 |
| Strathmore Meteorite, discovered 1917 |
An extraordinary find in our collection and easily the oldest object that we have in store, the Strathmore Meteorite is around 4.5 billion years old.
On December 3rd 1917, a meteor entered the atmosphere east of Dunbar and passed northwest over Fife and the Sidlaws Hills where it broke up in mid-air. Leaving a bright trail across the sky at around 1pm it’s no surprise that the meteor was witnessed by numerous people at the time.
Once the meteorite fragmented, four of the fragments were recovered along a ten kilometre line from Corston in Angus to Essendy in Perthshire. The largest weighed 9.9 kilograms (22 pounds).
The meteorite in our collection was the fragment found at South Corston Farm near Coupar Angus. It weighs one kilogram (2 pounds) However, although farm workers actually witnessed the meteor fall, it wasn’t until four days later that the meteorite was found in a 6 inch deep hole in the farmhouse lawn.
No comments:
Post a Comment