{"id":38227,"date":"2025-05-19T07:14:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T05:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/karmaka.de\/?p=38227"},"modified":"2026-04-22T10:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:01:37","slug":"meteorite-mass-of-11-may-2025-bolide-found-east-of-norseman-in-western-australia-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karmaka.de\/?p=38227","title":{"rendered":"‘Pindarri Punju Puri’ (prov.) meteorites (LL, 1313 g) of 10 May 2025 bolide (21:57:30 UTC) found in ‘Lake Hope’, Shire of Dundas, Goldfields\u2013Esperance, Western Australia, Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last update: 22 April 2026 (10:00 CEST)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 583-gram meteorite (LL ordinary chondrite) with a size “just under a tennis ball” and a “sort of a greeny” interior of the bolide of 10 May 2025 (21:57:30 UTC \/ 5:57:30 a.m. AWST, 11 May 2025) was found by Ravensthorpe police officer and amateur meteorite searcher Marcus Scott on a dry surface area of the partly water covered Lake Hope<\/em>, a salt lake in the western Ngadju Indigenous Protected Area<\/a><\/em> in the western Shire of Dundas, west of Norseman on 17 May 2025 at location 32\u00b033’36.9″S, 120\u00b023’10.2″E<\/a>, which is in the centre of the calculated fall area, published by the Desert Fireball Network. The meteorite was found after only four hours of search on foot. It fragmented into several smaller pieces (blown away mainly from the sky-facing part of the meteorite) on impact while the main fragment (ground-facing part of the mass) caused one small impact pit in the dry salt lake surface. Scott picked the meteorite fragments up with fresh rubber gloves and put them into clip seal bags. He says he found the meteorite “thanks to the very smart people at Curtin Uni that have got the desert fireball system. They posted online their sort of estimated sort of ground of where it fell. And yeah, it was a beautiful day on Saturday so I went for a walk.” The Desert Fireball Network had created a map of the calculated possible fall area and published it online on 11 May 2025. The bolide’s trajectory, the dark flight trajectory and the possible impact location had been calculated by experts from Curtin University\u2019s Desert Fireball Network. DFN’s Dr Eleanor Sansom and Dr Hadrien Devillepoix were actually flying above the impact site during their first aerial reconnaissance mission at the moment when Scott found the meteorite on 17 May 2025. They learned about the find from the media on 18 May 2025. They had also spotted two additional potential fall sites which could be less than two kilometres away (within the calculated fall area) from the site where Scott found his mass. The approximately nine-second luminous trail of the bolide, travelling south at a very shallow angle, revealed several flares or fragmentation events. It reportedly extinguished at an altitude of about 26 km. The meteoroid is reported to have had an unusual pre-atmospheric orbit in the inner solar system. A few days later Dr Hadrien Devillepoix and other researchers from Curtin University went back to the predicted fall area and found two additional meteorite masses within the calculated fall area, the first one (Lake Hope #2) weighing 368 grams at location 32\u00b032’59.7″S, 120\u00b024’03.4″E<\/a>. The second meteorite of the day (Lake Hope #3), a fully fusion-crusted 362-gram specimen, was found at location 32\u00b032’46.2″S, 120\u00b024’00.8″E<\/a><\/a>, about 423 metres south of the fall site of Lake Hope #2 and 2.05 kilometres northeast of the fall location of Scott’s find (Lake Hope #1). On impact the two new finds both sank deeper into the lake bed (~ 10-15 cm) than the meteorite found by Scott, most likely because the sand was softer and wetter. Shortly after the fall we mentioned that we would appreciate having this meteorite fall registered in the MetSoc Bulletin under an indigenous Ngadju place name for the ‘Lake Hope’ area to honor the Ngadju language which is severely endangered to become extinct. With great pleasure we learned that on 1 July 2025 it was announced by the DFN that this meteorite fall will be given the indigeneous name ‘Pindarri Punju Puri’. The meteorites have been analysed and classified as LL chondrites at Curtin University’s Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC) and at Monash University, as published on the DFN website on 10 June 2025. It is planned to have them publicly exhibited at the WA Museum in the future. Congratulation to Marcus Scott and DFN on their discoveries! A fragment of the first found meteorite mass has been on display at Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip\u2019s Origins Gallery in Perth since the 28th week of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fall locations of the three Pindarri Punju Puri meteorites in Lake Hope. Image: karmaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First find (17 May 2025, 582 grams)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The meteorite’s main fragment in its impact pit surrounded by some smaller fragments. Photo: Marcus Scott<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The meteorite’s main fragment in its impact pit surrounded by some smaller fragments. The mass fragmented into several pieces on impact. Photo: Marcus Scott<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The meteorite in its impact pit. Photo: Marcus Scott<\/p>\n\n\n

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Impact pit after removal of the meteorite main fragment. Photo: Marcus Scott<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meteorite fragments at the impact location on the salt lake surface. Photo: Marcus Scott<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meteorite fragments at the impact location on the salt lake surface. Photo: Marcus Scott<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The impact pit on 21 May 2025. Photo: Curtin University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marcus Scott presenting six larger fragments of his find to colleagues. Photo: Marcus Scott\/Ravensthorpe Police (19 May 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n

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The calculated possible fall area (50km\u00b2), as published by the Desert Fireball Network on 11 or 12 May 2025. (KML file download<\/strong><\/a>) Image: DFN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Second find (21 May 2025, 368 grams)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cleaned fusion-crusted second ‘Pindarri Punju Puri’ meteorite. Photo: DFN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cleaned fusion-crusted second ‘Pindarri Punju Puri’ meteorite. Photo: DFN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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