DENVER (KDVR) — On July 6, 1924, an extraterrestrial object fell to Earth and landed in Colorado, interrupting a close-by funeral.
The item was cool to the contact when it was dug up lower than an hour after it fell and has been formally dubbed the “Johnstown meteorite.”
The meteorite fall
In keeping with a paper written by Edmund Hovey and revealed by the American Museum of Pure Historical past in 1925, round 200 individuals witnessed the meteorite fall in Weld County.
Some accounts described the noise throughout the fall as “shrill screeches” or “the exhaust of an aeroplane,” and that not less than 4 massive fragments have been seen falling.
Pictures: Right here’s what Denver regarded like 100 years in the past
Hovey stated the primary piece that was unearthed fell within the street round 30 ft from a church in Elwell, west of Johnstown, the place a funeral was being held. After the funeral, the undertaker started digging the place it had fallen and located it buried lower than two ft beneath the bottom.
The title of the meteorite is straightforward: “Johnstown meteorite.” In keeping with Hovey, it needed to be named after Johnstown as a result of Elwell didn’t seem within the publish workplace listing.
Different fragments of the meteorite have been recovered in numerous areas, with the farthest fragment being present in Mead.
In 1924, a meteorite fell to Earth in Weld County (Credit score: D. Ball, Arizona State College Faculty of Earth and Area Exploration through NASA)
Items of the meteorite are housed in a number of areas throughout America, together with the American Museum of Pure Historical past in New York Metropolis the place the most important piece lives, together with the Denver Museum of Pure Historical past and the Chicago Subject Museum.
Colorado July 4th fireworks 2024 schedule
The Johnstown Historic Society will rejoice the a hundredth anniversary of the meteorite’s fall on July 6. Festivities kick off at Johnstown Cemetery the place a memorial house and historic marker commemorating the occasion can be devoted.
The commemoration may even embrace occasions at Roosevelt Excessive Faculty later that day. Festivities will finish with the city’s first-ever drone present, in accordance with the historic society.