Nuevo Mercurio


24° 18' N / 102° 8' W

On the evening of December 15th, 1978 a bright fireball was observed traveling over North Central Mexico. It exploded at a high altitude, raining down hundreds, mostly small stony meteorites onto the desert and rances near the mining town of Nuevo Mercurio (Zacatecas, Mexico ). Only about 300 stones totaling just over 5 kg were collected. This meteorite proved to be very sensitive to weathering and only the stones collected shortly after it fell look fresh. Others that were recovered in the days and weeks following the fall turned a rusty brown.

Nuevo Mercurio is an ordinary chondrite, H5.

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