Sutter s Mill Meteorite
Explanation:
Last Sunday's bright fireball meteor
falling through skies over
California and Nevada produced sonic booms over a broad area around
7:21 am.
Estimates indicate the meteor was about the size of a minivan.
Astronomer Peter Jenniskens subsequently recovered these fragments of
a crushed 4 gram meteorite, the second find from
this
meteor fall, in the parking lot of the Henningsen-Lotus state park,
not far from
Sutter's Mill.
This is now known as the Sutter's Mill Meteorite, the location
famous for its association with the California Gold Rush.
The meteorite may well be astronomer's gold too,
thought to be a rare
CM type carbonaceous chondrite,
a type rich in organic compounds and similar to the
Murchison Meteorite.
To trace the meteor's orbit, details of its breakup, and aid in
locating more fragements, scientists are also searching for video
records.
Security cameras across a wide area could have accidently
captured the fireball event near 7:21 am PDT on April 22;
e.g. California (SF Bay Area, Los Angeles,
near Redding) and Nevada (Reno area, Tonopah), even in southern
parts of Oregon and near Salt Lake City in Utah.
If you have video footage of the event,
please use the contact information here.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
