Wolcott officially registered in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database
Wolcott officially registered in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database
Wolcott 41°36.452’N, 73°0.742’W
Connecticut, United States
Fell: 19 April 2013
Classification: Ordinary chondrite (L5)
History: Shortly after 10 PM on 19 April 2013, a loud boom was heard east to west across southern Connecticut, from Ledyard to Milford. The police departments in Ledyard, Madison, Guilford, Branford, East Haven and Milford received calls from the public reporting the booms. At that time, Lawrence L. Beck, Jr., was watching TV in his home in Wolcott, Connecticut, when he heard a loud noise coming from the attic and saw holes forming in his dining room ceiling. The next day (Saturday, 20 April 2013) Mr. Beck went to the attic to check out what happened, and found a rock split in two, a damaged copper pipe and a hole in the roof. He reported the damage to the Wolcott Police Department. The same day Mr. Beck also contacted John J. Bagioni, a family friend with a background in science. Upon seeing the rock, Mr. Bagioni suggested it might be a meteorite. He also suggested the nature of the rock be checked with the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut. On Monday, April 22, 2013 a Wolcott police officer brought the smaller of the two pieces to the YPMNH where it was confirmed to be an ordinary chondrite. Both pieces were later sold by Mr. Beck to Darryl Pitt of The Macovich Collection who later resold the main mass to the MMGM.
Physical characteristics: The total mass of the meteorite was 838 g. The rock split upon impact in two large pieces and a few small ones; the largest piece weighs 597 g, the smaller one is 221 g. The two large pieces fit together and establish that the piece was completely covered by black fusion crust. Fresh surface is light gray.
Petrography: (Stefan Nicolescu, YPMNH). Composed of sparse, recrystallized chondrules, up to 2.5 mm across (size range: 0.6 – 2.5 mm; average size: 1.0 mm) in fully crystallized silicate matrix interspersed with kamacite, taenite and troilite. Both barred and porphyritic chondrules are present. Feldspar is mostly microcrystalline (<5 μm) with very few large (up to 0.2 mm) crystals in the matrix.
Geochemistry: Mineral compositions and geochemistry: Mineral chemistry by EMP. Olivine (Fa24.2-25.1; N=10), orthopyroxene (Fs20.5-21.4Wo0.9-1.6; N=10), clinopyroxene (Fs7.3-8.2Wo44.8-45.5; N=4), plagioclase (An9.3-11.5Or4.3-6.4; n=10)
Classification: Ordinary chondrite (L5)
Specimens: 20 g, including two polishe-thin sections and one polished mount at YPMNH; the main mass is held by MMGM.
