Fall of a Meteoric Stone near Crumlin (Co. Antrim) September 13

Abstract

THE writer of this note visited the scene of the fall of this meteorite yesterday evening, September 20, and learned that it occurred at about 10.30 a.m. (local time) on the date in question. The body is almost 10 lb. in weight and of a more or less irregular outline, and of the usual meteoric appearance. It bears strong evidence of fusion, shines with a metallic lustre on one side and is apparently truncated, a fragment—say about a third—having fractured off in its descent through the atmosphere. There is also a well-marked line or two of fracture still visible. The evidence at present is that it fell quite perpendicularly, there being no trace of slope or inclination in the hole, about 13–15 inches deep which it made on striking the soil. Mr. Walker, of Crosshill, on whose holding it fell, says it was quite hot at first, and felt warm for almost an hour afterwards. Of course, a good deal of interest and local curiosity is naturally aroused, the usual query being “Where did it come from?” Possibly the data given above may help to furnish an answer to this question, although hardly yet sufficient to enable an orbit or trajectory to be computed for this-the third meteorite which has fallen in the British Isles within recent years. The occurrence was accompanied by the usual rumblings or detoaations, but the estimations of the duration are here, as is usual in other similar instances, untrustworthy.