Meteorit Haag: Austria's first Hammerstein presented in the NHM Vienna!

Meteorit Haag: Austria's first Hammerstein presented in the NHM Vienna!

Haag, Österreich - On October 24, 2024, a bright fireball was visible about Lower Austria, which turned out to be a meteorite and in the area of ​​Haag Nieder. A local family discovered fragments of the meteorite, who first hit the roof of their house and then lay in the entrance. These fragments are Austria's first "Hammerstein", a term for meteorites that affect people built by humans, such as vienna.at.

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

unique meteorite -historical importance

The "Haag meteorite" finds its place in "Saal V" of the NHM Vienna, next to the "Kindberg meteorite", which was discovered in November 2020. The "Kindberg meteorite" was the first chondrit fund in Austria since 1977 and weighed 233 grams. The Haag meteorite is also one of the chondrites that are about 4.5 billion years old and was created in the early days of the solar system. Chondrite represent the largest class of meteorites.

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

The development of the meteorite collection

The collection of the NHM, one of the largest worldwide with over 10,300 catalogized objects, takes third place 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 in Hraschina, Croatia, fell and represented the first important meteorites of the collection, as the nhm Vienna explained.

Over the years, the collection has significantly expanded through strategic acquisitions, such as the “second Huss collection of meteorites” from the USA. Under the direction of the curators such as Ludovic Ferrière and Julia Walter-Roszjar, the collection was continuously maintained and expanded, even after the war-related interruptions of research.

The discovery of the HAG meteorite is not only an important geographical find, but also enriches the impressive collection of the NHM Vienna and offers further insights into the history and variety of meteorites of our solar system.