The Treysa Meteorite, also known as the Rommershausen Meteorite (both Treysa and Rommershausen are districts of
Schwalmstadt
Schwalmstadt is the largest town in the Schwalm-Eder district, in northern Hesse, Germany. It was established only in 1970 with the amalgamation of the towns of Treysa and Ziegenhain together with some outlying villages to form the town of Schwal ...
), is an astronomical relic found in a wooded area near the Rommershausen district of
Schwalmstadt
Schwalmstadt is the largest town in the Schwalm-Eder district, in northern Hesse, Germany. It was established only in 1970 with the amalgamation of the towns of Treysa and Ziegenhain together with some outlying villages to form the town of Schwal ...
in northern
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
, Germany. The
meteorite made German astronomical history as one of the most significant confirmed meteorite collisions of recent history. It is classified as a medium
octahedrite
Octahedrites are the most common structural class of iron meteorites. The structures occur because the meteoric iron has a certain nickel concentration that leads to the exsolution of kamacite out of taenite while cooling.
Structure
Octahedr ...
of the IIIB chemical class and shows
Widmanstätten pattern
Widmanstätten patterns, also known as Thomson structures, are figures of long nickel–iron crystals, found in the octahedrite iron meteorites and some pallasites. They consist of a fine interleaving of kamacite and taenite bands or ribbons ...
s.
History of recovery
On 3 April 1916 at 15:30, eyewitnesses reported a detonation like a clap of thunder and a cloud of smoke. This light-and-sound phenomenon was caused by a meteorite crashing onto the earth in a wooded area near Rommershausen.
Based on the eyewitness accounts,
Alfred Wegener
Alfred Lothar Wegener (; ; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher.
During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and ...
calculated the trajectory of the meteorite and its likely impact site. In recognition of its scientific relevance, 300
Reichsmark
The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...
were offered as a reward to the finder, and it was indeed eventually discovered near the calculated site. The forester Hupmann managed to locate it on 5 March 1917 in a wooded area near Rommershausen; a one-and-one-half-meter-deep impact crater contained the ,
iron meteorite
Iron meteorites, also known as 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 ...
. It had been only slightly shattered by the impact and was almost completely preserved. The 23 slices and thin-ground sections cut from the meteorite have been studied by various geological and mineralogical research institutes.
Since 1986 a memorial stone placed at the site of impact by the Knüllgebirgsverein, a hiking and nature club named after the
Knüllgebirge mountain range in Hesse, commemorates this cosmic event.
The meteorite is on display at the Mineralogischen Museum
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
(Lahn), and there is a copy at the Museum der Schwalm in Ziegenhain. Directions to the meteorite impact location are posted on a path (Ringstrasse) in the Rommershausen forest.
See also
*
Glossary of meteoritics
This is a glossary of terms used in meteoritics, the science of meteorites.
#
* 2 Pallas – an asteroid from the asteroid belt and one of the likely parent bodies of the CR meteorites.
* 4 Vesta – second-largest asteroid in the asteroid b ...
References
Literature
*750 Jahre Rommershausen, Dorfchronik.
*Alfred Wegener: Das detonierende Meteor vom 3. April 1916, 3 1/2 Uhr nachmittags in Kurhessen. 1917. Nachdruck: Elwert, Marburg 2001,
{{coord, 50.9448, N, 9.1614, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Meteorite falls
Meteorites found in Germany