Braunschweig Meteorite
Composition and classification
The meteorite has been classified as an L6 ordinary chondrite.
Impact
The meteorite fell at around 2:05 AM on 23 April 2013, with an estimated velocity of 250 km/h (160 mph). It hit concrete pavement 3 m (9.8 ft) from Erhard Seemann's front door, breaking into hundreds of fragments upon impact. The largest fragment, with a mass of 214 grams, stuck in the concrete, forming an impact crater with a diameter of 7 cm (2.8 in) and a depth of 3 cm (1.2 in). Fragments of concrete ejected from the impact were as wide as 5 cm (2.0 in). Many other fragments of the meteorite were found within 18 m (59 ft) from the impact crater by several people. Traces of a secondary impact were found at a nearby brick wall in the form of indents 1 cm (0.39 in) wide. A total of 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) of fragments were found.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Braunschweig_crater.jpg/200px-Braunschweig_crater.jpg)
Reports
A neighbor reported hearing a strong hum and "whoosh" followed by a loud crash at around 2:10 AM, and then found four fragments of the meteorite on his driveway. In Ahlum, 8 km (5.0 mi) from the impact site, Julian Mascow reported a bright flare approaching from the southeast for 1–2 seconds, with a luminosity "like dawn," before ending in a "short tracer just over his head." He heard a loud explosion about 90 seconds later followed by a rumbling noise. Mark Vornhusen's web camera documented the fireball from Vechta, located about 160 km (99 mi) from Braunschweig. The light meter of a weather station in Brandenburg, approximately 240 km (150 mi) from Braunschweig, recorded 5 seconds of brightening. The Technical University of Braunschweig informed expert Rainer Bartoschewitz of the reports, who inspected the site on April 27 and confirmed the meteorite.