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Concept
Nakhla meteorite
Summary
Nakhla is a Martian meteorite which fell in Egypt in 1911. It was the first meteorite reported from Egypt, the first one to suggest signs of aqueous processes on Mars, and the prototype for Nakhlite type of meteorites.
The Nakhla meteorite fell to Earth on June 28, 1911, at approximately 09:00, in the Abu Hommos district, Alexandria Governorate, Khedivate of Egypt (now Abu Hummus, Beheira Governorate), in the area of the village of El Nakhla El Bahariya. The stones were collected near hamlets of Ezbet Abdalla Zeid, Ezbet Abdel Malek, Ezbet el Askar, and Ezbet Saber Mahdi. Many people witnessed the meteorite approaching from the northwest, inclination about °, along with the track marked with a column of white smoke. Several explosions were heard before it fell to Earth in an area of in diameter, and about forty pieces were recovered; the fragments were buried in the ground up to a metre deep.
From an estimated original weight of , recovered fragments ranged in weight from to .
Two fragments, found near Ezbet Abdel Malek, were presented by the Egyptian Government to the British Museum.
One fragment of the meteorite was said to have landed on a dog, as observed by a farmer named Mohammed Ali Effendi Hakim in the village of Denshal supposedly vaporizing the animal instantly. Since no remains of the dog were recovered and there was no other eyewitness to the dog's demise, this story remains apocryphal. However, the story of the Nakhla dog has become something of a legend among astronomers.
It is the prototypical example of the Nakhlite type meteorite of the SNC Group of Mars meteorites. The meteorite was formed about 1.3 billion years ago at a volcano on Mars.
A number of meteorites thought to have originated from Mars have been catalogued from around the world, including the Nakhlites. These are considered to have been ejected by the impact of another large body colliding with the Martian surface. They then travelled through the Solar System for an unknown period before penetrating the Earth's atmosphere.
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