* Astronomy

A court ruled Friday that a German amateur astronomer can keep a meteorite fragment that he found in Austria, dismissing an ownership claim by an Austrian council.
Karl Wimmer, a physicist from Bavaria, found the 2.84-kilogram fragment on a remote mountain area after a targeted search for pieces of the meteorite, which plunged into the atmosphere in April 2002.
The council in Reutte, Austria, argued that the piece was its property and sued for the return of the fragment known as "Neuschwanstein 3" (new Swan stone 3) after the castle in southern Germany near which another piece was found.
However, the Augsburg state court ruled that Wimmer is entitled to keep his find.
Presiding judge Franz Woerz concluded that "there is no earthly right to heavenly property."

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Meteorit Neuschwanstein 3 gehört dem Finder
Der Finder des Meteoritenstücks Neuschwanstein 3 ist dessen rechtmäßiger Eigentümer. Das entschied das Augsburger Landgericht am Freitag und wies damit die Klage der Gemeinde Reutte in Tirol ab. Der 2,8 Kilogramm schwere Himmelskörper bleibt somit im Besitz des deutschen Physikers Karl Wimmer, der den Stein im April 2002 auf einem Geröllfeld in der österreichischen Gemeinde Reutte gefunden hat. Der Bürgermeister hat sich noch nicht dazu geäußert, ob er Berufung einlegen will.

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