DENNIS di CICCO (1983) Target Wethersfield - Wethersfield meteorite: The odds were astronomical (Sky & Telescope, 1983 Feb., pp 118-119):
Amateur astronomer Phil Dombrowski from the neighboring town of Glastonbury, was among the first astronomically oriented people to talk with the Donahues. He reports that the following took place. After hearing the crash, the Wethersfield couple rushed into the living room and discovered a hole in the ceiling and smoke and plaster dust filling the air. From outside they could see a hole in the roof. Still unaware of what caused the damage and suspecting a fire, they summoned police and fire personnel. About 10 minutes passed between the impact and the discovery of the meteorite under the dining room table, by a fireman who also initially identified its true nature. The stone, weighing just over 2.7 kilograms (almost six pounds), came through the roof and ceiling with such force that before coming to rest it bounced off a carpeted wooden floor; hit the dining room ceiling, dislodging more plaster; struck and overturned a small chair; and dented a wall. News traveled quickly, and by the next morning local newspapers and radio stations were carrying the story. Residents of Wethersfield, who recalled that a meteorite crashed through the roof of a house less than two miles from the Donahue home on April 8, 1971 (see this magazine for June, 1971, page 346), found the 1982 event quite plausible. Some scientists, however, were less inclined to accept immediately the remarkable coincidence. Roy Clarke of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., flew to Connecticut the day after the fall occurred and arranged to borrow the meteorite so that it could be properly analyzed. Although several chips, which broke off the main body on impact, were given to the Smithsonian and local colleges for study, the Donahues requested that the large meteorite not be further damaged. (As of mid-December they had not decided what they would ultimately do with it.) ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
