The Killeter meteorite
A shower of small stones over County Tyrone in 1844, of which only a few fragments survive.
Key facts
- Fell
- 29 April 1844
- Where
- Killeter, County Tyrone
- Type
- H6 ordinary chondrite
- Mass
- about 140 g survives
- Where it is kept
- Small pieces in museum collections
- Nation today
- Northern Ireland
At about half past three in the afternoon of 29 April 1844, people at Killeter in the west of County Tyrone saw a fast-moving cloud and heard detonations, and a shower of small stones fell over several fields. Only a few fragments were kept, about 140 grams in all. Some were sent to the Dublin geologist Samuel Haughton, who studied them.
Killeter is an H6 ordinary chondrite, from the high-iron group and heated so strongly in its parent body that its minerals recrystallised. When it fell, the whole of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom; the village is now in Northern Ireland.
Did you know?
Killeter is in County Tyrone, so although it is listed in the catalogue under Ireland, the site is now in Northern Ireland.
Witnesses several kilometres away described hearing a sound like music, probably the whistle of the falling stones.
Find out more
- Killeter in the catalogue: the official class and recorded mass
- H chondrites: what this kind of meteorite is and where it comes from
- All the meteorites of Britain and Ireland, with a map
- Found something in the UK or Ireland? What to do next
Nearest other British and Irish meteorites
- Bovedy 25 April 1969 · about 85 km away
- Crumlin 13 September 1902 · about 95 km away
- Pettiswood 1779 · about 130 km away
- Leighlinbridge 28 November 1999 · about 225 km away