[meteorite-list] Barwell, the Christmas Eve Meteorite

[mckinney trammell]

...and i have a very nice 15+g piece w/ thick fusion crust for sale or trade.

--- On Thu, 12/23/10, bernd.pauli at paulinet.de <bernd.pauli at paulinet.de> wrote:

> From: bernd.pauli at paulinet.de <bernd.pauli at paulinet.de>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Barwell, the Christmas Eve Meteorite
> To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Thursday, December 23, 2010, 6:25 PM
> Happy Birthday, Barwell!
> 
> Bernd (in Germany at 00.35 local time ;-)
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------
> 
> On December 24, 1965, a Christmas present of sorts fell to
> the ground around
> 16:20 hrs, when a brilliant fireball swept across southern
> England from a south
> -southwesterly direction and landed in Barwell accompanied
> by a tremendous
> explosion caused by the exploding meteorite that went down
> in history as the
> Christmas Eve meteorite.
> 
> The bolide must have been extremely bright. Some
> eyewitnesses say it was brighter
> than the sun, others say it was almost twice as bright as
> Venus. There are also reports
> of color changes during atmospheric descent.
> 
> Local residents noted a large explosion, the sky suddenly
> lit up, a whizzing noise was
> heard, there was a loud roar, a low rumbling noise, a
> screaming sound from a low-flying
> object directly overhead, a loud rustling noise after the
> explosion, a sudden thud as
> something hit the ground, a terrible crack, and also
> electrophonic phenomena.
> 
> When one local picked up a strange-looking stone about as
> big as his hand, he immediately
> threw it down again because it "felt warm". This stone had
> even left a small crater in the
> asphalt road.
> 
> Another Barwell resident found a dent in the hood of his
> automobile and a "white stone"
> on the ground weighing between six and seven pounds.
> 
> News of the actual fall was slow to spread but when it did,
> hell broke loose because
> the British Museum had promised financial rewards for each
> and every find. Several
> larger fragments and innumerable small stones were located
> by field parties and local
> residents.
> 
> While initial disruption occurred at an altitude of about
> 25 miles, final disruption probably
> occurred at a very low altitude above Barwell.
> 
> The  Barwell L5 chondrite has a gray interior,
> numerous FeNi specks and grayish chondrules
> that give it a mottled look. Interestingly, some of the
> fragments at Barwell came in from slightly
> different directions - maybe due to strong winds high up in
> the atmosphere because a distinct
> smoke trail rapidly disappeared.
> 
> A 17-pounder made a perfectly vertical hole in sandy loam
> soil to a depth of 27 inches.
> A 14 ½ ounce fragment penetrated the roof of a local
> factory.
> A 7-pound piece lay in an 18-inch hole.
> A 6-pound chunk was found in a factory backyard partly
> buried in a cinder heap!
> 
> Reference:
> 
> Lancaster Brown P. (1966) The Barwell Meteorite (Sky &
> Telescope, July 1966, pp. 7-11).
> 
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