* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Portales Valley meteorite

Blobrana · L

Portales Valley
Roosevelt County, New Mexico, USA
Fell 1998 June 13, ~07:30 MDT (~13:30 UT)
Ordinary chondrite (H6)
After detonations were heard and smoky trails seen in the sky, a shower of meteorites landed near Portales, New Mexico. 53 objects have been recovered, with a total mass of 71.4 kg. The largest pieces weighed 16.5 kg (witnessed to fall by Nelda Wallace and Fred Stafford), 17.0 kg (found by Elton Brown), and at least nine others over 1 kg. A 530 g fragment went through the roof of Gayle Newberry's barn and embedded itself in a wall, indicating a trajectory west to east. The elliptical strewn field is approximately 7.7 x 2 km, trending N60-65ºE, although recent reports may extend this somewhat.
Source

Blobrana · L

Soon after the Portales Valley meteorite fell in 1998, it was classified as one of the most common types of meteorites, an H6 ordinary chondrite. Although researchers quickly recognized that Portales Valley is not a typical H6 chondrite, there was little agreement about how the meteorite formed. A recent study of Portales Valley by Ruzicka and colleagues suggests that the textures, mineralogy, and chemistry of the meteorite are best explained as the first good example of a metallic melt breccia.
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