Portelândia (prov.) meteorite fall (OC) near Portelândia, Goiás, Brasil at ≲9.30 BRT (≲12.30 UTC) on 17 July 2022

19/07/2022 22:22 · by karmaka · in meteorite, ordinary chondrite, witnessed fall

Last update: 3 August 2022

According to cattle farm owner Josemar Rodrigues (52) from the Santa Luzia farm in the rural zone of Portelândia, Goiás in Brasil a meteorite (an ordinary chondrite (LL?)) fell through the roof of his house at ~9.30 BRT (12.30 UTC) of 17th July 2022. According to our own research the meteorite fell at this location: 17°18’51.27″S, 52°42’55.44″W, 6.15 kilometres northwest of Portelândia. Josemar was watching TV while his wife Andrea Borges was preparing a chicken for lunch. Andrea heard a drone-like noise and then while looking around she heard the impact noise in the kitchen. Josemar initially thought it was the noise of an exploding pan. When he entered the kitchen he found the meteorite fragments and saw the holes in the plastic ceiling, one larger and nine smaller ones. According to Josemar and his video recording the meteorite fell through the roof and then pierced the kitchen plastic ceiling. The meteorite fragmented into at least sixteen fragments on impact on the roof and/or the tiled kitchen floor leaving a small (~3 cm) oval impact dent on a floor tile. The several smaller holes around the main impact hole in the kitchen ceiling suggest that they were either caused by roof fragments or meteorite fragments resulting from the impact on the outer roof surface. The impact hole in the outer roof is ~14 centimetres long. A few smaller fragments could be found through the impact hole via a magnet. The total mass of found fragments so far does apparently not exceed ~160 grams. The Universidade Federal de Jataí (UFJ) estimates a total weight of about 250 grams. The Physics Course of the Universidade Federal de Jataí (UFJ) was contacted by the local press to evaluate social media reports about the meteorite fall. Soon after Thiago Oliveira Lima and Maurício Bolzam of UFJ teamed up with the three ‘meteoriticas’ Maria Elizabeth Zucolotto, Amanda Tosi and Diana Andrade and visited the fall location. They measured the size of the impact hole in the roof and the impact dent on the kitchen floor. Furthermore, they acquired a 18.85-gram fragment of the meteorite for analysis (X-Ray Fluorescence) at the UFJ. No additional meteorite specimens could be found around the farm by the scientists. Further analyses of the meteorite will be performed at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The UFJ will try to be accepted by the Meteoritical Society as official depository of the 18.85-gram fragment. Interviewed local residents did apparently not hear any detonation sounds and didn’t see any bolide.

“O barulho foi semelhante ao de um drone. Aí eu até olhei né fiquei olhando assim procurando para ver se eu vi alguma coisa aí foi quando eu escutei um barulho também na casa” (Andrea Borges)

“Associei que poderia ser a explosão de uma panela, escutei vários estilhaços. Eu já me levantei e vim para cozinha foi quando eu me deparei com as pedras com forro já tá quebrado.” ( Josemar Rodrigues )