Paragould meteorite

The Paragould Meteorite on display in Mullins Library at the University of Arkansas in Fayettville, Arkansas

The Paragould Meteorite at 16 by 41 by 24 inches (406 by 1041 by 609 mm) and weighs 816 pounds (370 kg) is the second largest meteorite ever recovered in North America and the largest stony meteorite chondrite. It fell to Earth at approximately 4:08 a.m. on February 17, 1930. The fireball could be seen as far away as Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, and of course, Arkansas. Initially, observers thought it was an airplane crashing. The meteorite split into many pieces. The largest piece was discovered by W. H. Hodges in an 8 foot (2 m) hole on his farm a few miles southwest of Finch, Arkansas, near Paragould. It was then purchased by Harvey H. Nininger, who later sold it to Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. It has been on loan to the University of Arkansas since 1988, first to the University Museum until custody in was transferred to the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Science in November 2003. It was on display in Mullins Library, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville till April 11th, 2008, when it was moved to the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Science building. Two other pieces were found, one weighing 33 kg (presently stored in Washington, D.C.) and another 3.75 kg piece presently resides in New York.

External links

• Newspaper Articles on the Paragould Meteorite
• Article at MeteoriteStudies.com
• Exhibit at the Mullins Library
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