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21st of July, 2002 at 3:49 pm. Explosions were heard and felt over most
of the country of Lesotho and part of south Africa. The day was 80%
clouded and most people were unable to see the fireball, but some saw
the flash and smoke trail through breaks in the clouds. Scientists from
the National university in Roma heard the fall as it passed overhead.
They interviewed students returning from winter break and narrowed the
fall to Western Lesotho or across the Orange river into South Africa.
Then at the middle of August, the local police report was issued for
the month. In it was a story titled "Star falls on Thuathe". It was
police reports about people complaining that someone had thrown stones
at them from out of the sky! The report led the scientists to the
villages where the stones fell and immediately start buying and finding
stones. The total estimated weight recovered is near 45.3 kilograms,
with at least 1000 individuals. Most of the stones weighed in the 2 to
200 gram range and are very metal-rich, with silver metal appearing all
over through the black fusion crust. Most of the stones fell on the top
of the Thuathe Plateau, but many fell below in the valley, raining down
on people's houses and in gardens. The children were very good
meteorite hunters. They found most of the meteorites after the fall.
E-mail Address: meteorites@att.net