Recovery and curation of the Winchcombe (<scp>CM2</scp>) meteorite
Russell, Sara, King, A, Bates, Helena C, Almeida, Natasha V, Greenwood, Richard C, Daly, Luke, Joy, Katherine H, Rowe, Jim, Salge, T, Smith, Caroline L, M. Grindrod, P, Boazman, S, Bond, L, Bond, V, Casey, C, Dickeson, Z, Ensor, G, Farrelly, S, Godfrey, P, Hallis, LJ, Ihász, MB, Kirk, D, Jackson, L, Lee, MR, Mayne, B, McMullan, S, Mounsey, A, Mounsey, SE, Mounsey, S, Motaghian, S, Naqvi, S, O'Brien, Á, Pickersgill, A, Skilton, D, Spencer, I, Stephen, NR, Suttle, F, Suttle, MD, Tartese, R, Weir, C, Wilcock, Cathryn, Wilcock, Hannah, Wilcock, Rob
Citations
Altmetric:
Advisors
Editors
Other Contributors
Affiliation
EPub Date
Issue Date
2024-05
Submitted Date
2022-06-13
Subject Terms
Collections
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Other Titles
Abstract
Abstract: The Winchcombe meteorite fell on February 28, 2021 and was the first recovered meteorite fall in the UK for 30 years, and the first UK carbonaceous chondrite. The meteorite was widely observed by meteor camera networks, doorbell cameras, and eyewitnesses, and 213.5 g (around 35% of the final recovered mass) was collected quickly—within 12 h—of its fall. It, therefore, represents an opportunity to study very pristine extra‐terrestrial material and requires appropriate careful curation. The meteorite fell in a narrow (600 m across) strewn field ~8.5 km long and oriented approximately east–west, with the largest single fragment at the farthest (east) end in the town of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. Of the total known mass of 602 g, around 525 g is curated at the Natural History Museum, London. A sample analysis plan was devised within a month of the fall to enable scientists in the UK and beyond to quickly access and analyze fresh material. The sample is stored long term in a nitrogen atmosphere glove box. Preliminary macroscopic and electron microscopic examinations show it to be a CM2 chondrite, and despite an early search, no fragile minerals, such as halite, sulfur, etc., were observed.
Citation
Russell, S.S., King, A.J., Bates, H.C., Almeida, N.V., Greenwood, R.C., Daly, L., Joy, K.H., Rowe, J., Salge, T., Smith, C.L., Grindrod, P., Boazman, S., Bond, L., Bond, V., Casey, C., Dickeson, Z., Ensor, G., Farrelly, S., Godfrey, P., Hallis, L.J., Ihász, M.B., Kirk, D., Jackson, L., Lee, M.R., Mayne, B., McMullan, S., Mounsey, A., Mounsey, S.E., Mounsey, S., Motaghian, S., Naqvi, S., O'Brien, Á., Pickersgill, A., Skilton, D., Spencer, I., Stephen, N.R., Suttle, F., Suttle, M.D., Tartese, R., Weir, C., Wilcock, C., Wilcock, H. and Wilcock, R. (2024), Recovery and curation of the Winchcombe (CM2) meteorite. Meteorit Planet Sci, 59: 973-987. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13956
Publisher
Research Unit
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Type
Journal Article
Item Description
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Meteoritics & Planetary Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Meteoritical Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The linked file is the published version of the article.
NHM Repository
NHM Repository
Series/Report no.
ISSN
1086-9379
EISSN
1945-5100