Researchers from the Royal Netherlands Association for Meteorology and Astronomy (KNVWS) and geoscientists at Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam have found that a brown-black rock that landed in a field near the Dutch village of Diepenveen in 1873 is a rare meteorite. Read more
Long-lost Dutch 'rock' is actually a very rare meteorite
A hunk of rock found in a private collection is a rare meteorite, researchers have announced. The brown-black rock, which is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, plummeted to Earth with a flash of light and a hissing sound on Oct. 27, 1873. It landed in a field near the Dutch village of Diepenveen. Read more
Bright lights and sizzling sounds accompanied the fall of the meteorite on 27 October 1873 in the village of Diepenveen in the Netherlands, according to a contemporary handwritten note. Two witnesses to the fall dug up the small, warm stone and gave it to the local schoolmaster. It remained a school specimen until 2009, when it was given to a collector. Dutch amateur astronomer Henk Nieuwenhuis then "rediscovered" the 5-centimetre-wide space rock when he examined the collection last year. Read more