Lot 62
Moss
The Robert Elliott Meteorite Collection
Auction: 18 August 2009 at 15:00 BST
Description
Fusion crusted fragment
Dimensions
19.8g, 4 x 2.5 x 2.5cm
Footnote
Moss (Moss, Norway) CO3.5 (stone) - fell 14th July 2006
On July 14th at about 10:10am, a brilliant fireball was observed from southeast Norway and from parts of southwest Sweden. The luminous event, along with accompanying sonic booms, was observed by thousands. One man heard what sounded like an explosion, then a whizzing followed by a loud bang. No more than 2 metres away, a 45g stone from this new fall hit a piece of metal roofing material before shattering into several pieces. He assumed that it was somehow related to the nearly constant detonations that occur at a nearby military airfield, until his brother-in-law suggested that it might be a meteorite. He was right, and the search began for more Moss meteorites. A second stone was found, soon after a family returned home from their holiday. The father was out preparing their back garden for his daughter's birthday, when he noticed that several branches had been broken off his plum tree and that there was a hole in the ground. Upon investigation, he retrieved a 750g whole stone meteorite.