A meteorite fell onto the balcony of a house in the suburbs of Matera, a picturesque ancient stone city in southern Italy, on February 14.
“This object, moving at a speed of about 322 km/h, was spotted in the skies over the Puglia and Basilicata regions on February 14, before landing on the balcony of brothers Gianfranco and Pino Losignore. This led to it being dubbed the ‘fireball of Valentine’s Day,’ according to the Guardian.
Meteorite fragments in Matera. (Photo: Gianfranco Lossignore/ Guardian).
Initially, the brothers did not recognize the meteorite. They were checking solar panels at home when they noticed, three days later, that one panel was damaged and gray fragments were scattered across the balcony.
“I was not home when it happened, but my mother was in the basement at the time and heard a loud bang. She was worried but it was quite a windy day, so she thought it might be a branch. We never imagined it was a meteorite,” Gianfranco said.
So far, over 70 grams of fragments have been collected for study, and they will later be displayed in a museum. They will undergo detailed analysis to determine their chemical composition and mineral characteristics for classification, News Italy reported.
Carmelo Falco, a representative of Prisma – a project run by the Italian Institute of Astrophysics, stated that while many meteorites hit Earth, what is rare about the incident in Matera is that the meteorite fell onto a clean surface, thus avoiding contamination. Additionally, it is also uncommon for a meteorite to land in an area where its fragments can be easily collected.
Describing the meteorite fragments, Mr. Falco noted that they are very soft, resembling sand and are pure. “It’s almost as if we collected it directly from space,” he said.
Domenico Bennardi, the Mayor of Matera, a city known for its cave dwellings carved from limestone, remarked that this discovery has stirred a lot of emotions among the people.
“It’s unbelievable that rocks from space have now fallen into the city of stone,” he said.
