Sikhote Alin meteorite

[Kn4fty]

On February 12, 1947, the skies of eastern Siberia lit up as one of the largest witnessed single meteorite falls occured. Shining brighter than the sun, it came from the northern sky at an angle of 41°. Low in the sky with a flash and a deafening explosion, the bolide shattered at 5.6 km above the ground. 23 tonnes of iron showered the area and left over 120 impact holes. The meteorites show regmaglypts or thumbprint like depressions. The meteorites tend to have ragged, twisted, and distorted surfaces due to the low altitude break up. 

This particular sample was obtained from the observatory in Cincinnati Ohio.

Rob

[Paul M]

Interesting. I looked round for more about this meteorite event. These two articles are interesting; the first seems to have been poorly translated into English:

http://www.topo.biz/2013/02/sikhote-alin-is-an-iron-meteorite-that-fell-in-1947-on-the-sikhote-alin-mountains-in-eastern-siberia/

https://www.catchafallingstar.com/sainformationa.htm

[Kn4fty]

Very interesting articles. Thanks for posting. Next time I'm at the observatory, I'm gonna obtain some more meteorites. I've always wanted to collect them, but most are way out of my price range.

Rob

[Debo]

Hi Rob, here's my example of Sikote-Alin, it's a nice lump of twisted jagged iron shrapnel and is very heavy.

 

[Kn4fty]

7 hours ago, Debo said:

Hi Rob, here's my example of Sikote-Alin, it's a nice lump of twisted jagged iron shrapnel and is very heavy.

 

Very nice!  Mines pretty heavy too. A lot heavier than I expected. I want to get a couple more pieces of it.

Rob

[Paul M]

It's interesting to see the wide variety of individual samples. Some of my readings explain how the initial breakup at high altitude spawned smaller fragments that were still travelling fast enough to continue to melt and contort. Others were produced by explosive fragmentation at lower altitude, those are the sharp edged, very irregular specimens. And a whole array of meteorites in between!

These things, like the recent Chelyabinsk event, have a habit of missing highly populated areas. Lets hope it stays that way.

[Alan White]

Interesting in the difference, I note that @Debo's sample is far from a Micro Mount many of us own, very nice indeed.

You keep collecting @Kn4fty, I love these 'bits of old car park' as my dear wife refers to them as.

By the way I started a 'Show Us your Meteorite' thread a while back; 

I set it up hoping folks would set it running like the' What Did the Postman bring?' thread, but alas not the case so far.
Be nice to get you both posting into that thread and give it some life again 😘 
 

[John]

Nice specimens of Sikhote Alin folks. My own bit looks more like Debo's to look at but a smaller piece. I used to have a wonderful 200 gram chunk of SA with reglamypts, a roll over lip and other flight markings. I sold it a few years back to buy more astro stuff though

I've been building up another meteorite collection recently - I'll have to post some pics. I'm up to 20 different types now.

[Martin Meredith]

If you ever get the chance to visit the Natural History Museum in Vienna, it has (I believe) the world's largest collection of meteorites. I was fortunate enough to be passing through a few weeks back and came across it by chance. I don't recall whether it had samples of Sikhote Alin but it wouldn't surprise me. (The museum also has an amazing collection of rocks/minerals which is what drew me to it in the first place.)

[LukeSkywatcher]

Here's my 2 Alins. 

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 06/10/2019 at 22:18, Kn4fty said:

On February 12, 1947, the skies of eastern Siberia lit up as one of the largest witnessed single meteorite falls occured. Shining brighter than the sun, it came from the northern sky at an angle of 41°. Low in the sky with a flash and a deafening explosion, the bolide shattered at 5.6 km above the ground. 23 tonnes of iron showered the area and left over 120 impact holes. The meteorites show regmaglypts or thumbprint like depressions. The meteorites tend to have ragged, twisted, and distorted surfaces due to the low altitude break up. 

This particular sample was obtained from the observatory in Cincinnati Ohio.

Rob

Are you sure that's an Alin?. It looks like a stony meteorite. Any Alins I have seen are iron. Maybe the outer layer is crust/rust.

[Kn4fty]

I think it was from the higher initial breakup before the lower explosion. I've seen a couple like it. It is different than the usual shrapnel specimens, plus its not been polished like many to get the shiny black appearance. It was one of many the observatory was selling.

Rob

[John]

Sikhote Alin specimens can vary quite a lot in appearance. If they have not been cleaned since being picked from the ground they can look like Kn4ftys piece as can uncleaned or "as found" Canyon Diablo, Nantan and other irons.

The cleaned up specimens fall into two further types, the ragged, twisted pieces known as "shrapnel" such as Lukeskywalkers specimens and the sculpted individual pieces that show reglmaglypts, flow lines and roll over lips (AKA flight markings).

Needless to say, the nicely shaped individuals that show these flight markings are the most sought after and most expensive !

I used to have a 200g piece that looked like the one below but sold it years ago to fund more astro gear. I sometimes wish I'd kept it

[rwilkey]

Hi Rob,I realise its been some time since you posted but I have only just found your article. Here's a picture of a Sikhote Alin find, and the one I own, weighs 116g (around 1/4 pound)

[rwilkey]

On 18/10/2019 at 19:40, LukeSkywatcher said:

Are you sure that's an Alin?. It looks like a stony meteorite. Any Alins I have seen are iron. Maybe the outer layer is crust/rust.

Looks more like an Agoudal to me?

[Kn4fty]

On 27/01/2020 at 11:48, rwilkey said:

Hi Rob,I realise its been some time since you posted but I have only just found your article. Here's a picture of a Sikhote Alin find, and the one I own, weighs 116g (around 1/4 pound)

Very nice! That's a good size chunk! 

Thanks for posting!

I still want to get a few more pieces of this.

Rob

[John]

The fall was captured by the artist P I Medvedev, who witnessed the event:

[maw lod qan]

Siberia has seen its share of meteor events, hasn't it?

[John]

16 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

Siberia has seen its share of meteor events, hasn't it?

Yes it does seem that way:

https://phys.org/news/2016-12-siberia-cool-meteors.html

[rwilkey]

On 31/01/2020 at 00:15, maw lod qan said:

Siberia has seen its share of meteor events, hasn't it?

It is such a vast area. Tunguska and Chelyabinsk are the most well known.

[Owmuchonomy]

I was lucky enough to get a slice of Seymchan (pallasite) recently.  Found in a dried up river bed in NE Siberia.  I made a presentation box with 2 LED panels so I can pass it round during our events at LTO.  The children love to switch it on as they pass it round.

[maw lod qan]

Beautiful!

 

[John]

Pallasites are really beautiful. A few have rusting issues but many types are really stable and simply lovely to look at and consider their formation

[Owmuchonomy]

Yes, Seymchan is reported as very stable but even so it’s staying in my box.