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Historical Meteorites |
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Historical Meteorites |
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| What do meteorites and mailboxes have in common? Other than meteorites often being delivered to collectors in mailboxes, not much, judging by how often a mailbox is hit by a meteorite. The Claxton meteorite is the only known meteorite to have hit a mailbox! It happened on Monday, December 10, 1984. A Vietnam veteran had just stepped outside his mobile home when the whistling sound of the incoming meteorite reminded him of a morter round and a loud bang announced the arrival of a stone L6 rock from space! The rock actually buried itself 28 cm into the earth beneath the mailbox. The meteorite struck with such force that galvanized metal from the mailbox was found in the stone. |
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| Interestngly, one observer a few mles away actually saw the
fireball. It was described as being yellow in color, teardrop in shape, and
-8.0 magnitude. Fragmentation was not noted. |
| On a personal note, I live about an hours drive from Claxton. The people there are friendly and the town is very quite and sedate. There is a rattlesnake roundup there every spring, and the snakes that are caught are milked of their venom for medical purposes to make antivenum. Perhaps, though, Claxton's biggest "claim to fame" is that it is the self-proclaimed "fruitcake capital of the world." Literally tons of fruitcake are baked in a bakery in the middle of town and shipped worldwide during the holiday season. |
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