meteorite The Chelyabinsk meteorite (Russian: Челябинский метеорит, ''Chelyabinskii meteorit'') is the fragmented remains of the large Chelyabinsk meteor of 15 February 2013 which reached the ground after the meteor's passage through th ...

) occurred during the 20th century. Presumably, events of such magnitude may happen a few times per century but, especially if it occurred in remote areas, may have gone unreported. For comparison, the largest finds are the 60-ton

Hoba meteorite The Hoba ( ) meteorite, short for Hoba West, is a meteorite that lies on the farm of the same name, not far from Grootfontein, in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It has been uncovered, but because of its large mass, has never been moved from ...

, a 30.8-ton fragment ( ''Gancedo'') and a 28.8-ton fragment (''El Chaco'') of the

Campo del Cielo Campo del Cielo refers to a group of iron meteorites and the area in Argentina where they were found. The site straddles the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero, located north-northwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina and approximately south ...

, and a 30.9-ton fragment (''Ahnighito'') of the

Cape York meteorite The Cape York meteorite, also known as the Innaanganeq meteorite, is one of the largest known iron meteorites, classified as a medium octahedrite in chemical group IIIAB. In addition to many small fragments, at least eight large fragments with a ...

Recent

As of 31 August 2021, there have been 90 found since 2010.

Others

On 18 August 1907 multiple newspapers reported that a meteor fall had occurred in Amaganzett, Long Island. These have all been found between 1610–2010 and arranged alphabetically (mostly).

References

{{Modern impact events Astronomical events of the Solar System Light sources Astronomy-related lists