Meteorite Haag: Austria's first Hammerstein presented at the NHM Vienna!

Meteorite Haag: Austria's first Hammerstein presented at the NHM Vienna!

On October 24, 2024, a bright fireball was visible over Lower Austria, which turned out to be a meteorite and fell in the Hague area. A local family discovered fragments of the meteorite that first hit the roof of their house and then lay in the driveway. These fragments are Austria's first "Hammerstein", a term for meteorites that hit man-made structures, as reported by Vienna.at.

In a conversation on December 29, 2024, the head of the mineral collection at the Natural History Museum (NHM) Vienna, Vera Hammer, and the former curator of the meteorite collection, Ludovic Ferrière, informed residents in the precipitation area. During this exchange, the Westermayr family found pieces of meteorites with a total weight of 28.61 grams. Ferrière confirmed that these fragments are indeed pieces of meteorites. After the examination, the fragments were handed over to the “Austria showcase” in the NHM meteorite hall.

Unique meteorite historical significance

The “Hague meteorite” finds its place in “Room V” of the NHM Vienna, next to the “Kindberg meteorite”, which was discovered in November 2020. The “Kindberg meteorite” was the first chondrite find in Austria since 1977 and weighed 233 grams. The Hague meteorite is also one of the chondrites, which are around 4.5 billion years old and were formed in the early days of the solar system. Chondrites are the largest class of meteorites.

The exhibition at the NHM shows the largest meteorite collection in the world with around 1,100 meteorites on display. These do not forget the long history of the collection, which goes back to the time when meteorites were still considered earthly phenomena. Information about the meteorites on display is labeled and the collection is structured so that visitors can move through the classifications of meteorites, from carbonaceous chondrites to iron meteorites, arranged by chemical composition. NHM Vienna informs museum guests about the historical and scientific significance of special meteorites.

The development of the meteorite collection

The NHM's collection, one of the largest in the world with over 10,300 items cataloged, ranks third behind the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo. The compilation dates back to 1751, when two iron masses fell in Hraschina, Croatia, becoming the first significant meteorites in the collection, as the NHM Vienna explains.

Over the years, the collection has expanded significantly through strategic acquisitions, such as the “Second Huss Collection of Meteorites” from the USA. Under the leadership of curators such as Ludovic Ferrière and Julia Walter-Roszjar, the collection was continuously maintained and expanded, even after the research interruptions caused by the war.

The discovery of the Hag meteorite not only represents a significant geographical find, but also enriches the impressive collection of the NHM Vienna and offers further insights into the history and diversity of the meteorites in our solar system.