.gif)
Homestead (meteorite)
Encyclopedia
History
On the evening of 12 February 1875 in the IowaIowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
skies was seen a brilliant fireball
Meteoroid
A meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor, or colloquially a shooting star or falling star. If a meteoroid reaches the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite...
. After some detonations about 100 meteorite fragments fallen over an 18 square miles (46.6 km²) snowy countryside area from Amana
South Amana, Iowa
South Amana is an unincorporated community in northern Iowa County, Iowa, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 6 east of the city of Marengo, the county seat of Iowa County. Its elevation is 778 feet . Although South Amana is unincorporated, it has a post office with the ZIP code of...
to Boltonville, in Iowa County
Iowa County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 16,355 in the county, with a population density of . There were 7,258 housing units, of which 6,677 were occupied.-2000 census:...
. The first fragment, a stone weighting about 3.5 kg, was found by a girl named Sarah Sherlock 3 km south of Homestead. The area was wooded and covered by snow: the search was not easy. On 10 February a 40-centimeters snowfall banketed the ground, therefore the great majority of the fragments were not discovered until spring. The 74 lbs main mass was found along with a 48 pound fragment buried 2 foot (0.6096 m) in the soil.
In total approximately 230 kg were discovered.
Composition and classification
It is a L5 type ordinary chondriteOrdinary chondrite
The Ordinary chondrites are a class of stony chondritic meteorites. They are by far the most numerous group and comprise about 87% of all finds...
. It is also brecciated and veined.