Bunburra Rockhole is the 1st meteorite recoved by the Desert Fireball Network. It's turned out to be a very interesting and important meteorite, for a couple of reasons: Since we saw it land, and observed it on the way in, we can work out its orbit, and where it originally came from. Also, the type of meteorite, a 'Basaltic Achondrite', is a very rare type of meteorite: less than 1% of recovered meteorites are this type. Having a rare type, and knowing where it came from is unique in the field of meteoritics. Read more
The Bunburra Rockhole (Eucrite) meteorite fell in South Australia, on the 20th July, 2007. A total mass of 324 g was recovered.
31° 21' 0"S, 129° 11' 24"E
A bright fireball was recorded over southwestern Australia by observatories of the Desert Fireball Network. A fall position was pinpointed by triangulation, and a search was mounted. Fragments were recovered within 100 m of the predicted fall site. Read more (PDF)
Scientists track source of unusual meteorite When meteorites land on Earth, it is often impossible to say where exactly in our Solar System they originated. Out of nearly 1 100 documented meteorite falls over the past 200 years, researchers have only been able to pinpoint the origin of a dozen. A new camera network in the Australian desert, however, has now helped achieve exactly that feat for a new meteorite.
Researchers have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered where in the Solar System it came from, in a very rare finding published today in the journal Science. Meteorites are the only surviving physical record of the formation of our Solar System and by analysing them researchers can glean valuable information about the conditions that existed when the early Solar System was being formed. However, information about where individual meteorites originated, and how they were moving around the Solar System prior to falling to Earth, is available for only a dozen of around 1100 documented meteorite falls over the past two hundred years.
Rare snapshot of solar system's dawn Cameras set up in outback Australia to track fireballs across the night sky have led scientists to a rare meteorite formed at the dawn of the solar system. The fiery streak it made on descent allowed them not only to pinpoint where it would fall on the vast Nullarbor Plain, but also work out where it had come from.
Title: An Anomalous Basaltic Meteorite from the Innermost Main Belt Authors: Philip A. Bland, Pavel Spurny, Martin C. Towner, Alex W. R. Bevan, Andrew T. Singleton, William F. Bottke, Jr., Richard C. Greenwood, Steven R. Chesley, Lukas Shrbeny, Jiri Borovicka, Zdenek Ceplecha, Terence P. McClafferty, David Vaughan, Gretchen K. Benedix, Geoff Deacon, Kieren T. Howard, Ian A. Franchi, Robert M. Hough
Triangulated observations of fireballs allow us to determine orbits and fall positions for meteorites. The great majority of basaltic meteorites are derived from the asteroid 4 Vesta. We report on a recent fall that has orbital properties and an oxygen isotope composition that suggest a distinct parent body. Although its orbit was almost entirely contained within Earths orbit, modelling indicates that it originated from the innermost main belt. Because the meteorite parent body would likely be classified as a V-type asteroid, V-type precursors for basaltic meteorites unrelated to Vesta may reside in the inner main belt. This starting location is in agreement with predictions of a planetesimal evolution model that postulates the formation of differentiated asteroids in the terrestrial planet region, with surviving fragments concentrated in the innermost main belt.
But the basaltic Bunburra Rockhole meteorite, named by convention for a feature near where it was found in Australia's Nullarbor Desert, appears to have sprung from a different parent body in the inner asteroid belt. Neither its orbital path nor its chemical signature, as measured by the relative prevalences of oxygen isotopes, agree with a derivation from Vesta or one of its related bodies. Read more