Searching for a meteorite in the Mazurian wetlands

Last September, the sky over Masuria lit up with a meteor. It was determined that parts of it fell about four kilometers south of the village of Reszel. First attempts to find a space boulder failed. More are planned for the spring.

A meteorite in Masuria fell in a hard-to-reach marshy area. Therefore, finding it will not be easy. Members of the Meteorite Section of the Comet and Meteor Laboratory found outów, whichóers conducted the search for about two weeks starting in mid-September. However, the search did not yield results. According to calculations, in the Mazurian wetlands may lie as much as 10-15 kilogramsóin space matter.

The slow-moving bolide christened PF120916 Piecki (it reached its maximum brightness over Piecki) was recorded by six cameras of the Polish Bolide Network. More exploration expeditions are expected to take off in the spring when the weather improves.

– The area of the meteorite’s fall was determined quite accurately. It has a length of four kilometersów and width of about 200 metersóin and is located less than 4 km south of the town of Reszel. The meteor stopped being visible at an altitude of 26 km. The further course of the flight could only be predicted on the basis of modeling, które strongly depends on the state of the atmosphere, and in particularólarity from the windóIn the winds on the róticular heights. Fortunately, that night the wind blew deepównie in the póNorth-south, and thus in exactly the direction in which the meteor was moving – informed dr. hab. Arkadiusz Olech of the Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences in a message sent to PAP.

The meteorite in Mazury is a great opportunity to study the matter, whichóra can remember the origins of the Solar System.