FOLLOWING the discovery of fragments from the now legendary Winchcombe meteorite, then the search for fragments of a meteorite which blazed across Powys and into Shropshire several weeks ago, residents around the Bridgend area are now being asked to scour the back gardens to the remnants of yet another celestial visitor.
Scientists from the UK Fireball Alliance, (UKFAll) believe that following sightings of a fireball across the region at 12.40 a.m. on Thursday May 12th, fragments from the meteorite may well have come down across the area.
Recorded by 25 meteor cameras coordinated by the UKFAll, and with eyewitnesses reporting an accompanying loud sonic boom as the meteorite passed through the atmosphere, the search is on for pieces of the rock which made it to the ground.
According to Dr Jana Horak from the National Museum in Cardiff, and a member of UKFAll: "about 20 kg of rock from an asteroid entered the atmosphere at nearly 30 km/s.
"Most of the rock varporised in the atmosphere within seconds, but we calculate that maybe 100 grams survived and landed in an area north of Bridgend."
Dr Horak added: "it's probably, [the stone], glossy black or brown in colour, maybe with the dark fusion crust broken off in places, but it won't appear spongy or bubbly"
Should anyone discover a fragment, the advice is to not pick it with your bare hands as that will contaminate the stone, but instead to contact wales@ukfall.org.uk with a photograph of the stone and if possible, coordinates of the find.
- This article originally appeared on our sister site The National.
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