Found: 6 May 2017 Fall: around 200000 years Coordinates 2575442 / 1219631, Official meteorite name: TW 896 20 x 5 x 7 cm 404 gm Provenance: Swiss private collection, from the finder About 200000 years ago, a tremendous spectacle must have taken place in the sky above the Twannberg and the adjacent Jura heights. Chunks of iron rained down in rough quantities. Today it is considered certain that the asteroid measured 4 to 20 meters in diameter before the explosion and weighed at least 250 tons. Scientists of the Natural History Museum of Bern, the Physics Institute of the University of Bern as well as several private meteorite collectors have explored the Twannberg strewn field in the last years. The Twannberg strew field, together with Morasko (Poland) or Muonionalusta (northern Sweden), is one of the largest and most important iron strew fields in Europe. In Switzerland the Twannberg meteorite is the largest of eight known meteorites and at the same time the only one from which several fragments are known. Twannberg belongs within the group of iron meteorites to one of the rarest classes. So only six specimens of this iron meteorite type, which is characterized by a very low nickel content and a high phosphorus content, exist worldwide. The piece presented here is one of the most beautiful meteorites from the Twannberg. The graceful shape, the size as well as the stability and consistency of the iron (many Twannberg meteorites are in a rather desolate condition and rust very badly, after 200000 years in the ground) make this piece one of the most important Swiss finds of all time. TWANNBERG METEORIT Twannberg Meteorit Fall: um 200000 Jahre Fund: 6. Mai 2017 Koordinaten 2575442 / 1219631, Offizieller Meteoriten Name: TW 896 20 x 5 x 7 cm 404 gr Provenienz: - Direkt vom Finder - Schweizer Privatsammlung Vor rund 200000 Jahren muss sich ein gewaltiges Schauspiel am Himmel über dem Twannberg und den angrenzenden Jurah?hen ereignet haben. In rauen Mengen hat es Eisenbrocken geregnet. Heute gilt als gesichert, dass der Asteroid vor der Explosion einen Durchmesser von 4 bis 20 Meter mass und mindestens 250 Tonnen wog. Das Twannberg-Streufeld haben Wissenschaftler des Naturhistorischen Museums Bern in der Schweiz, des Physikalischen Instituts der Universit?t Bern sowie etliche private Meteroitensammler:innen in den letzten Jahren gemeinsam erforscht. Jeder gefundene Meteorit wurde penibel erfasst und wissenschaftlich untersucht. Das Twannberg-Streufeld z?hlt zusammen mit Morasko (Polen) oder Muonionalusta (Nordschweden) zu einem der gr?ssten und bedeutendsten Eisen-Streufelder Europas. In der Schweiz ist der Twannberg Meteorit der gr?sste von acht bekannten Meteoriten und zugleich der einzige, von dem mehrere Fragmente bekannt sind. Twannberg geh?rt innerhalb der Gruppe der Eisenmeteoriten zu einer der seltensten Klassen. So existieren von diesem Eisen-Meteoritentyp, der sich durch einen sehr geringen Nickelanteil und einen hohen Phosphorgehalt auszeichnet, weltweit nur gerade sechs Exemplare. Im Mai 1984 fand die B?uerin Margrit Christen beim Pflügen auf einem Feld einen auff?llig schweren Stein und damit das erste Fragment des Twannberg Meteoriten. 2001 entdeckte der Antikm?belh?ndler Marc Jost eine zweite Masse auf dem Dachboden eines alten Hauses in Twann. Dessen Fund wurde vom Experten des Naturhistorischen Museums in Bern, Beda A. Hofmann als Meteorit best?tigt. In den folgenden Jahren fand eine regelrechte "Jagd nach dem verlorenen Schatz" statt. Der Hartn?ckigkeit und Neugierde dieser bunt gemischten Forschercrew ist die unglaubliche Entdeckung des Twannberg-Meteoriten zu verdanken. Das hier pr?sentierte Stück ist einer der sch?nsten Meteoriten vom Twannberg. Die anmutige Form, die Gr?sse sowie die Stabilit?t und Konsistenz des Eisens (viele Twannberg Meteorite sind in einem eher desolaten Zustand und rosten sehr stark, nach 200000 Jahren in der Erde) machen dieses Stück zu einem der wichtigsten Schweizer Funde aller Zeiten.
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