Excitement, fragments as ‘junk’ meteorite lights up Eastern Cape sky

The“space junk” that fell over the Eastern Cape on Sunday morning has been identified as a meteorite. Scientists from Wits University and Nelson Mandela University (NMMU) closely monitored the event, including media and online reports of so-called “space debris” that entered the Earth’s atmosphere between 8:30 and 9am.

Eyewitnesses saw, and some took videos of, a streak of bright light in the sky over St Francis Bay. What some speculated might be space junk from a satellite seems to have entered the atmosphere at a relatively low trajectory, breaking up as it burnt up.

The captain of a whale-watching boat reported seeing objects splashing into the ocean off Cape St Francis.

Professor Roger Gibson from the Wits School of Geosciences said: “Based on scientific assessment, the incident is consistent with a rocky asteroid about the size of a car entering Earth’s atmosphere at very high speed.

Friction with the atmosphere created a spectacular fireball and caused it to break up in flight.”

“We have reports that someone has found several fragments of a meteorite near Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape, over 100 km from Cape St Francis. This may indicate an exceptional fall area.”

Wits University is one of a few internationally-accredited repositories for meteorites in South Africa. Gibson and his colleagues keep a close watch on meteorite finds and falls in the country. The last meteor fall in South Africa occurred in Lichtenburg in 1973.

“Meteorites are rare and hold deep scientific value as they give us a glimpse of the make-up and birth of our solar system, so it is extremely important for us to track, trace and find possible meteorites that may have fallen in our country,” said Gibson.

“The way they interact with Earth’s atmosphere is also important as they pose a potential threat.”

Only 51 meteorites have been documented in South Africa, and only 22 meteorite falls have been recorded.

Gibson and Wits colleagues Professor Lew Ashwal and Dr Leo Vonopartis, together with Dr Carla Dodd from the Department of Geosciences at NMMU, are keenly interested to learn more of Sunday’s meteorite fall, and invite anybody who has seen, heard or found anything that they may suspect of being related to the meteorite event to contact them.

“Some people heard its sonic boom as far away as Plettenberg Bay – over 200 km from Gqberha; others felt ground tremors caused by the sonic boom, or actually saw the meteor. We would be extremely interested to hear from any witnesses of this event,” said Gibson.

To the untrained eye, meteorites can look like normal rocks. However, they should have a smooth, glassy black appearance – called the fusion crust – that is formed from the burning of the meteorite as it enters the atmosphere. Many attract a magnet.

The inside of the meteorite will look like a normal rock.

Should pieces of meteorite be found, people should be careful not to destroy or damage them.

“Before you touch it, photograph it on the ground and take several photographs of its environment. Record a GPS pin of where you found it, wrap it into a piece of aluminium foil and place it securely in a zip-lock bag, then contact us to collect it. All of this provides vital scientific information,” said Vonopartis.

Eyewitnesses of the event are invited to contact roger.gibson@wits. ac.za and Leonidas.vonopartis@wits. ac.za

Cape Times