Wold Cottage (meteorite)

The Wold Cottage meteorite (also known as the Wold Newton meteorite ) is a classified as an L6 chondrite meteorite, near the village of Wold Newton, in the English county of Yorkshire, came down in December 1795.

Impact

On December 13, 1795 at 3 clock in the afternoon (local time) the meteorite struck near the Wold Cottage Farm. The event was witnessed by several eye witnesses who also reported at least one explosion. The chondrite left a crater of about 90 cm in diameter and reached a depth of 50 cm. Immediately after his find the weight of Wold Cottage was determined to approximately 25 kg.

Aftereffect

Together with other meteorites, such as L' Aigle, Wold Cottage made ​​an important contribution to the recognition of the cosmic origin of these rocks. This was at the time among scientists still very controversial (see History of the meteorite research). The owners of the land on which the meteorite struck, Edward Topham, erected in 1799 on the site of the impact a monument. It bears the inscription

" Here on this spot, December 13, 1795 fell from the atmosphere of extraordinary stone. In breadth twenty -eight inches in length thirty-six inches and fifty -six Whose weight what pounds. This column in memory of what it erected by Edward Topham, 1799. "

Since 1835, the meteorite is in the Natural History Museum in London.