Copyright - M.Bandli - Historic Meteorites
HARLETON
Fell May 30, 1961 in Harleton, Texas
L6 Chondrite
Collection No. B270.1 - A 16.6 gram fragment with fusion crust.
Provenance: Oscar E. Monnig Collection (Texas Christian University); Steve Arnold (Kansas, USA); The Renate and Michael Buckler Collection (Germany).
Historical Notes: A single 8.36kg stone fell on the property of J. Craver and was recovered only 10 minutes after the fireball. At the time, this was one of the freshest falls ever recovered and was of great interest to many scientific institutions for this very reason. After tough negotiations with the land-owner, the meteorite was finally purchased on behalf of the Smithsonian and delivered to the NMNH on June 14 of the same year. The stone was immediately separated in two pieces via a mechanical jaw. One of the halves was then further crushed generating numerous fragments for distribution to researchers.
Above: A photo of the Harleton meteorite. (Source: Smithsonian Contributions to Earth Sciences, Number 19.)
Above/Below: A large 5mm chondrule popping out of the matrix.
Above: Matching specimen shown in Arthur J. Ehlmann's "The Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Collection" catalog (1996).