A meteorite found in the Gibeon area in south-central Namibia is currently a major attraction in Noordwijk on the coast of the Netherlands. The 240-kilogram extraterrestrial chunk of iron will be auctioned off at the end of August. The Mercurius Observatory in Dordrecht plans to use the proceeds to build a planetarium.
It is the largest iron meteorite ever to go under the hammer. This is one of the reasons why bids of up to one million euros are expected (see report in Dutch News). Until the auction, the 'Gibeon meteorite' can not only be viewed at the 'Space Expo' centre in Noordwijk, but can even be touched.
In Windhoek, visitors have the opportunity to do so every day. More than a dozen Gibeon meteorites are installed on metal pedestals in the pedestrian passage of the Post Street Mall.
They originally came from an asteroid that orbited between Mars and Jupiter billions of years ago. A collision resulted in a fragment weighing at least 26 tonnes (see article by the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting).
This fragment crashed into Earth between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago. As it fell through the Earth's atmosphere, it broke into thousands of pieces. They fell into an area 390 km long and 120 km wide around what is now the town of Gibeon. Their age has been dated to four billion years (see article from Wikipedia and information on MeteoriteMarket.com.
The Nama, who settled in the area in the 18th century, used the iron fragments to make tools and weapons. In 1836, British Captain James Edward Alexander sent a few samples to London. There, their extraterrestrial origin was first determined.
From 1911 to 1913, during the German colonial period, experts collected 33 fragments around Gibeon and brought them to Windhoek. The smallest meteorite chunk weighed 195 kg, the heaviest 506 kg.
They were temporarily exhibited in a pile at the Zoo Park. After Namibia gained independence in 1990 and the city centre was redesigned, they became an attraction in the Post Street Mall. Since then, unknown persons have removed four meteorites from their metal mountings and stolen them.
Several 'Gibeon meteorites' were exported abroad before Namibia imposed an export ban in 2004. The meteorite now on display in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, was acquired by the Mercurius Observatory Dordrecht in 2004 from the Southwest Meteorite Laboratory in Arizona.
The auction will take place on 30 August and will begin at 1 p.m. CEST.
Sven-Eric Stender