The probability of finding meteorites weighing up to one kilogram on the ground generated by the so-called ‘midnight meteor’ which lit up the skies of northern Italy on 24 May is considered ‘high’: for this reason, research has officially begun in the Cremona area field by a dozen volunteers led by Daniele Gardiol, national coordinator of the Prisma project, the First Italian Network for the Study of Meteors and the Atmosphere of the National Institute of Astrophysics.
The area to be explored is quite large: in fact, the trajectory of the bolide had an inclination of only 34 degrees with respect to the ground, therefore the area where meteorites in the mass range of 50-1,000 grams can be found is 9 kilometers long and about 500 meters, for a total of 4.5 square kilometers. The eastern half of the town of Sospiro coincides with the search area for 500 gram meteorites, while in the north of the town is the area for 1000 gram meteorites. Towards the Po instead you should find the smallest meteorites. “The area is not easy to explore due to the crops and houses”, explain the Prisma experts. “A much more difficult situation than searching for meteorites in deserts or Antarctica, where the contrast between the meteorite and the ground is greatest”.
Anyone in the Sospiro area should spot a dark stone or a metal fragment a few centimeters in diameter, with rounded edges and a patina similar to soot, must not touch it but photograph it, take note of the GPS coordinates and contact Daniele Gardiol of Inaf directly .
In case of actual discovery, it would be the third Italian meteorite whose orbit is known thanks to Prisma. The first was the Cavezzo meteorite, whose recovery took place in early January 2020, while the second was the Matera meteorite, which fell on the evening of February 14 this year and was recovered shortly after. “Of the approximately 70,000 meteorites recovered on Earth, only 45 know their orbit and until a few years ago, before the Prisma era, Italy was absent from this list”, the experts point out.
Source: Ansa
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