A bright red fireball and detonations heralded the fall of the Jilin meteorite (also called Kirin) over rural China on March 8. 1976. Over 4 tons of stones fell, including the largest known stony meteorite mass ever recorded. It was classified as an H5 chondrite.
Refer to the photo. The black centimeter cube is shown for scale and is not included. You are purchasing a small fragment like the one shown. Your purchase will include a labeled gemjar for safe storage.
From the Meteoritical Bulletin entry on Jilin :
THE FALL OF THE KIRIN, CHINA, STONY METEORITE
Name: KIRIN
Place of fall: Northern part of the district of Kirin, Kirin Province, China.
44°00'N., 126°30'E.
Date of fall: 8 March 1976, 1500 hr.
Class and type: Stone. Olivine bronzite chondrite. Total Fe = 28.6 wt %.
Number of individual
specimens:
Very large, 11 masses are individually recorded (see below), largest being of 1770 kg.
Total weight: About 4 tons (metric).
Circumstances of fall: At about 1500 hr on 8 March 1976 a red fireball moving SW was sighted by townspeople of Hsinglung (46°26'N., 127°05'E.). During flight there were several explosions and in the last stages of flight three distinct fireballs were observed. The meteorite fragments were scattered along an E-W trending strewnfield extending from 126°10'E. to 127° 10'E. The largest mass was recovered at 44°03'N., 126°10'E.
Source: Joint Investigating Group of the Kirin Meteorite Shower, Academia Sinica, 1976. A preliminary survey on the Kirin Meteorite shower. See also Mineralogical Abstracts 77, 2037.
Note: This meteorite has also been called JILIN. See Meteorite Research Group etc. 1976. Acta Geol. Sinica, 176-196. Mineralogical Abstracts 77, 3262.
