Lumpy 13.6-kilogram meteorite that crashed in Sweden recovered in local village
A half-melted hunk of iron-rich rock found in Uppsala, Sweden, is part of a meteorite that fell there in November 2020. The lumpy meteorite is about the size of a loaf of bread, and weighs around 13.6 kilograms. It was once part of a larger space rock, probably weighing more than 8.1 tonnes, that created a dramatic fireball over Uppsala on 7 November 2020.
After that fireball impacted, scientists at the Swedish Museum of Natural History calculated the likely landing site and found some small fragments of iron meteorite near the village of Ådalen.
These tiny metallic fragments were only about three millimetres (0.11 inches) long, but the investigation also turned up a boulder and a tree root that had clearly been hit by something heavy.
Stockholm geologists Andreas Forsberg and Anders Zetterqvist headed back to the site and found a much larger piece – likely the one that smashed the boulder. The piece was about 70 metres (230 feet) from the area where the fragments were found, partially buried in moss. One side is flattened and cracked, likely from the collision, and the meteorite is pockmarked with circular depressions. These depressions are common in iron meteorites, according to the museum, and they form when the space rock partially melts during its passage through the atmosphere.
“It is the first sure example of a newly fallen iron meteorite in our country,” said Swedish Museum of Natural History curator Dan Holtstam. “It’s also the first time that any meteorite fragments linked to an observed fireball have been recovered in Sweden for 66 years”.