On March 4th, 1960 at 1:06 a.m., a bright fireball, now know as the Bruderheim Meteorite, tore through Earth's atmosphere above Central Alberta. The meteorite travelled at 42 kilometres per second, its flash witnessed by hundreds of people as far away as the Rocky Mountain region of British Columbia. The giant meteorite detonated, creating a sound shock wave audible over 5,000 square kilometres. The sonic boom rattled windows, shook the foundations of homes, and startled families from their sleep. Shards of the stone rained down just north of Bruderheim, some forming pits as deep as 30 centimetres, many rebounding off the frozen ground and landing on the snow.
Based on eye-witness reports, it is believed that the Bruderheim Meteorite was first observed by Alexis Simon, a resident of the Paul’s Band Indian Reserve at Duffield, Alberta. He noted the north-easterly direction of the rock, its swift speed, and that it looked like it was giving off ‘flashes of fire’. He also described a rushing sound that resembled a high wind and lasted about 5 seconds after the fireball passed.
Hundreds of grit- and pebble-sized fragments of the meteorite were collected from the river ice. Undoubtedly many thousands of small fragments were not seen against the black earth of fields and were plowed under as farmers prepared to seed their crops.
Nearly 700 meteorite fragments were found with a total weight of over 660 pounds—making it the largest recovered fall in Canadian history.
This hard to acquire Bruderheim meteorite piece is a high quality crusted part slice specimen that would make an amazing addition to any new or existing collection. Comes with a Jensen Meteorites and a Canagem Collection specimen cards.
