The image of the week. Thanks to an international scientific collaboration and the mobilization of a participatory science network, a pebble of 100 g falling from the sky two days earlier was found in Normandy, Wednesday, February 15.
By Jean-Baptiste Jacquin
It is a small pebble of 100 grams out of the clay of a Normandy meadow on Wednesday, February 15. A real treasure that is reflected in the amazed eyes of its discoverers. This meteorite comes from an asteroid whose approach had been reported and observed in the telescope and whose entry into the atmosphere was filmed two days earlier at the end of the night. It is the third time that a meteorite has been found in these conditions in the world, the first time in Europe.
“What is particularly interesting is that the object was observed before falling, we have all its history”, rejoices Brigitte Zanda, teacher-researcher at the National Museum of Natural History. Before bringing in Paris the precious pebble from the space to study it, it continued, Friday, February 17, to rattle the area with around fifteen volunteers from the Participatory Sciences Network. A second meteorite, 1 gram this time, has already completed the harvest.
It all started on February 12. A Hungarian astronomer discovers a small asteroid, about 1 meter in diameter, with a collision trajectory with the earth. It is only the seventh time in history that such an observation is made. In a few hours, international collaboration makes it possible to calculate precisely, thanks to 36 measures made by eight observatories, the geographic area of its entry into the atmosphere, above the Channel, and the time, Monday, February 13 at 3 H 59. NASA lists the object in its base under the name 2023 CX1.
A very bright shooting star
What to alert amateurs, scientists or not, ready to sacrifice a night to try to grasp the moment. To the second second, the racing car, a very bright shooting star, is seen, photographed and filmed from France, England and Belgium. The hundred cameras since 2016 since 2016 the National Observation Service called FRIPON (for Fireball Recovery and Interplanetary Observation Network) was not this time very useful, the area concerned being badly covered.
“Whatever, we used to share images and data in an international common language and videos taken Monday allowed, being recalibrated according to the place of shooting, to estimate The place of fall in possible meteorites “, welcomes Sylvain Bouley, president of the astronomical company of France and co-founder of the Fripon/Vigie-Ciel network. The calculations carried out by Peter Jenniskens (Seti Institute, United States), Denis Vida and Auriane Egal (Uwo, Canada) and Hadrien Devillepoix (DFN, Australia) have determined a probable falling zone of meteorites between Dieppe and Doudeville, in Seine- Maritime.
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