Kosice strew field 28.Feb.2010

Dear Meteorite Friends,

During the summer months July and August 2010 a team of several enthusiastic people spent their time with searching for meteorites from the fall in Kosice on 28th February 2010 which might not had been found yet.

The meteorite chose a quite attractive place for landing. The strewn field is located in a forest with old trees on the foothills of the mountain range Karavanke. It is a dense wood partly with overturned trees, sometimes interrupted by fair clearances and colorful flowers at the edges, which reminds at times of a nature reserve.

The target was easy because meteorites which couldn't be found before the fall of leaves in October would be buried under the leaves for ever and destined to rust. This concept hurts every genuine meteorite collector.

But the challenge was big too: a hilly terrain, partly difficult to access, mostly old leaves up to the ankles. In addition, in July the region of the Karavankes experienced a heat-wave with the hottest temperatures since decades. Furthermore grass up to the hips on the clearances and a high amount of wild pigs which live in the woods and can be quite frightening at times when they suddenly escape from their hiding-places as well as countless ticks that were waiting with hungry stomachs for someone to come along.

You also had to make sure that you didn't get frustrated by the knowledge that almost all of the numerous private teams which partly searched for weeks had returned home without findings.

Following were six weeks of incessant searching. After weeks with no meteorite findings at all you start to be happy about every little distraction. Here a stag beetle, there a fire salamander, a beautiful fly agaric, and over there, according to the creaky noise and the shape even a mushroom searcher came to that lonely spot in the woods.

But the determination paid off: 6 beautiful individuals with a total weight of 317 grams could be saved before the beginning of autumn.

On the following pages you can have a look at pictures of some of the beautiful full slices as well as individuals.

On the two galleries you can also get an impression of the strewn field and the nearby town Kosice.

With best collector regards

Siegfried

In the early night of 28th February 2010 at 22:24, a spectacular event took place over Central Europe: a bright bolide entered the atmosphere and enlightened the dark sky. In parts of Eastern Slovakia a large number of witnesses heard noises that sounded like detonations.

Due to the weather conditions in that night, amongst other things a cloudy sky, the Central European Fireball Network was not able to take direct optical records. However, thanks to photoelectric sensors of altogether 7 cameras the exact dates such as entrance into the atmosphere, brightness, and duration of the exploding bolide could be calculated. The maximum brightness reached a magnitude of -18 during the explosion.

In a project led by Prof Moczo, Comenius University, the site of impact was calculated. Subsequently, the Slovak Academy of Sciences started several meteorite search expeditions headed by Jan Svoren. The teams consisted of scientists and graduate students. With a lot of personal effort the expert teams could achieve spectacular results. Altogether 64 meteorites were found with a total weight of 3.917 kg. The weight of the smallest meteorite that was found was about half a gram, and the the heaviest specimen had the considerable weight of 2.19 kg. Dr. J. Haloda from Czech Geological Survey classified the meteorite material as H5-Chondrite.

Below please find several links to some interesting articles about the Slovakian "Kosice" fall from 28th February 2010.