(H5, S3, W0) Meteoritical Bulletin #95
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Tamdakht 31°09.8′N, 7°00.9′W
Tamdakht, (Ouarzazate) Morocco
Fall: 20 December 2008, 22:37 hrs (local time; UT+00)
Ordinary chondrite (H5)
History (H. Chennaoui-Aoudjehane): On December 20, 2008, witnesses from a number of locations in Morocco (Agadir, Marrakesh, Ouarzazate) observed a meteor with a W to E trajectory. According to the local newspaper, Al Massae (of December 27th), people from the high Atlas Mountains (between Marrakesh and Ouazazate) heard a sound and felt an aftershock. Due to the high relief in this mountain region, covered with snow at this time of the year, searching for the meteorite was a difficult task. The first reports on finding pieces of a meteorite came a couple of weeks later. The largest impact pit is located near Oued Aachir (1.10 m diameter and 70 cm depth, 31°09.8′N, 7°00.9′W), with a stone exceeding 30 kg and many small fragments. A second one is smaller, (about 20 cm diameter and 10 cm depth; 31°09.9′N 07°02.3′W) located 2 km W from the first one; the main mass from the second impact was probably about 500 g. Nine new impacts coordinates have been reported by S. Buhl and M. Aid, and P. Thomas reported 3 other impacts. A strewn field of at least 25 km long and 2 km wide has been outlined.
Physical characteristics: Total weight is presently estimated to be 100 kg. Pieces recovered as of February 15, 2009, are 30 kg, 1.5 kg, 3.8 kg, 3.69 kg, 2.4 kg, 1.5 kg, 1 kg, 800 g, and 399 g. One major fragment of 1.7 kg and many small pieces from the same stone (ranging 500 to below 1 g) were also recovered. The largest fragment shows a nearly complete dull gray fusion crust, other pieces are 90% crusted to free of crust, often broken along preexisting fractures. Thick fusion crust, locally more than 1 mm.
Petrography (Albert Jambon, Omar Boudouma, D. Badia UPVI and M. Denise, MNHNP): Abundant chondrules with visible but not well-delimited outlines. Chondrule size is 0.1 to 1.5 mm. Dominant olivine and orthopyroxene. Abundant chromite, rare clinopyroxene and ilmenite. Numerous pockets with chromite, plagioclase and phosphate (merrilite and Cl-apatite). Kamacite, with deformed Neumann bands, and taenite, twinned troilite. Copper. Mode: metal+troilite 10%.
Mineral compositions and geochemistry: log χ = 5.3. Olivine Fa18 ± 0.5 Opx = En83 Fs16 Wo2 Minor calcic pyroxene. Plagioclase is Ab83–86 An5–15 Or7–2. Ca-phosphate (merrillite and Cl-apatite). Chromite: Cr# (100× molar Cr/[Cr + Al]) = 82. Metal: kamacite with 5% Ni and taenite with 36–47% Ni. Oxygen isotopes (C. Suavet, J. Gattacecca CEREGE): δ17O = 3.26‰, δ18O = 5.01‰, and Δ17O = 0.65‰. Magnetic susceptibility is log χ = 5.3 × 10–9 m3/kg.
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Un corps mystérieux a éclairé le ciel de Marrakech puis s’est écrasé dans la montagne en provoquant un léger tremblement de terre
Les habitants pensent que c’est un corps extraterrestre alors qu' un chercheur en astronomie réfute cette idée
Une boule de feu est apparue dans la nuit éclairant le ciel aux alentours de la ville de Marrakech, et se déplaçait selon une trajectoire horizontale. Elle est allée vers la zone d’Ait Ourir et Tahanoute avant de s’écraser sur la montagne dans la région de Loukaimden provoquant une explosion qui a secoué le sol.
Cette scène n’est pas extraite d’un film de science fiction, mais bien la scène qui s’était déroulée la nuit de samedi dernier, provoquant un état de panique au sein de la population qui y avait assisté.
Selon des sources concordantes des communes de Ait Ourir et Tahanoute, on raconte qu’aux alentours de 22h37 la nuit de samedi dernier, un flash de lumière blanche a traversé le ciel de la région pour finir sa course sur une montagne qui se situe entre les deux régions de Tahanoute et Loukaimden.
Ces mêmes sources ont ajouté qu’au moment de la collision, une déflagration semblable au grondement du tonnerre a été entendue suivie d’une légère secousse sismique.
Un témoin de Tahanoute, travaillant comme gardien de nuit dans un des vergers d’Ait Ourir, a décrit le corps étranger comme étant un avion qui brûlait en se référant au bruit provoqué par l’objet lors de son passage au dessus de sa tête. Selon lui, la course de l’objet dans le ciel a duré près de 3 minutes avant que celui-ci ne disparaisse en direction de la commune de Tahanoute.
Pour un autre témoin de Tahanoute l’objet mystérieux est décrit comme une boule de feu qui ressemble à «un météore», il a précisé que celle-ci illuminait les toits des maisons et l’oliveraie de la région de Tahanoute ce qui a semé la panique au sein de la population qui craignait que ce phénomène n’aboutisse à une catastrophe surtout après avoir entendu le bruit terrible et senti un léger tremblement de terre au moment de l’impact.
Aucun témoin n’a pu donner l’endroit exact de la collision, ni ce que pourrait provoquer une telle chute dans la montagne comme dégâts sur les environs, cependant ces mêmes sources disent ne pas avoir vu de fumée ni d’incendie après le choc.
En l’absence de toute source officielle qui pourrait confirmer ou infirmer un tel incident, le président des astronomes amateurs du Maroc Abdelhamid Touma, doute fortement que ce phénomène puisse être lié à la chute d’un objet céleste ou météorite venant de l’espace, il a ensuite précisé lors d’une déclaration à «AL MASSAE» qu’une friction entre la terre et un petit corps céleste pourrait provoquer un tel phénomène.
Comme il n’a pas exclu encore que ce corps mystérieux pourrait être un engin volant comme les appareils utilisés pour l’espionnage entre pays, et que les gens aiment à s’imaginer que ce sont des «soucoupes volantes venues d’une autre planète».
A mysterious object illuminated Marrakech's sky, then crashed in the mountain causing a small earthquake
The inhabitants think that it is an extraterrestrial body while a researcher in astronomy refutes this idea
A fireball appeared in the night illuminating the sky in the vicinity of Marrakech, and was moving according to a horizontal trajectory. It went towards the area of Ait Ourir and Tahanoute before crashing on the mountain in the region of Loukaimden causing an explosion, which shook the ground.
This scene is not from a science fiction film, but indeed the scene that had taken place last Saturday night, causing a state of panic among the population, which had attended it.
According to sources of the Communes of Ait Ourir and Tahanoute, It is said that around 22h37 on last Saturday night, a flash of white light crossed the sky of the region to finish its running on a mountain which is located between both regions of Tahanoute and Loukaimden.
These same sources added that at the time of the collision, an explosion similar to the rumbling of the thunder was heard followed by a slight earth tremor. A witness from Tahanoute, working as night watchman in one of the orchards of Ait Ourir, described the foreign body as being a plane, which burned by referring to the noise caused by the object as it passed over his head. According to him, the running of the object in the sky lasted about 3 minutes before this one disappears in the direction of the Commune of Tahanoute.
For another witness of Tahanoute the mysterious object is described as a fireball which looks like " a meteor ", he explained that this one illuminated the roofs of houses and olive grove of the region of Tahanoute what spread panic within the population which was afraid that this phenomenon ends in a disaster especially having heard the terrible and felt noise an earth tremor at the time of the impact.
No witness was able to give the exact place of the collision, either what could provoke such a fall in the mountain as the damages on neighborhood, however these same sources tell not to have seen smoke nor fire after the shock.
In the absence of any official source which could confirm or deny such an incident, the president of the amateur astronomers of Morocco Abdelhamid Touma, doubts strongly that this phenomenon can be bound to the fall of a heavenly object or a meteorite coming from the space, he then clarified during a statement to "AL MASSAE" that a friction between the earth and the small celestial body could provoke such a phenomenon. As he did not still exclude that this mysterious body could be a machine flying as devices used for the espionage between country, and that people like imagining themselves that they are " flying saucers come from another planet ".
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