The Dhajala meteorite shower

Abstract

Observations of the trail of the Dhajala meteorite, which fell on Jan. 28, 1976, are reported together with results of a preliminary examination of the fragments. The trail was observed over a wide-spread area and had an apparent magnitude of -20. The fallout area was highly elliptical. The size of the 300 fragments, found over an area of about 50 sq km, increased systematically with the distance from the first impact point. Chemical and mineralogical studies indicate that the chondrite belongs to the H group, possibly type 3 or 4. The cosmic ray exposure age is about 7 million years. Cosmic ray density measurements and the activity levels of cosmic ray produced radionuclides suggest that the pre-atmospheric size of the meteoroid was about a meter.