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The Nakhla Meteorite

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The Nakhla Meteorite
Copyright 1996 Fotosmith

Meteorite: Nakhla
Location: Nakhla, Abu Hommos, Alexandria, Egypt
Fell: June 28, 1911, 09:00
Type: Nakhlite (SNC)

A rain of 40 stones fell from the sky in 1911 near Nakhla in Egypt. The falls were preceded by an appearance of a cloud and detonations, frightening local residents. There is an eyewitness account that one of the fragments hit a dog. Efforts to substantiate the validity of the dog story almost a century later have been unsuccessful thus far, though the story hasn't been disproven either. The stones from this meteorite fall ranged in size from 20g to 1813g, and it is estimated a total weight of 10kg (22 pounds) had fallen.

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The Nakhla Meteorite

Nakhla is the signature meteorite for the nakhlite subgroup of the SNC meteorites, of which there are only two other meteorites in the same classification.

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Closeup of a small fragment of the Nakhla Meteorite
Copyright 1995 Ron Baalke

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The Nakhla Meteorite
Copyright Bethany Sciences
New Haven, CT

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The Nakhla Meteorite
Photo courtesy of the New England Meteoritical Services

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Closeup of a small fragment of the Nakhla Meteorite
Copyright 1995 Ron Baalke

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Please direct questions and comments about this home page to
Ron Baalke
Jet Propulsion Lab

ron@jpl.nasa.gov

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