Whetstone Mountains

H5 chondrite,

Cochise County, Arizona

 

Specimen weight: 130.8 grams

A large fireball was observed in southern Arizona on 23 June, 2009 at 9:22 pm. Loud sonic booms were reported all along the flight path. Jack Schrader found the first stone less than 48 hours after the fall, and I was invited to hunt with him. We found 17 more stones over the next several months of hunting, so as of November 2009, a total of 17 stones and 2,600 grams have been found.

The fall was caught on video from Tucson.

This video is courtesy of spygadgets.com, who caught the fireball from Tucson, over 40 miles (65 km away). You can clearly see the fragmentation, and witnesses close to the impact site reported "dozens" of pieces burning overhead.

 
 
Backside of this amazing flight oriented stone. Note the perfect rollover lip, concave shape and even sharp "spikes" of solidified fusion crust. The silver colored spots are exactly the same deposits seen on some of the Ash Creek Texas meteorite. It seems to be splashed molten sulfide droplets.
 
 
Close-up photo of the flow lines covering every bit of the surface of this meteorite and the spikes of fusion crust extending past the rollover lip.
 

Side profile of this one of a kind meteorite. Note the flow lines extending from the nose all the way to the backside and even the curved indentation with flow following that path.

 

Another side view showing the shape of this piece reminiscent of the early space capsules. The white areas are soil imbedded in the crust from ground impact.

Video of me just after finding the stone, before even looking at the backside. I knew it was oriented, but had no idea just how incredible the stone really was.