Peekskill meteorite
{{Short description|Meteorite which landed in Peekskill, New York, United States in 1992}}
{{Infobox meteorite
|Name = Peekskill meteorite
|Alternative names =
|Image = Peekskill meteorite in Museum of Natural History.jpg
|Image_caption = Portion of the meteorite in the National Museum of Natural History
|Type = Stony-iron
|Class = H6
|Group = Monomict breccia
|Structural_classification =
|Composition = 20% nickel-iron
|Shock =
|Weathering =
|Country = United States
|Region = Peekskill, New York
|Lat_Long = {{coord|41|17|11|N|73|54|59|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki|display=inline,title}}
|Observed_fall = Yes
|Fall_date = October 9, 1992
|Found_date =
|TKW = {{convert|12.57|kg|lbs}}
|Image2 =
|Image2_caption =
}}
The Peekskill meteorite is the object resulting from a well-documented meteorite event that occurred in October, 1992, in Peekskill, New York, United States.{{cite book |last=Norton |first=Richard |title=Rocks from Space |year=1998 |publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company |location=Missoula, Montana|pages=85–87 |isbn=9780878423736}} Sixteen separate video recordings document the meteorite burning through the Earth's atmosphere, whereupon it struck a parked car in Peekskill.{{cite web|last=Beech|first=Martin|title=The Peekskill Meteorite and Fireball|url=http://uregina.ca/~astro/mb_5.html|work=University of Regina, Canada|access-date=2012-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104135105/http://uregina.ca/%7Eastro/mb_5.html|archive-date=2012-01-04|url-status=dead}} The Peekskill meteorite is an H6 monomict breccia;{{cite web|title=Meteoritical Bulletin Database|url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php|work=The Meteoritical Society |access-date=27 September 2022}}{{cite journal|url=https://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1993Metic..28..692W |title=Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 75 |first=F. |last=Wlotzka |journal=Meteoritics |volume=28 |number=5 |page=692 |year=1993|doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1993.tb00641.x |bibcode=1993Metic..28..692W }} its filigreed texture is the result of the shocking and heating following the impact of two asteroids in outer space.{{cite web|title=Peekskill|url=http://www.planetarium.montreal.qc.ca/Information/Expo_Meteorites/Vedettes/peekskill_a.html|work=Montreal Planetarium|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521024611/http://www.planetarium.montreal.qc.ca/Information/Expo_Meteorites/Vedettes/peekskill_a.html|archive-date=2006-05-21}} The meteorite is of the stony variety, and approximately 20% of its mass is tiny flakes of nickel-iron.{{cite web|title=NEW YORK STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY|url=http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/nysgs/faqs.html|access-date=2012-06-20|archive-date=2012-06-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626033906/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/nysgs/faqs.html|url-status=dead}} When it struck Earth, the meteorite weighed {{convert|27.7|lb}} and measured one foot (0.30 m) in diameter. The Peekskill meteorite is estimated to be 4.4 billion years old.{{cite web|title=Historic Meteorites and Related Americana - October 2007|url=http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15648/|work=Bonhams Auction House |access-date=27 September 2022}}
Descent
The meteorite fell on October 9, 1992 – an event witnessed by thousands across the East Coast. Numerous residents of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. described the "huge greenish fireball."{{cite web|title=Peekskill|url=http://www.planetarium.montreal.qc.ca/Information/Expo_Meteorites/Vedettes/peekskill_a.html|work=The Montreal Planetarium|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521024611/http://www.planetarium.montreal.qc.ca/Information/Expo_Meteorites/Vedettes/peekskill_a.html|archive-date=2006-05-21}} The meteorite broke up over Kentucky and passed over West Virginia and Pennsylvania on its north-northeast trajectory before striking a parked 1980 red Chevy Malibu at approximately 7:50 pm EDT. After traveling through space at a cosmic velocity of 8.8 miles per second (14 km/s, 31,600 miles per hour), the meteorite at impact had slowed to {{convert|164|mph}}.{{cite book|last=Norton|first=Richard|title=Rocks from Space |date=1994 |publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company |location=Missoula, Montana |isbn=9780878423736}}
Video
As the meteorite fell on a Friday evening, its descent was captured on video by many high school football fans taping local games. The descent was filmed by 16 different cameras. Only a handful of meteorite falls have been caught on film, and only the 2013 Russian meteor event was captured from more angles and localities. The multiple perspectives provided scientists with the ability to calculate the meteorite's flight path to Earth.
Impact
After having been slowed by the Earth's atmosphere, the meteorite was traveling at approximately {{convert|164|mph}} at impact. The Peekskill meteorite smashed through the trunk of a red 1980 Chevrolet Malibu{{cite web|title=Peekskill Meteorite: Top 10 Meteorites|url=http://science.discovery.com/top-ten/2009/meteors/meteors-08.html|publisher=Discovery}} and narrowly missed the gas tank, finally coming to rest in an impact pit beneath the car. Seventeen-year-old Michelle Knapp,Gannett Suburban Newspaper Oct. 10, 11, 13, 1992 the car's owner, heard the collision from inside her home. She later described the sound as "like a three-car crash". Hurrying outside to investigate the noise, Knapp found her car smashed and the meteorite weighing {{convert|27.28|lb}},Nature magazine Vol. 367, Feb. 1994 still warm and smelling of sulfur, beneath it.
Specimens
Knapp retrieved the meteorite, after which it was sold to a consortium of three dealers for $50,000.{{cite web|last=Langheinrich|first=R.A|title=The Peekskill Meteorite Car|url=http://www.nyrockman.com/peekskill.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627051828/http://www.nyrockman.com/peekskill.htm|archive-date=2012-06-27}} Today, small specimens of the Peekskill meteorite sell for approximately $125 per gram.
Knapp had just purchased the car for $300. Immediately following the extraterrestrial impact, the vehicle was sold to Iris Lang, wife of renowned meteorite collector and dealer Al Lang, for $25,000. Since then, it has been on display in numerous museums throughout the world, including New York City's American Museum of Natural History and France's National Museum of Natural History.{{cite web|title=Meteorite People|url=http://www.meteorite-times.com/Back_Links/2003/July/Meteorite_People.htm|publisher=Meteorite Times Magazine}}
The car, as well as the main mass of the meteorite (which currently weighs 890 grams), are now in the Macovich Collection of Meteorites.{{Cite web|url=http://www.macovich.com/|title=Macovich|website=www.macovich.com}} Additional specimens of the meteorite can be found in Chicago's Field Museum, the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, and Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.{{cite web|title=The Peekskill Meteorite: A Stellar Visitor with a Hollywood Twist|date=30 July 2023 |url=https://visitpeekskill.com/what-landed-in-peekskill-new-york-on-october-9-1992/peekskill|publisher=Visit Peekskill}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|33em}}
External links
- [http://meteoritecar.com/ Peekskill Meteorite Car Official Website]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120627051828/http://www.nyrockman.com/peekskill.htm More about the meteorite]
- {{APOD |date=19 November 2006 |title=Photo of the car and meteorite}}
- [http://www.macovich.com/index.html The Macovich Collection of Meteorites]
- [http://science.discovery.com/top-ten/2009/meteors/meteors-08.html One of Discovery's Top 10 Meteorites]
All in French.
- [http://fireball.meteorite.free.fr/1992_10_09/Video/video_peekskill.html All 16 Videos of the Peekskill Meteorite's sightings]
- [http://fireball.meteorite.free.fr/1992_10_09/Photo/photo_peekskill.html Five photos of the Peekskill Meteorite's sightings]
- [http://fireball.meteorite.free.fr/1992_10_09/Description/description_peekskill.html Detailed Description]
{{Meteorites by name}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peekskill Meteorite}}
Category:1992 in the United States
Category:Meteorites found in the United States
Category:1992 in New York (state)
Category:Asteroidal achondrites
Category:Geology of New York (state)