Published: December 22, 2012
Science paper: The Sutter's Mill Meteorite
Philipp Heck, Sr. Director, Negaunee Integrative Research Center; Robert A. Pritzker Curator for Meteoritics and Polar Studies; Head, Robert A. Pritzker Center, Negaunee Integrative Research Center
Robert A. Pritzker Assistant Curator of Meteoritics and Polar Studies Dr. Philipp R. Heck is co-author on a paper in the journal Science on the first results of the rare meteorite, Sutter’s Mill. On April 22 a very fast-moving fireball was observed over large parts of California and Nevada. Equivalent to four kilotons of TNT, the fireball was photographed, and recorded by video and by weather Doppler-radars. The photographs and videos helped to trace back its orbit to the far reaches of the outer part of the asteroid belt. The Sutter’s Mill meteorite was scrutinized by almost the entire arsenal of observational and analytical state-of-the-art tools available to scientists today.
