Nakhla Dog Meteorites, Meteorites for Sale, Meteorite

THUATHE
(too-wa-tea)
H4, very high metal
Fell on July 21, 2002
Thuathe, Lesotho, South Africa

Incredibly this meteorite fell on the same day only a few hours apart from Kilabo, an LL6. About 27 kilograms is projected to be the Total Known Weight with stones varying in size from 2 grams up to the main mass weight of 2,387 grams recovered. It was reported to the Meteoritical Society and the official name of Thuathe has been assigned. It is an H4 ordinary chondrite with a not so ordinary story.

Malineo Mantsoe of IIa Sofonia describes her experience: When the loud noise occurred overhead, she ran to the back of her dwelling expecting to see a thunderstorm, but there was none. She came to the front, just in time to hear wheeee-bang as a stone fell into her cooking area just in front of her, cracking one of her water carriers. No villager could have thrown a stone so fast in daylight, and it must have been a truly powerful tikoloske* to have done such a thing in broad daylight! Fortunately she was prepared for such occasions, because she had a supply of holy water blessed in church. She sprinkled it on the stone and elsewhere around her cooking area and house, and it worked! No more stones fell.

In other villages the locals were disgusted that black stones were falling out of the sky because one almost hit somebody in Ha Motloang. They picked up the stones and threw them as far away as they could to get them out of their villages. Once they overcame their superstitions regarding this meteorite and realized they were worth something, hundreds began to search for them.

*A tikoloske is an evil little gremlin that is only prevented from climbing up your bed's legs by placing them on something off the floor!

Dr. David Ambrose was a scientist teaching nearby that responded immediately to the fall, recording every detail imaginable: size, weight, characteristics, conditions of the finds, who found them, you name it. This is one of the best documented falls in history.

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