Weston meteorite: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Meteorite that fell in Connecticut, USA in 1807}} |
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{{Infobox meteorite |
{{Infobox meteorite |
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|Name = Weston meteorite |
|Name = Weston meteorite |
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|Image = Weston meteorite.jpg |
|Image = Weston meteorite.jpg |
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|Image_caption = Weston meteorite, H4 |
|Image_caption = Weston meteorite, H4 |
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|Type = |
|Type = Ordinary [[Chondrite]]<ref name=MetSoc>{{cite web|title=Weston|url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=Weston&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&code=24249|work=Meteoritical Bulletin Database|publisher=[[Meteoritical Society]]|access-date=29 April 2017|quote=Coordinates that best express the Weston fall are 41°16'N, 73°16'W (see new publication by Robson and Pagliaro 2009). The Weston meteor was observed for approximately ten seconds at 06:00 Eastern Standard Time (11:00 UTC) on 1807 December 14 over New York state and New England. The meteor’s atmospheric trajectory was on a course of 155 degrees azimuth (NW to SE) at a slope to the horizon of 30 degrees. The meteor became visible at an altitude of approximately 84 km and its terminal point was at an altitude of approximately 16 km. A significant fragmentation of the meteoroid occurred in the vicinity of New Milford, Connecticut at an altitude of 30 km. Upper air winds distributed the seven fragments recovered into a classical elliptical pattern (centered on the above given coordinates); the major axis being 12 km and orientated north to south. The total mass is ~20 kg. The main mass landed on a rock outcropping in a pasture in Easton, Fairfield County, Connecticut, within 100 m of 41°12'50" N and 73°15'43"W.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314091247/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=Weston&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal+table&code=24249|archive-date=14 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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|Class = H4 |
|Class = H4 |
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|Group = |
|Group = |
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|Weathering = W0 |
|Weathering = W0 |
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|Country = [[United States]] |
|Country = [[United States]] |
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|Region = [[ |
|Region = [[Fairfield County, Connecticut]] |
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|Lat_Long = |
|Lat_Long = {{coord|41|13|N|73|23|W|display=inline,title}} |
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|Observed_fall = Yes |
|Observed_fall = Yes |
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|Fall_date = |
|Fall_date = 14 December 1807 |
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|Found_date = |
|Found_date = |
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|TKW = |
|TKW = |
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|Image2_caption = |
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}} |
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The '''Weston meteorite''' is |
The '''Weston meteorite''' is an [[H_chondrite|H4]] [[ordinary chondrite|ordinary]] [[chondrite]] [[meteorite]] which fell to earth above the town of [[Weston, Connecticut]] on the morning of December 14, 1807.<ref name="peabody.yale.edu">{{Cite web|date=7 December 2010|url=http://www.peabody.yale.edu/collections/met/met_weston.html|title=The Weston Meteorite (Yale Peabody Museum)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528050413/https://peabody.yale.edu/collections/mineralogy-and-meteoritics/weston-meteorite|archive-date=28 May 2019|url-status=live|publisher=[[Peabody Museum of Natural History|Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History]]}}</ref> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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The Weston [[meteorite]] fell to earth above the town of [[Weston, Connecticut]] at approximately 6:30 in the morning on December 14, 1807.<ref name="peabody.yale.edu"/> The meteor fall was widely witnessed<ref name="prince2010">{{Cite book|last=Prince|first=Cathryn J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uG32yLJBl5IC&pg=PA13|title=A Professor, A President, and A Meteor: The Birth of American Science|date=2010-12-14|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=978-1-61614-272-8|language=en|quote=Suddenly the heavens above [Judge Nathan] Wheeler's farm exploded as a fireball raced across the onyx sky. Everything lit up—his home, his barns, the trees, the blue stone walls.}}</ref> and reported in newspaper accounts at the time.<ref name="LPS">{{Cite journal|last1=King|first1=D. T|first2=L. W.|last2=Petruny |title=The Weston Meteorite (1807)-Impact Sites in Fairfield County, Connecticut|journal=Lunar and Planetary Science Conference|volume=39|year=2008|page=2163|url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2008/pdf/2163.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025032717/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2008/pdf/2163.pdf|archive-date=25 October 2012|url-status=live|quote=On December 14, 1807, a widely witnessed meteorite fall over Weston, Fairfield County, Connecticut, brought the new science of [[Glossary of meteoritics|meteoritics]] to the United States. Recovered, documented, and chemically analyzed by Yale University professors [[Benjamin Silliman]] and James Kingsley, the Weston meteorite became the first such scientifically verified meteorite fall in the New World. Fragments collected by Silliman and Kingsley were the first catalogued objects in the Yale meteorite collection, the oldest such collection in the United States. News reports of the day and subsequent inventories suggest that there were several dozen fragments, which have a combined mass of ~ 150 kg. The Weston meteorite is an H4 ordinary chondrite}}</ref> Eyewitnesses reported three loud explosions with stone fragments falling in at least six locations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.marmet-meteorites.com/id11.html|title=Peter Marmet Meteorite Collection|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190912001521/http://www.marmet-meteorites.com/id11.html|archive-date=12 September 2019|url-status=live|quote=Two or three days after the fall, Professor [[Benjamin Silliman]] heard of it and - with Professor James L. Kingsley - immediately went to Weston to investigate. [...] After reading the report by the two professors, President [[Thomas Jefferson]] reputedly exclaimed: "''It's easier to believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would fall from heaven!''"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Weston meteorite (incl Easton; Trumbull; Fairfield), Easton (Weston), Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA|url=https://www.mindat.org/loc-62857.html|access-date=25 November 2021|publisher=Hudson Institute of Mineralogy|quote=Fragments of the exploding stone had rained about the town, and one large piece struck not two rods distant from the Prince house. This intrepid family, upon discovering the treasure that had buried itself in their front yard, promptly dug it up and smashed it apart, discerning, with a sense of true Yankee economy, that if one stone could be valuable, many were more so.}}</ref> |
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The Weston [[meteorite]] fell to earth above the town of [[Weston, Connecticut]] at approximately 6:30 in the morning on December 14, 1807.<ref name="peabody.yale.edu"/> The meteor fall was widely witnessed and reported in newspaper accounts at the time.<ref name="LPS">{{Cite web|url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2008/pdf/2163.pdf|title=The Weston Meteorite}}</ref> Eyewitnesses reported three loud explosions, and stone fragments fell in at least six locations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.marmet-meteorites.com/id11.html|title=Peter Marmet Meteorite Collection}}</ref> |
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==Debris field & |
==Debris field & naming== |
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Currently none of the [[strewn field]] (the debris field where the bulk of the fragments fell) was located on is in the town of Weston, but is primarily located in neighboring [[Easton, Connecticut|Easton]]. In 1807 the land that would later become the town of Easton was within and part of the town of Weston, hence the name ''Weston meteorite''. |
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The majority of the [[strewn field|debris field]] is located in the eastern part of the present day town of [[Easton, Connecticut|Easton]] - in and around the Easton Reservoir.<ref name="LPS"/> The remaining part of the debris field extended into the western part of neighboring [[Trumbull, Connecticut|Trumbull]]. Several fragments of this meteorite were collected in the [[Tashua, Connecticut|Tashua]] section of [[Trumbull, Connecticut|Trumbull]], in and around what is now Sturbridge Lane and [http://www.tashuaknolls.com/ Tashua Knolls].<ref name="LPS"/> |
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| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | Fragments from the fall were collected, documented, and chemically analyzed by [[Yale University]] professors [[Benjamin Silliman]] and [[James Kingsley]]. The Weston meteorite is the first meteorite to fall in the [[New World]] which was documented in such a manner, marking the beginning of meteorite science in the [[United States]]. Fragments of the meteorite remain within the Yale meteorite collection, which is the oldest such collection in the United States.<ref name="LPS"/> |
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| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | Fragments from the fall were collected, documented, and chemically analyzed by [[Yale University]] professors [[Benjamin Silliman]] and [[James Luce Kingsley]]. The Weston meteorite is the first meteorite to fall in the [[New World]] which was documented in such a manner, marking the beginning of meteorite science in the [[United States]]. Fragments of the meteorite remain within the Yale meteorite collection, which is the oldest such collection in the United States.<ref name="LPS"/> |
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| ⚫ | |||
==See also== |
==See also== |
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Latest revision as of 02:23, 11 May 2024
| Weston meteorite | |
|---|---|
 Weston meteorite, H4 | |
| Type | Ordinary Chondrite[1] |
| Class | H4 |
| Weathering grade | W0 |
| Country | United States |
| Region | Fairfield County, Connecticut |
| Coordinates | 41°13′N 73°23′W / 41.217°N 73.383°W |
| Observed fall | Yes |
| Fall date | 14 December 1807 |
 Related media on Wikimedia Commons | |
The Weston meteorite is an H4 ordinary chondrite meteorite which fell to earth above the town of Weston, Connecticut on the morning of December 14, 1807.[2]
History[edit]
The Weston meteorite fell to earth above the town of Weston, Connecticut at approximately 6:30 in the morning on December 14, 1807.[2] The meteor fall was widely witnessed[3] and reported in newspaper accounts at the time.[4] Eyewitnesses reported three loud explosions with stone fragments falling in at least six locations.[5][6]
Debris field & naming[edit]
Currently none of the strewn field (the debris field where the bulk of the fragments fell) was located on is in the town of Weston, but is primarily located in neighboring Easton. In 1807 the land that would later become the town of Easton was within and part of the town of Weston, hence the name Weston meteorite.
The majority of the debris field is located in the eastern part of the present day town of Easton - in and around the Easton Reservoir.[4] The remaining part of the debris field extended into the western part of neighboring Trumbull. Several fragments of this meteorite were collected in the Tashua section of Trumbull, in and around what is now Sturbridge Lane and Tashua Knolls.[4]
Historical & scientific significance[edit]
Fragments from the fall were collected, documented, and chemically analyzed by Yale University professors Benjamin Silliman and James Luce Kingsley. The Weston meteorite is the first meteorite to fall in the New World which was documented in such a manner, marking the beginning of meteorite science in the United States. Fragments of the meteorite remain within the Yale meteorite collection, which is the oldest such collection in the United States.[4]
The meteorite was also written about, at the time, by Nathaniel Bowditch, calculating the size and trajectory of the meteor.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Weston". Meteoritical Bulletin Database. Meteoritical Society. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
Coordinates that best express the Weston fall are 41°16'N, 73°16'W (see new publication by Robson and Pagliaro 2009). The Weston meteor was observed for approximately ten seconds at 06:00 Eastern Standard Time (11:00 UTC) on 1807 December 14 over New York state and New England. The meteor's atmospheric trajectory was on a course of 155 degrees azimuth (NW to SE) at a slope to the horizon of 30 degrees. The meteor became visible at an altitude of approximately 84 km and its terminal point was at an altitude of approximately 16 km. A significant fragmentation of the meteoroid occurred in the vicinity of New Milford, Connecticut at an altitude of 30 km. Upper air winds distributed the seven fragments recovered into a classical elliptical pattern (centered on the above given coordinates); the major axis being 12 km and orientated north to south. The total mass is ~20 kg. The main mass landed on a rock outcropping in a pasture in Easton, Fairfield County, Connecticut, within 100 m of 41°12'50" N and 73°15'43"W.
- ^ a b "The Weston Meteorite (Yale Peabody Museum)". Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. 7 December 2010. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019.
- ^ Prince, Cathryn J. (2010-12-14). A Professor, A President, and A Meteor: The Birth of American Science. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-61614-272-8.
Suddenly the heavens above [Judge Nathan] Wheeler's farm exploded as a fireball raced across the onyx sky. Everything lit up—his home, his barns, the trees, the blue stone walls.
- ^ a b c d King, D. T; Petruny, L. W. (2008). "The Weston Meteorite (1807)-Impact Sites in Fairfield County, Connecticut" (PDF). Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. 39: 2163. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 October 2012.
On December 14, 1807, a widely witnessed meteorite fall over Weston, Fairfield County, Connecticut, brought the new science of meteoritics to the United States. Recovered, documented, and chemically analyzed by Yale University professors Benjamin Silliman and James Kingsley, the Weston meteorite became the first such scientifically verified meteorite fall in the New World. Fragments collected by Silliman and Kingsley were the first catalogued objects in the Yale meteorite collection, the oldest such collection in the United States. News reports of the day and subsequent inventories suggest that there were several dozen fragments, which have a combined mass of ~ 150 kg. The Weston meteorite is an H4 ordinary chondrite
- ^ "Peter Marmet Meteorite Collection". Archived from the original on 12 September 2019.
Two or three days after the fall, Professor Benjamin Silliman heard of it and - with Professor James L. Kingsley - immediately went to Weston to investigate. [...] After reading the report by the two professors, President Thomas Jefferson reputedly exclaimed: "It's easier to believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would fall from heaven!"
- ^ "Weston meteorite (incl Easton; Trumbull; Fairfield), Easton (Weston), Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA". Hudson Institute of Mineralogy. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
Fragments of the exploding stone had rained about the town, and one large piece struck not two rods distant from the Prince house. This intrepid family, upon discovering the treasure that had buried itself in their front yard, promptly dug it up and smashed it apart, discerning, with a sense of true Yankee economy, that if one stone could be valuable, many were more so.