Last fall’s meteor hit the outskirts of Fjärdhundra

Just before 10:30 p.m. on November 7, 2020, tens of thousands of people in eastern Svealand saw the powerful space rock hurtling into Earth’s atmosphere. Several people DN spoke to were able to testify about how the blow made windows shake.

Using images from From a network of cameras in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, the last seconds of the space rock could be followed and the researchers calculated that it could have impacted the area around Fjärdhundra in the municipality of Enköping. Many meteor hunters set out hoping to find parts. But from what you know without success.

But on November 22, some fragments of the probably nine-ton space rock were found near the town of Ådalen, north of Fjärdhundra.

– It’s a lot of fun, especially since the site fits our calculations very well. And I still have high hopes that there will be more to nature, says Eric Stempels, an astronomer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Uppsala University.

The find was already made last year but it is only now that the researchers come out with the news as all the analyzes are complete. And even though the meteorite pieces only measure between 1 and 6 millimeters, there is no doubt that it is a visitor from space. Analysis at the Swedish Museum of Natural History shows that they are made up of iron and 10 percent nickel, typical of a meteorite.

That despite its small size it could be found thanks to a clue from a meteorite collector. And when mineralogist Jörgen Langhof from the Swedish Museum of Natural History arrived at the site, he could see that there were clear signs that something large and heavy had fallen to the ground. A larger rock covered in lava had marks and some roots had been uprooted:

– The stone has a large mark, as if it had been hit by a mallet. And next to the ground was a larger pit with a rejected tree root, says Jörgen Langhof in a press release.

Using a magnet, he then examined the ground and was able to find 10 to 15 small pieces ten meters away.

But even though the area was searched through several times over a period of a few weeks, no important parts were found.

– What we have found are parts of the crust of a larger meteorite. But the big one, which should have been in the area, we have not been able to find. Someone else may have come before us, says Eric Stempels.

According to Eric Stempels, most of it is crucial to knowing whether the precipitation will have a name and therefore will also be potentially valuable.

– The pieces we have found are so small that we have not been able to do a more detailed chemical analysis. We need a larger part to be able to record the find itself.

What happens now?

– Now there is a break until the snow disappears, but search efforts continue when the ground is clear of snow, says Eric Stempels.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for someone to be lucky enough to see a stone fall from space in front of them. But there are examples and the most famous one occurred in Hökmark, 40 kilometers south of Skellefteå, on June 9, 1954, when brothers Åke and Bertil Pettersson were on the farm outside their home. Suddenly they heard a hiss from the sky and shortly after a crash from some distance. And just half a minute later, another hiss and a stone, the size of a matchbox, hit the ground a few feet away.

The time was around 9:30 pm but because it was midsummer, it was still shining, the sun was on the horizon and was setting while a crescent crescent was about to take off in the southwest along with the planet Venus.

As Bertil Pettersson approached the small stone, he could see how a hole a centimeter deep had formed in the ground before it bounced and settled 17 centimeters further, less than four meters from where he himself had been. . When he picked up the stone, it was cold and not hot, which is easy to believe when it comes to meteorites. But after living his life in the absolute vacuum of space, he had never had time to warm up in the few seconds that he flew through the atmosphere.

Now it would turn out that the two hisses came from two different rocks, probably from the same larger rock that had shattered when it hit Earth’s atmosphere. However they searched, the brothers could not find the other, even though they continued their search the next day. Then it would be better for a young relative, Kjell Pettersson.

When five-year-old Kjell woke up the next day, he heard the story of how his cousins ​​had almost been hit by a rock from space and then heard another fall a little further away. In addition, the father of the brothers, Anders Oskar Pettersson, had told how he saw a flash of light and heard a crash at the same time that the brothers saw the impact of the meteorite. But where was the other piece?

– I met Åke and Bertil early in the morning and then they told me that they had found a meteorite but also that another one had fallen. Then I started looking and was pretty determined that that one would find it. It was a few hours before I did and it was a very special experience, says Kjell Pettersson today.

– It was a bit hidden by the grass, embedded along the path. But immediately I saw that it was not an ordinary stone, it was burned and was in a small hole.

On June 11, Natural History paid The National Museum cost 150 SEK for the two meteorites that were later transported to the museum. A considerable sum for a five-year-old:

– It was a lot of money and it became a new cycle, says Kjell Pettersson.

Today, the two stones with the catalog numbers 19540167 and 19540168 were stored in a box in the museum. And the small fragments of Fjärdhundra will also be placed.

Listen to Studio DN: “100 tons of space rock falls on us every day.”