Mbale

Uganda

Fell 1992 August 14,15:40 local time, 12:40 UTC.

Ordinary chondrite (L5/6)

The fall occurred in a heavily populated area in and around the city Mbale. A loud explosion was heard which persisted for some time as a rumbling noise. For about two minutes a greyish-white smoke trail was seen. A meteorite shower fell over an area of about 3 x 7 km. The stones hit several buildings, but nobody was hurt. An expedition was organized by the Dutch Meteor Society, the Leiden Observatory, and Makerere University between August 29 and September 5; it located 48 impact positions of masses between 27.4 kg and 0.1 g. Together with material found in the months after the fall, 426 stones were recovered with a total mass of 108 kg. Classification and analysis, olivine Fa25.4, pyroxene Fs21.8, A. El Goresy, Max Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany. Information, Peter Jenniskens, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, California 94035, USA; Hans Betlem, Dutch Meteor Society, Lederkarper 4, 2318 NB Leiden, The Netherlands; Thomas Schliiter, Dept. of Geology, Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda. The main mass is with the Dutch Meteor Society, it will later be transferred to the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, The Netherlands. See also Jenniskens et al. (1994).