By: Nathan Chen

Many meteorites have been found on Earth, but their origins are often unknown. Recently, Researchers were able to match a meteorite found decades ago in the Austrian Alps to a bright fireball in Earth’s atmosphere. This study was published in May 2024 in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

In 1976, Josef Pfefferle, a forest ranger, found an unusual black rock while clearing debris. He kept it at home and, 32 years later, he took it to a university for analysis, where it was confirmed as a meteorite.

Dr. Maria Gritsevich led the research team to trace the meteorite’s origin. Her team hypothesized that if the meteorite was indeed a recent arrival, its fall might have been recorded. They turned to a network of sky-viewing cameras in southern Germany that had been recording fireballs from 1966 to 2022. They focused on events likely to have produced sizable meteorites and identified a fireball seen on November 24, 1970, as the source of the meteorite.

“It was such a fresh meteorite,” said Maria Gritsevich, a planetary scientist at the University of Helsinki in Finland who led the recent study. “It was so well preserved.”

The meteorite, traveling at 45,000 miles per hour, likely orbited the sun close to Earth. Dr. Marc Fries from NASA highlighted the significance of linking meteorites to their origins, noting that only about 50 meteorites have had their orbits determined. This connection transforms the meteorite from just a rock found on the ground to a rock from a specific place in the solar system.

However, Dr. Peter Brown from Western University suggested the meteorite could have been preserved for much longer than six years due to the good environment. Despite this possibility, the research shows the importance of old data in understanding meteorites and their origins, demonstrating that information can unlock cosmic secrets.

Sources:
An Odd Rock in a Box Gets Linked to a Shooting Star That Fell 54 Years Ago – The New York Times (nytimes.com)