Scientists say the meteorite that fell in parts of Nqweba, formerly Kirkwood, in the Eastern Cape is one of the rare ones. The meteorite which has been named, qweba , was unveiled to the public at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha.
The discovery sparked collaborative effort from scientists from three universities in the country, Wits, Rhodes and the Nelson Mandela Universities trying to piece together the timeline of the meteorite and the origin thereof.
A tiny piece of rock holds many answers to many questions. These kinds of fragments fell over a space of 100 kilometers as reports came from Cape St Francis as well as Kirkwood. A very rare occurrence as only 52 such events have ever been recorded in South Africa.
"For your everyday citizen it's a cool thing to see and to witness. As much as it means a lot for the science world, it's also a big deal for our social experience. People must understand that things like this don't happen often. So, to be here and to bear witness to it, is really something special," says Dr Carla Dodd, Nelson Mandela University Post Doctoral Researcher.
Meteors enter the earth atmosphere every day. But most of them are as small as dust particles once they have broken down. It is suspected that the meteorite that hit the Eastern Cape was only one meter in size before breaking up into thousands of pieces. Bigger ones hitting earth are still a possibility.
