Treysa Meteorite | |
---|---|
Type | Iron meteorite |
Structural classification | medium octahedrite |
Class | Magmatic |
Group | IIIB |
Country | Germany |
Region | Schwalmstadt, northern Hesse |
Observed fall | Yes |
Fall date | 1916-04-03 |
Found date | 1917-03-05 |
TKW | 63.28 kilograms (139.5 lb) |
Treysa Meteorite (main section) | |
Related media on Wikimedia Commons |
The Treysa Meteorite, also known as the Rommershausen Meteorite (both Treysa and Rommershausen are districts of Schwalmstadt), is an astronomical relic found in a wooded area near the Rommershausen district of Schwalmstadt in northern Hesse, Germany. The meteorite made German astronomical history as one of the most significant confirmed meteorite collisions of recent history. It is classified as a medium octahedrite of the IIIB chemical class and shows Widmanstätten patterns.
On 3 April 1916 at 15:30, eyewitnesses reported a detonation like a clap of thunder and a cloud of smoke. This light-and-sound phenomenon was caused by a meteorite crashing onto the earth in a wooded area near Rommershausen.
Based on the eyewitness accounts, Alfred Wegener calculated the trajectory of the meteorite and its likely impact site. [1] In recognition of its scientific relevance, 300 Reichsmark were offered as a reward to the finder, and it was indeed eventually discovered near the calculated site. The forester Hupmann managed to locate it on 5 March 1917 in a wooded area near Rommershausen; a one-and-one-half-meter-deep impact crater contained the 63.28-kilogram (139.5 lb), 36-centimetre-wide (14 in) iron meteorite. It had been only slightly shattered by the impact and was almost completely preserved. The 23 slices and thin-ground sections cut from the meteorite have been studied by various geological and mineralogical research institutes.
Since 1986 a memorial stone placed at the site of impact by the Knüllgebirgsverein, a hiking and nature club named after the Knüllgebirge mountain range in Hesse, commemorates this cosmic event.
The meteorite is on display at the Mineralogischen Museum Marburg (Lahn), and there is a copy at the Museum der Schwalm in Ziegenhain. Directions to the meteorite impact location are posted on a path (Ringstrasse) in the Rommershausen forest.
Hesse or Hessia, officially the State of Hesse, is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major historic cities are Darmstadt and Kassel. With an area of 21,114.73 square kilometers and a population of over six million, it ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, among the sixteen German states. Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany's second-largest metropolitan area, is mainly located in Hesse.
A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Most are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars.
Giessen, spelled Gießen in German, is a town in the German state (Bundesland) of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 university students.
The Philipps University of Marburg was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the world. It is now a public university of the state of Hesse, without religious affiliation. The University of Marburg has about 23,500 students and 7,500 employees and is located in Marburg, a town of 76,000 inhabitants, with university buildings dotted in or around the town centre. About 14% of the students are international, the highest percentage in Hesse. It offers an International summer university programme and offers student exchanges through the Erasmus programme.
Alfred Lothar Wegener was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher.
Amöneburg is a town in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany. It lies on a mountain and is built around the castle of the same name, Burg Amöneburg.
Bundesautobahn 49 is a federal motorway running through north Hesse. It connects Kassel with the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, where it ends in Neuental. The motorway is planned to be extended to Gemünden (Felda) with a connection to A 5.
Schwalmstadt is the largest town in the Schwalm-Eder district, in northern Hesse, Germany. It was established only in 1970 with the amalgamation of the towns of Treysa and Ziegenhain together with some outlying villages to form the town of Schwalmstadt.
Frielendorf is a municipality in the Schwalm-Eder district, Hesse, Germany.
Neuental is a municipality in the Schwalm-Eder district in Hesse, Germany.
Oberaula is a municipality in the Schwalm-Eder district in Hesse, Germany.
Schrecksbach is a municipality in the Schwalm-Eder district in Hesse, Germany.
Schwarzenborn is the smallest town in Hesse, Germany.
Willingshausen is a municipality in the Schwalm-Eder district in Hesse, Germany.
Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia located in the locality of Ghan.
The Main–Weser Railway is a railway line in central Germany that runs from Frankfurt am Main via Gießen to Kassel. it is named after the railway company that built the line and also operated it until 1880. It was opened between 1849 and 1852 and was one of the first railways in Germany.
The West Hesse Depression is part of the West Hesse Highlands and Lowlands region in the north of the German state of Hesse. Like the East Hesse Depression, it is a series of separate depressions that form a natural corridor and have been an important historical trade route.
Treysa station is a train station in Schwalmstadt, Hesse, on the Main–Weser Railway. It was formerly a railway junction, connecting to the Leinefelde–Treysa section of the Cannons Railway.
The Leinefelde–Treysa line is a former railway line in the German states of Thuringia and Hesse, connecting the towns of Leinefelde, Eschwege, Spangenberg, Malsfeld, Homberg (Efze) and Treysa with one another. It was mostly opened in sections between 1875 and 1880 as part of the Cannons Railway, a military strategic railway.
The Upper Hessian Ridge or Upper Hesse Ridge is a hill chain in the West Hesse Highlands in North and Middle Hesse, which lies on the Rhine-Weser watershed and links the montane Central Upland ranges of the Kellerwald and the Vogelsberg in a north-south direction. The swell is divided into the Gilserberg Heights in the north, the central Neustadt Saddle and the Northern Vogelsberg Foreland in the south.