A piece of meteorite illustrates the sky in southern Italy: “Maybe it fell on Molise”

On the evening of March 15 a piece of meteorite weighing one kilogram may have fallen Molis, In the village Demonode of Sand’acabido (IS). This is what the researchers said Red Prisma, bRima Network for Proper Monitoring of Meteors and Atmosphere After analysis, withNational Institute of Astronomy, The “Polite” route through the skies of central-southern Italy.

“From the intersection of the data – reads Prisma Network’s website – the small celestial body entered the atmosphere at an altitude of about 80 km and traveled a total length of 61 km in 5.3 seconds, almost a vertical path of 84, with a final altitude and speed of only 19.8 km and 2.8 km per second, respectively. , Values ​​that support the arrival of a meteorite on the ground are about 1 kg (A meteorite about 8 cm If the density is 3.5 g / cm3) ”concludes the note.

In an interview Ambassador, Professor Daniel Cardiol, First technologistEnough, L ‘National Institute of Astronomy, And the National Coordinator of the Prisma Network spoke about the frequency of celestial bodies falling Italy: “If we think about how comets shoot dust at remaining stars, we can say that it often happens. Contrast with large objects, which are about eight centimeters, very rare. Similar episodes occur once a year in Italy. For us, this is the fourth case in four years. ” The researcher then talked about the importance of meteorites to the INAF and astronomers in general, which is what geologists refer to as geologists or fossils for rock layers. “They are important for exploring the earth and our lives. Most asteroid objects have not changed much since the birth of the solar system. They bring us the primary meaning. The availability of more meteorites allows us to study the evolution of the solar system and to verify the validity of our models. ”

Professor Cardiol then talked about the meteorite that fell on Molise, explaining that it orbited Only. “We have identified a possible part of the fall. It may be fragmentary, but it does not appear from the pictures.” The meteorite piece was first detected by cameras in central-southern Italy, The security of the cameras of astronomy companies is much lower than in other parts of the country. Professor Cardiol is confident that coverage could be extended to more areas, but there is currently a lack of funding to implement this project, which is currently supported by about sixty public, private, schools and philanthropists. “If the network is strengthened – the researcher concludes – we can get even more important results”.