Žemaitkiemis meteorite is an ordinary chondrite that fell near

Žemaitkiemis Žemaitkiemis (literally: ''Garden of Samogitians'') is a town in Ukmergė district, Lithuania. It is located north-east of Ukmergė Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; pl, Wiłkomierz) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located no ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

at about 8:33 pm on 2 February 1933. Using the argon–argon dating method, scientists have calculated its age to be about 520 million years. The fall was observed by the Koenigsberg Observatory. Since the meteorite fell near inhabited areas during winter, it was rather easy to locate the fragments in the snow. In total, 20 fragments with a combined weight of were collected and donated to the Vytautas Magnus University. The largest pieces weighted . Two other fragments were gifted later – and – to the Institute of Geology and Geography in Vilnius. There were also reports of a fragment found about from Žemaitkiemis in 1938. More pieces likely fell into the or were kept by the locals. The main mass, two largest fragments and 13 other fragments, are held by the Geology Museum of Vilnius University. Other fragments are held by: by the National Museum in Prague, by the Russian Academy of Science, by the

Natural History Museum in London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

, by the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, by the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

in Chicago, by the Geological Survey of Canada, and others. On 14 July 2017, President Dalia Grybauskaitė approved a coat of arms of

that features the meteorite fall.

References

External links

Photo of 5.4 kg fragment

Zemaitkiemis at wiki.Meteoritica.pl (in Polish)

Zemaitkiemis at the Meteoritical Bulletin Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zemaitkiemis February 1933 events 1933 in Lithuania 1933 in science Meteorites found in Lithuania