[meteorite-list] Wethersfield Meteorite - Part 2 of 4

From: bernd.pauli_at_paulinet.de <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Feb 25 14:47:48 2005
Message-ID: <DIIE.00000008000033F8_at_paulinet.de>

DENNIS di CICCO (1983) Target Wethersfield - Wethersfield meteorite:
The odds were astronomical (Sky & Telescope, 1983 Feb., pp 118-119):

Amateur astronomer Phil Dombrowski from the neighboring town of Glastonbury, was
among the first astronomically oriented people to talk with the Donahues. He reports
that the following took place. After hearing the crash, the Wethersfield couple rushed
into the living room and discovered a hole in the ceiling and smoke and plaster dust
filling the air. From outside they could see a hole in the roof. Still unaware of what
caused the damage and suspecting a fire, they summoned police and fire personnel.

About 10 minutes passed between the impact and the discovery of the meteorite under the
dining room table, by a fireman who also initially identified its true nature. The stone,
weighing just over 2.7 kilograms (almost six pounds), came through the roof and ceiling
with such force that before coming to rest it bounced off a carpeted wooden floor; hit
the dining room ceiling, dislodging more plaster; struck and overturned a small chair;
and dented a wall.

News traveled quickly, and by the next morning local newspapers and radio stations were
carrying the story. Residents of Wethersfield, who recalled that a meteorite crashed through
the roof of a house less than two miles from the Donahue home on April 8, 1971 (see this
magazine for June, 1971, page 346), found the 1982 event quite plausible. Some scientists,
however, were less inclined to accept immediately the remarkable coincidence.

Roy Clarke of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., flew to Connecticut the day
after the fall occurred and arranged to borrow the meteorite so that it could be properly
analyzed. Although several chips, which broke off the main body on impact, were given to
the Smithsonian and local colleges for study, the Donahues requested that the large
meteorite not be further damaged. (As of mid-December they had not decided what they
would ultimately do with it.)
Received on Fri 25 Feb 2005 02:42:41 PM PST