Rocks From Space Picture of the Day
September 7, 2006
A 145 gram Villalbeto de la Peña found by Pierre-Marie PELE in june 2006.
Villalbeto de la Peña
Palencia, Castilla-Leon, Spain
Fell 2004 January 04 16:47 UT
Chondrite (L6)
At about 17:47 P.M. on 2004 January 4, a brilliant fireball of absolute magnitude -18±2 was seen over a large area of Spain. The fireball coursed north-eastward and experienced various explosions along its trajectory. Thundering detonations were heard over a wide area and a long, smoky trail remained visible for nearly 30 minutes. A total mass of ~2.5 kg was recovered. Two specimens (42.03 and 21.76 g) were found by Jose Luis Allende on January 11-12th. From January 23th to February 8th a recovery team collected five specimens (61.78 g, 32.0 g, 126.0 g, 34.7 g and 32.1 g). In addition, a linked second team lead by Javier Garcia-Guinea (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid) found seven specimens in the same area (58.91 g, 38.12 g, 5.83 g, 3.87 g, 185.7 g, 66.31 g, and 119.08 g). Three other individuals recovered a further 7 stones (52.8 g, 51.64 g, 50.23 g, 46.48 g, 33.22 g, 18.28 g, and 11.00 g). On March 10th a nearly complete individual of 1367.6 g was
discovered. All the specimens exhibit a black fusion crust. Classification (Jordi Llorca, Universitat de Barcelona, Ignasi Casanova, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Alan Rubin, UCLA): Olivine Fa=24.2±0.2 mol%, Low-Ca pyroxene Fs=20.3±0.2 mol%, Wo=1.6±0.2 mol%. Shock stage S4; weathering grade W0.. Specimens: type specimen, 42.03 g, and 0.52 kg stone, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales Madrid; 63 g, anonymous collector; 1568 g, anonymous collector.
Photo courtesy of: Pierre Marie PELE (METEOR-CENTER.com)
Author & editor: Michael Johnson (SPACEROCKSINC.com)
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