FALL OF THE METEORITE IN RAMSDORF, G F R

Name: RAMSDORF

The place of fall or discovery: Township of Ramsdorf, district of Borken, Munster, Westphalia, GFR; φ = 51°3l 'N; λ = 6°56' E of Greenwich.

Date of fall or discovery: FALL, July 26, 1958, 18 hr 30 min.

Class and type: STONY, chondrite.

The number of individual specimens: 1

Total weight: 4.682 kg.

The circumstances of fall or discovery: The meteorite fell from a clear sky and neither light nor percussion phenomena were observed. The fall was accompanied by a noise similar to that of propeller; it started and stopped suddenly. Shortly afterwards children and young people discovered steam rising from a tube-shaped depres­sion in the ground. The following morning the depression was excavated and at a depth of 40 cm. the meteorite was discovered. The depression had an eastward direction and an incline angle of about 30° to the vertical. The children broke the meteorite into five parts which match each other, thus making it possible to reestablish the original shape of the meteorite; it is polyhedral with rounded ribs and regmaglipts visible in places.

SOURCE: R. Mosebach, Der Gesteinsmeteorit von Ramsdorf. Natur und Volk, 88, NO. 10 329-338, 1958 and a letter sent by Prof. S. Hoffmeister to E.L. Krinov on January 26, 1959, and by Prof. E. Preuss on Febr. 13, 1959.