Auckland (meteorite)

Last updated

Auckland
Auckland meteorite.jpg
CountryNew Zealand
Region Auckland
Coordinates 36°53′21″S174°48′22″E / 36.88917°S 174.80611°E / -36.88917; 174.80611 [1]
Observed fall Yes [1]
Fall date12 June 2004
Alternative namesEllerslie

The Auckland meteorite, also known as the Ellerslie meteorite, [2] landed in Ellerslie, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, on 12 June 2004. It crashed through the roof of a house and landed in the living room. As the ninth meteorite to ever be discovered in New Zealand, it is the only one to have ever hit a house in the country. It is owned by the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Contents

Impact

At 9:30 am on 12 June 2004, a meteorite crashed through the roof of a house in Ellerslie, a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. [2] After bouncing off a couch and hitting the ceiling, it came to a standstill in the living room, [3] not long after the homeowners' grandson had been playing there. [2] The crash was accompanied by a "huge" explosion, and caused dust to go throughout the room. [4] Due to the landing occurring at daylight, nobody saw the meteorite fall to the ground [5] —Brenda Archer (one of the homeowners) said that "If it had fallen in the garden, it would probably have been added to the pile of rocks I'm taking to the dump. Nobody would have known about it." [3]

As the country's ninth meteorite to be recovered, it was the first since 1976—the tenth was found in 2024. [6] [4] It was also the country's second meteorite to have been discovered shortly after falling to the ground. [6] [5] This is the only meteorite to have ever hit a house in New Zealand. [7]

Subsequent events and sale

The landing appeared on the news throughout the world, [8] [9] and was followed by a "meteorite frenzy" in New Zealand. Many people were convinced that they were in possession of a meteorite, and took them to be assessed by scientists. No new meteorites were found. [8] [10]

The Archer family was flooded with purchase offers from around the world. [11] [12] This included an offer of US$15,000 (NZ$24,000) from the United States, [12] and an offer of NZ$50,000 from South Korea. These were rejected, with difficulty; the Archers said, "We're both retired, so we don't need the money". [13] They had no plan on keeping it and wanted to sell it within New Zealand [12] to someone who would put it on public display. [13] It was later bought by the Auckland War Memorial Museum for NZ$40,000 and it remains there. [7] [14]

Starting in July 2004 the meteorite spent two months at an exhibition in Auckland Museum. [11] Te Papa held it for an exhibition from December 2004 to March 2005. [15]

Name

Despite a tradition of naming meteorites after the nearest post office, [9] it was officially named the Auckland Meteorite, [9] [16] [1] because an Australian meteorite had already been named Ellerslie. The name Tecoma—from the street in front of the house on which the meteorite fell—was considered, but an American meteorite has a homophonous name. [9] [17]

Scientific analysis and description

Shortly after the landing, scientists wanted to split the meteorite to determine its composition, but this was cancelled within a few weeks as too much of the meteorite would have had to have been taken off. [8] Since then, small fragments have been cut off by the Auckland Museum, and a cut was made through the base of the meteorite for a study that was published in 2023. [18]

Auckland contains olivine, orthopyroxene and maskelynite, and is completely unweathered (W0). This suggests that it is a "strongly metamorphosed fragment from the interior of a low iron ordinary chondrite (L6) parent asteroid." It is also believed to have experienced extreme shock metamorphism (S5). [18]

The meteorite is 4.56 billion years old. [19] It has a weight of 1.3 kilograms (2.9 lb), [20] [21] and an oblate shape with dimensions of 13 cm × 10 cm × 6 cm (5.1 in × 3.9 in × 2.4 in). It has a "smooth asymmetric black-red fusion crust" with "flow lines and regmaglypts are visible on one surface". Inside, there are relict chondrules with diameters ranging up to 1 mm. [18]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Auckland". The Meteoritical Society . Archived from the original on 12 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Ellerslie meteorite". Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . 12 June 2006. Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  3. 1 2 "Meteorites in New Zealand". Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . 12 June 2006. Archived from the original on 18 June 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Meteorite crashes through roof of Auckland house". The New Zealand Herald . 16 June 2004. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Keep an eye out for great balls of fire". Farmers Weekly. 5 March 2024. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Meteorite falls and finds in New Zealand". Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  7. 1 2 "Meteorite-damaged NZ sofa for sale". Sydney Morning Herald . 14 January 2007. Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 "Meteorite will stay in one piece". The New Zealand Herald . 22 June 2004. Archived from the original on 7 August 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Valuable meteorite stays put in NZ". The New Zealand Herald . 9 July 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  10. ↑ "Meteorite 'must-have' craze". Dominion Post . 21 June 2004 – via ProQuest.
  11. 1 2 "$50,000 offer for meteorite rejected". Dominion Post . 3 July 2004 – via ProQuest.
  12. 1 2 3 "American offers $24,000 for meteor". Dominion Post . 17 June 2004 – via ProQuest.
  13. 1 2 "Couple rejects large offer for meteorite". UPI. 2 July 2004. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  14. ↑ "Hunting for New Zealand's 10th meteorite". RNZ . 11 March 2024. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  15. ↑ "Space - A Galaxy Of Adventure Opens At Te Papa". Scoop . 3 December 2004. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  16. ↑ "Meteorite". Auckland War Memorial Museum . Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  17. ↑ Scott, Edward R.D.; Wasson, John T.; Bild, Richard W. (December 1977). "Four New Iron Meteorite Finds" . Meteoritics. 12 (4). The Meteoritical Society: 425–436. Bibcode:1977Metic..12..425S. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.1977.tb00461.x. ISSN   0026-1114 . Retrieved 2 September 2024– via Wiley Online Library.
  18. 1 2 3 Scott, James M.; Negrini, Marianne; Faure, Kevin; Palmer, Marshall C.; Knaack, Derek R.; Leybourne, Matthew I. (19 February 2023). "Multi-zone fusion crust formation and classification of the 2004 Auckland meteorite (L6, S5, and W0)". Meteoritics & Planetary Science . 58 (3): 328–340. Bibcode:2023M&PS...58..328S. doi: 10.1111/maps.13955 . ISSN   1086-9379.
  19. ↑ The explosive 4.5 billion-year history of the "Auckland" meteorite. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024– via www.youtube.com.
  20. ↑ "Grapefruit-sized meteorite smashes through home". The New Zealand Herald . 15 June 2004. Archived from the original on 5 August 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  21. ↑ "Meteorite touches down in NZ home". ABC News . 13 June 2004. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
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