Top experts to probe EC meteorite fragment

Scientists from Rhodes University, Nelson Mandela Bay University, and the University of Witwatersrand will be joined by researchers and astronomers affiliated with the Astronomical Society of South Africa to investigate the meteorite fall that occurred in that province nearly two weeks ago.

The event, witnessed by residents across a vast area, has led to the recovery of a rare meteorite fragment, which is provisionally named the ‘Nqweba Meteorite’ as the name is yet to be approved by the Meteoritical Society's Nomenclature Committee.

A fragment of the meteorite was discovered by nine-year-old Elize du Toit, who went to pick up a rock which had fallen from the sky and landed next to a fig tree on her grandparents’ farm in Nqweba.

“I was playing ball with my dogs when suddenly there was a rumbling sound that sounded like thunder. Then I saw a rock fall out of the sky, and when I picked it up, I felt that it was still warm. I showed it to my grandmother, and she said it was just a normal rock that fell out of the sky. My mother came. She went on Google and said it could be a meteor,” the girl said in a video distributed by Rhodes University.

The meteorite is believed to be an achondritic meteorite, a rare type within the Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) group.

It weighs less than 90g and has a pre-fragmentation diameter of less than 5cm.

The specimens have a dark black glassy coating (fusion crust) with a light grey interior, peppered with dark-green and light-green grains and clasts. 

Such meteorites provide valuable insights into the inner workings of other planetary bodies, offering scientists a glimpse into processes similar to those that formed Earth's rocks.

According to the joint statement by the three universities, the initial steps of the investigation will involve microscopic and geochemical analysis of the fragment to classify the meteorite fragment and understand its origins. 

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