Slovenian meteorite

Avče meteorite

In the vicinity of Avče on March 31st 1908 at 9am the only Slovenian meteorite has fallen. The event frightened many residents, at the same time it triggered a lively debates at that time newspapers. In first days of the fall, the meteorite was considered as part of a cannon bullet, which flew to Austrian territory from nearby Italy, due that armed police came to retrieve it. Because of that people lived in fear of war, some were of the opinion, that this is the penalty for Avče people, because not many of them voted for clericals. Residents of Kamna Gorica pri Radovljici, who heard scary thunder when the meteor flew by, were afraid of the earthquake. Meteorite had, upon his entry into the atmosphere 50-times bigger mass.

Avče meteorite was 11 centimetres in length, with 1230 grams of weight. Meteorite flew out of the sky, from here follows the old Slovenian word for meteorite, izpodnebnik. It has typical chemical composition, as it contains iron, nickel and trace element. In cross-section burnt crust is revealed, the burnt area and called Neumann lines, which are typical for heksaedri. Today it is stored in Mineralogical-petrographic department of Natural history museum in Wien, where it became one of the most valuable exhibits. The department at the same time stores one of the biggest collections of meteorites in the world. It was bought for 60 crowns.

 

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