* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

Crema meteorite, 1511

Blobrana · L

Title: The Fireball in Raphael's Madonna di Foligno
Authors: Newton, H. A.

Blobrana · L

Sigismondo de Conti, the secretary of Pope Julius II, commissioned Raphael to paint this piece [Madonna of Foligno] to show gratitude for a miracle of his house surviving a disaster. One story holds that the home was struck by lightning, while another version contends that it was hit by debris during the siege of Foligno. In both cases, the house remained intact.
Source

Blobrana · L

1511, September 14. At noon an almost total darkening of the heavens occurred at Crema. "During this midnight gloom," says a writer of that period, " unheard-of thunders, mingled with awful lightnings, resounded through the heavens. . . . On the plain of Crema, where never before was seen a stone the size of an egg, there fell pieces of rock of enormous dimensions and of immense weight. It is said that ten of these were found, weighing 100 pounds each." A monk was struck dead at Crema by one of these rocky fragments. This terrific display is said to have lasted two hours, and 1200 aerolites were subsequently found.

Source