The Shalka meteoriteWork in progress. A solid natural object reaching a planet’s surface from interplanetary space. Solid portion of a meteoroid that survives its fall to Earth, or some other body. Meteorites are classified as stony meteorites, iron meteorites, and stony-iron meteorites. These groups are further divided according to their mineralogy and Click on Term to Read More (or Shaluka) appeared as a fireballA fireball is another term for a very bright meteor, generally brighter than magnitude -4, which is about the same magnitude of the planet Venus as seen in the morning or evening sky. A bolide is a special type of fireball which explodes in a bright terminal flash at its end, often with visible fragmentation. Click on Term to Read More in the night sky over the Bankura district in the West Bengal province of India on November 30, 1850. A large stone fell about 80 yards south of a village in a rice field about three hours before sunrise. The fallMeteorite seen to fall. Such meteorites are usually collected soon after falling and are not affected by terrestrial weathering (Weathering = 0). Beginning in 2014 (date needs confirmation), the NomComm adopted the use of the terms "probable fall" and "confirmed fall" to provide better insight into the meteorite's history. If Click on Term to Read More was witnessed by two persons who described the noise as similar to thunder although peculiar in nature because it was not very loud and did not wake up the inhabitants of the neighboring village of Bhora about a mile distant. Accounts of this fall are scant because record-keeping of this nature was lacking over 150 years ago in colonial India. Between then and now, very little of this meteorite made it into private collections.
Shalka was the second witnessed fall of a diogeniteDiogenites belong to the evolved achondrite HED group that also includes howardites and eucrites. They are named after the Greek philosopher Diogenes of Apollonia, of the 5th century BCE, who was the first to suggest that meteorites come from outer space (a realization forgotten for over 2,000 years). They are Click on Term to Read More, occurring only 7 years after the first and very small (TKW = 50g) diogeniteDiogenites belong to the evolved achondrite HED group that also includes howardites and eucrites. They are named after the Greek philosopher Diogenes of Apollonia, of the 5th century BCE, who was the first to suggest that meteorites come from outer space (a realization forgotten for over 2,000 years). They are Click on Term to Read More fall, Manegaon in 1843, also in India.