The Bendegó Meteorite (also known as Pedra do Bendegó or simply Bendengó) is a

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

found in the interior of the state of

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is the largest

iron meteorite Iron meteorites, also called siderites or ferrous meteorites, are a type of meteorite that consist overwhelmingly of an iron–nickel alloy known as meteoric iron that usually consists of two mineral phases: kamacite and taenite. Most iron me ...

ever found on Brazilian soil, weighing , measuring over in length. It has been on display at the

National Museum of Brazil National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, since 1888. It survived the

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

that destroyed the museum in 2018, sustaining no major damage.''Brazil National Museum fire: Key treasures at risk'' 3 Sep 2018
/ref>

Discovery

The Bendegó meteorite was found in 1784 by the boy Domingos da Motta Botelho, who grazed cattle on a farm near the present town of Monte Santo, Bahia. At the time of its finding, it was the second largest meteorite in the world. Judging from the four-inch layer of

oxidation Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...

upon which it rested, and the lost part of its lower portion, it is estimated that it had been in place for thousands of years.AGUIAR, Durval Vieira. ''Descrição Prática da Província da Bahia'', Salvador 1888

Transport to Museum

News of the finding quickly spread. In 1785, governor D. Rodrigues Menezes arranged for it to be transported to Salvador, however, the meteorite's excessive weight made transportation difficult. The cart it was on ran out of control down a hill and the meteorite fell into a dry stream bed, 180 meters away from the spot where it was originally found. It remained there until 1888, when it was recovered and brought to the National Museum.

First Research

In 1810 the stone was visited by the British mineralogis
Aristides Franklin Mornay
who confirmed that it was a meteorite. With great difficulty he managed to remove some fragments, which were sent to the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

, together with a description of personal observations, to be investigated by the scientist

William Wollaston William Wollaston (; 26 March 165929 October 1724) was an English school teacher, Church of England priest, scholar of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, theologian, and a major Enlightenment era English philosopher. He is remembered today for one book, ...

, who in 1816 published an article about the stone in the scientific journal ''

Philosophical Transactions ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the second journ ...

br>
' In 1820, German naturalists

Spix Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (9 February 1781 – 13 March 1826) was a German natural history, biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. ...

and Martius went to see the meteorite, which was still found on the remains of the cart with which it had fallen down the hill in 1785. After setting fire to the stone for more than 24 hours, they managed to remove some fragments that were taken to Europe, the largest of which was donated to the Munich Museum.

Description and composition

The meteorite is an irregular mass, reminding, in appearance, an

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

. It has numerous depressions on the surface and cylindrical holes oriented parallel to its greater length. These holes were formed by the burning of the

troilite Troilite () is a rare iron sulfide mineral with the simple formula of FeS. It is the iron-rich endmember of the pyrrhotite group. Pyrrhotite has the formula Fe(1−x)S (x = 0 to 0.2) which is iron deficient. As troilite lacks the iron deficiency ...

, during the transatmospheric passage of the meteorite, since the sulfide has a lower melting point than the rest of the meteorite, consuming more quickly. It is a metallic meteorite, consisting basically of iron, with the following elements: 6.6% Ni, 0.47% Co, 0.22% P, and traces of S and C in much smaller quantities, only measured in parts per million. The meteorite has characteristic

Widmanstätten pattern Widmanstätten patterns (), also known as Thomson structures, are figures of long Phase (matter), phases of nickel–iron, found in the octahedrite shapes of iron meteorite crystals and some pallasites. Iron meteorites are very often formed ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

crystals as will as inclusions containing

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...

and

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

.Bendegó
retrieved 24 November 2024.]

External links

Os 10 maiores meteoritos encontrados no Brasil

References