Description
1.26g fragment sold in a box with label/certificate.
A meteorite fell in Esnandes in August 1837. The exact date is unknown, and I have found no local press articles providing a detailed account of the fall; it appears that the same text was simply reprinted by all the newspapers of the time. All that is known is that a farmer who witnessed the fall reported burning his hands when he tried to pick up the meteorite. He also claimed to have “experienced a strong electric shock.” In most cases, meteorites land cold or, at most, lukewarm, so these sensations of thermal shock can likely be attributed to fear. The stone weighed 1.5 kilograms and shattered upon impact. The fragments were subsequently sent to the Natural History Cabinet in Bordeaux and later to the Institut de France in Paris.
A few tens of grams are preserved in museums.
The Esnandes meteorite was initially classified as an H6 chondrite (published as such in Grady) but was later reclassified as an L6 (following research by P. Rochette et al. on a fragment from the British Museum’s collections).
