Arizonans track down new Wisconsin meteorite

http://uanews.org/node/31788

Marvin Killgore, the curator of meteorites for the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, and his wife, Kitty, recovered a 300-gram chunk of breccia that is so far the largest piece of a meteorite that exploded over Wisconsin on April 14.

NASA estimated the incoming meteor was about a meter across and blew apart with the force of 20 tons of TNT. According to the UA, "Killgore estimated the rock first detonated at 30 kilometers – about 18 miles above the Earth's surface – with the first radar signature occurring at about 30,000 feet, sending a two-mile wide,14-mile-long shower of fragments into the Wisconsin countryside."

The piece will be on exhibit with other meteorites from the UA collection June 12-13 at the Foothills Mall in Tucson.

Watch the dark sky light up as the meteor comes into the atmosphere, followed by an explosion.