{"id":22118,"date":"2020-05-31T21:16:04","date_gmt":"2020-05-31T19:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karmaka.de\/?p=22118"},"modified":"2020-06-02T15:48:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T13:48:24","slug":"confirmed-meteorite-fall-14-95-kg-h5-on-22-july-2019-near-kauriahi-%e0%a4%95%e0%a5%8c%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%bf%e0%a4%85%e0%a4%b9%e0%a5%80-village-mahadeva-%e0%a4%ae%e0%a4%b9%e0%a4%be%e0%a4%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karmaka.de\/?p=22118","title":{"rendered":"Confirmed meteorite fall (~ 15.152 kg, H5, S2) on 22 July 2019 near Kauriah\u012b (\u0915\u094c\u0930\u093f\u0905\u0939\u0940) village, Mah\u0101d\u0113v\u0101 (\u092e\u0939\u093e\u0926\u0947\u0935\u093e) village area, Kariot panchayat, Laukah\u012b (\u0932\u094c\u0915\u0939\u0940) Block, Madhuban\u012b District, Bihar, India at ~2:30 p.m. IST (~09:30 UTC)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The meteorite in Patna on 23 July 2019. Photo: Bihar Post<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last update: 1 June 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 22 Juli 2019 at around ~09:30 UTC (~2.30 p.m. IST) a meteorite of about 15.152 kg (H5, S2, 27x18x18 cm) was witnessed to fall into the paddy field (near a crossing) of farm owner Ram \u0112kab\u0101la Mandal ( \u0930\u093e\u092e \u090f\u0915\u092c\u093e\u0932 \u092e\u0902\u0921\u0932 ) near the village Kauriah\u012b ( \u0915\u094c\u0930\u093f\u0905\u0939\u0940 ), in the Mah\u0101d\u0113v\u0101 ( \u092e\u0939\u093e\u0926\u0947\u0935\u093e ) village area of the Kariot panchayat in the Laukah\u012b ( \u0932\u094c\u0915\u0939\u0940 ) block in the northern Madhubani (\u092e\u0927\u0941\u092c\u0928\u0940 ) district of the state Bihar in northern India, close to the border to Nepal. The exact fall site was at this location: 26\u00b027’26.98″N, 86\u00b035’01.54″E<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local farmers had been working on the rice fields when they suddenly heard a loud detonation boom and saw a long dust trail in the sky, apparently coming from a north-eastern direction. It wasn’t raining when this incident took place. Before the impact of the meteorite the farmers heard a sound they compared to a low flying helicopter. The actual impact sound was described as a sound a bomb would have made. Some locals near the fall site report having heard two impact sounds. The locals saw a big splash in the paddy field and the subsequent vapour hanging in the air for a short time. Furthermore, they report having smelled a gunpowder-like odour. The laborers who were working in the fields ran away because they were afraid of the meteoroid’s detonation sound, which could be heard in an area of about 5 km around the fall location. The farmers (Rajkumar Prasad, Bihari Yadav and Raj Kumar Khatawe) noticed that something had fallen into a paddy field next to a mud path. Later, about an hour after the fall, they came back and a young farmer from Kauriah\u012b ( \u0915\u094c\u0930\u093f\u0905\u0939\u0940 )\u202c, called Shravan Yadav ( \u0936\u094d\u0930\u0935\u0923 \u092f\u093e\u0926\u0935 ), started digging to retrieve what had fallen into the paddy field. Pradeep Kumar ( \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0926\u0940\u092a \u0915\u0941\u092e\u093e\u0930) and Subhash Kumar (\u0938\u0941\u092d\u093e\u0937 \u0915\u0941\u092e\u093e\u0930) helped him dig. First, they built a shallow oval dam around the impact location so that the approx. 12 centimeter deep water was removed from the fall location and the round 31 centimeter wide impact hole in the soil could be seen. Then the hole was dug out and widened. Finally at a depth of about 107 centimeters the mud-covered meteorite was discovered in the drenched soil, taken out and cleaned with water. The meteorite was apparently still a bit warm when touched. At this time many primarily young locals were present at the fall side witnessing the excavation of the meteorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as information about this unusual incident became known, a crowd of people from the surrounding villages arrived at the fall location to see the stone. Some locals put the stone under a peepal tree and started worshipping it since they perceived it as a miracle of God Shiva. They offered leaves of the bael tree (belpatra), blossoming flowers and milk to the stone. Then one of the locals informed the authorities. The Laukah\u012b police station officer Arvind Kumar, district officer Tripurari Shrivastav, and Laukah\u012b Block head Varun Kumar reached the fall location and decided to confiscate the stone to take it to the police station, apparently against the will of the locals. Later on Monday night, on the order of the Madhubani district magistrate (DM) Sri Shirsat Kapil Ashok, the landlord took the meteorite to the District Treasury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a press conference on 23 July the Madhubani District Magistrate (DM) Shirsat Kapil Ashok presented the meteorite and said that it had been kept at the District Treasury to make sure that it could be analysed later. In the evening of 23 July the meteorite was transferred to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s official residence in Patna where he saw and touched it in his chamber of assembly in front of journalists. Then the meteorite was kept in the Bihar museum in Patna and it was planned to send it, or a fragment of it, to the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Navrangpura, Ahmedabad for analysis. On 25 July Shri Navneet Ranjan and Shri Udhipta Kar (Assistant geologists of the Geological Survey, State Unit, Bihar, Patna) reached Madhubani to get the required information about the meteorite from DM Shirsat Kapil Ashok. On 25-26 July they visited the fall site to measure the exact GPS coordinates of the fall location and the depth at which the meteorite was found. Furthermore, they talked to local people who had witnessed the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 14 August 2019 the meteorite was officially presented as an exhibit in the Bihar Museum by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The three farmers (R\u0101jakum\u0101ra Pras\u0101da (\u0930\u093e\u091c\u0915\u0941\u092e\u093e\u0930 \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0938\u093e\u0926), Bih\u0101r\u012b Y\u0101dava (\u092c\u093f\u0939\u093e\u0930\u0940 \u092f\u093e\u0926\u0935) and R\u0101jakum\u0101ra Khatav\u0113 (\u0930\u093e\u091c\u0915\u0941\u092e\u093e\u0930 \u0916\u0924\u0935\u0947)) who witnessed the meteorite fall were officially honoured. The meteorite was classified by PRL’s D. K. Panda and A. D. Shukla and officially registered as witnessed fall Mahadeva<\/strong><\/a> in the Meteoritical Bulletin database on 31 May 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The exact fall location in the paddy field southwest of Kauriahi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The recovery of the meteorite in the paddy field<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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