* Astronomy

Fell 2003 September 27 1830 IST
Ordinary Chondrite (H4-5)
A brilliant fireball with intense greenish hue appeared in the northern sky and progressed towards southern horizon and was observed by a large number of people in the southern part of the state of West Bengal and coastal Orissa. The event led to a multiple fall along the coastal Orissa. Three pieces of meteorite were retrieved by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) from Subarnapur village (20° 32' 22'' N: 86° 42' E), East Suniti village (20° 27' 30'' N: 86° 43' 15'' E) and West Suniti village (20° 27' 45'' N: 86° 42' 10'' E) in the Kendrapada district of Orissa; the weights of the recovered fragments are 490.2 g, 719 g and 5460 g, respectively. The meteorite samples are dark on unbroken surface and light coloured on broken surface where metals are readily visible. Rusting is conspicuous on the broken surface and may be attributed to the wet environment of fall. The main mass of the meteorite has incomplete tabular polyhedral shape. Thin section study (B. K. Chattopadhyay and A.P.Thapliyal, GSI) shows Kendrapada meteorite is essentially composed of olivine, pyroxene, abundant Fe-Ni metal, troilite and rare feldspar. Chondrules of varying shape and sizes and texture are present but are few in number and range in size from 0.15 mm to 0.5 mm. Fa content in olivine varies between 18.2 and 19.6 (n = 22) with an average Fa content of 18.8. Fs content in Opx varies from 14.4 to 17.4 (n = 17) with an average of 16.4. The matrix is fine-grained and moderately recrystallized. Shock stage is S2. Specimens: type specimen 6 kg, Geological Survey of India, Calcutta ; some fragments are with Government of Orissa, Bhubaneswar, India.
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