The largest meteorite lay in a garden in Germany for decades

The largest meteorite lay in a garden in Germany for decades
The largest meteorite lay in a garden in Germany for decades
Anonim

The meteorite was first dug out of the ground by the owners of the site back in 1989 and lay in the garden for decades before the homeowner decided to tell scientists about his unusual "stone".

As a result, after examining the "stone", scientists announced on Wednesday the discovery of the largest known meteorite that fell in Germany.

The unusual find has been stored in a garden in the southwestern German city of Blaubeuren for many years, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) said in a statement.

"The meteorite weighs 30.26 kilograms, making it the largest stone meteorite ever found in Germany," said meteorite expert Dieter Heinlein.

The unusual stone was excavated in 1989 in the garden of a man living in Blaubeuren, a city of about 12,500 people.

While digging up the stone, he noticed how incredibly heavy the boulder was and noted the high iron content in it, but did nothing else. The meteorite then lay in the garden for decades.

"Even a professional would hardly have guessed it was a meteorite when he first saw a heavily weathered boulder," DLR said in a statement.

In 2015, the homeowner nearly ejected a meteorite, but changed his mind at the last second. He kept it in a closet in his basement for several more years before contacting DLR in January of this year.

Tests in three laboratories later confirmed that the weathered garden stone was actually a meteorite. Scientists are now working to find out when he fell to Earth.

Until now, the meteorite, called "Bentullen", bore the title of the largest found in Germany and weighed 17, 25 kilograms.

The recently discovered meteorite was named "Blaubeuren" after the city in which it was found.

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