Albareto (meteorite)

Albareto
Type Chondrite
Class Ordinary chondrite
Group L/LL4
Country Italy
Region Emilia-Romagna
Coordinates 44°39′N 11°01′E / 44.650°N 11.017°E / 44.650; 11.017Coordinates: 44°39′N 11°01′E / 44.650°N 11.017°E / 44.650; 11.017[1]
Observed fall Yes
Fall date July 1766
TKW 2 kg

Albareto is a meteorite which in July 1766 fell near the frazione Albareto, of Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. (This town is very often erroneously confused with Albareto in the province of Parma.)

Composition and classification

Albareto is a transitional ordinary chondrite between the L and the LL group. It belongs to the petrologic type 4.

History

The fall of the Albareto's meteorite is documented in a document "Della caduta di un sasso dall'aria" of the natural philosopher Domenico Troili.[2] Troili didn't realize the extraterrestrial origin of the object but provided with his treatise one of the first chronicles of the fall of a meteorite.

In addition to describing the phenomenon, Troili carefully examined and noted the meteorite grains of a mineral similar to brass, which he called "marchesita" and that for long was thought to be pyrite (FeS2). In 1862 the German mineralogist Gustav Rose analyzed the composition of this mineral, and determined a different chemical formula: FeS. Rose called this new mineral Troilite in honor of Domenico Troili[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Meteoritical Bulletin Database: Albareto
  2. ↑ From: http://www.gemma.unimore.it/doc/app_meteoriti.pdf
  3. ↑ Gerald Joseph Home McCall, A. J. Bowden, Richard John Howarth, The history of meteoritics and key meteorite collections, Geological Society, 2006, 206–207. ISBN 1-86239-194-7

See also

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