-Published: Tuesday, October 8, 2019-

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff and wire services

A meteorite found in April in San Carlos has been donated to the Field Museum in Chicago Monday, according to an ABC News report.

Terry Boudreaux, a prolific meteor hunter, said when he got the opportunity to purchase the largest piece of this meteorite that landed in Costa Rica, he jumped at the opportunity, the report said.

"The only thing I wanted to do with this meteorite was getting it to the Field," Boudreaux was quoted as saying. "At no point was  I going to put it in my collection. it is too important to the science."

According to ABC News, while meteorites are fairly common occurrences, the meteorite donated to the museum is unique.

"This type of meteorite is sometimes called a cosmic mud ball meteorite because it made of mainly clay and is rich in a variety of organic materials as well the building blocks of life," said Philipp Heck of the museum.  Boudreaux has donated meteorites to the museum in the past.

The last time a similar meteorite struck Earth was in Australia back in 1969, said the ABC report.  Scientists will now study and cryogenically freeze the meteorite in liquid nitrogen in order to preserve it.

Found in a Costa Rican farm field in late April and preserved before the rainy season began, this meteorite was exposed to very little Earth-born contamination, said the news report.

The various unique materials and age of the meteorite will help give scientists a better understanding of not only the origins of life on Earth but of the universe as well, said the ABC report.

The report did not mention the amount paid for the unique rock.

As A.M. Costa Rica reported at the time, the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica said that at 09:08 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, the webcams located near two volcanoes, “caught a strong flash of light that illuminated the craters of the Poás* and Turrialba* volcanoes.” Subsequently, many testimonies, photos, and videos began to be published on social networks about a possible meteorite strike in the area.

Among the testimonies was that of a woman, who lives in the community of La Caporal de Aguas Zarcas in San Carlos*, who states that the meteorite fell on her house.

The woman has requested privacy however, according to her testimony published on social networks, she was holding a rock that was larger than the size of her hand.

"I was in the living room watching TV when I heard a very strange noise. I cannot explain what that sound was like. Then I heard something like a loud explosion in the back of my house. I went to see what had happened and saw a hole in the ceiling. I got scared and called my son and my dad. Then we went to see what had happened and that was when I found a stone that had fallen and was between some tables. The rock was still hot," said the woman.

According to the woman, her son had told her that the rock was a meteorite.

The woman called the police of the station of Aguas Zarcas to report what had happened. Also, she said that she also called the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory to report the meteorite's fall.

"They told me they wanted to keep the stone," said the woman.

According to U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Field Center, a meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon.

When the object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate that energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star or falling star.

Astronomers call the brightest examples bolides. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an impact crater.

The ABC report video can be reached at its site*.


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Should the meteorite have been donates to a Costa Rican museum?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com

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