The Leighlinbridge meteorite
Four golf-ball-sized stones that fell after a fireball as bright as the full Moon over Carlow.
Key facts
- Fell
- 28 November 1999
- Where
- Leighlinbridge, County Carlow
- Type
- L6 ordinary chondrite
- Mass
- 271 g in four pieces
- Where it is kept
- National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, and other collections
- Nation today
- Republic of Ireland
At about ten past ten on the night of 28 November 1999, a fireball described as bright as the full Moon lit up the south-east of Ireland, followed by booming explosions. Over the following days four small stones, each about the size of a golf ball and totalling 271 grams, were found around the village of Leighlinbridge in County Carlow. The first turned up on a local road.
Leighlinbridge is an L6 ordinary chondrite. Cut surfaces show a pale stony interior with flecks of metal and faint chondrules. It is the most recent meteorite fall recorded in the Republic of Ireland, and a piece is held by the National Museum of Ireland.
Did you know?
Leighlinbridge is the most recent meteorite fall in Ireland.
Its four pieces were all found by local people after news of the fireball spread.
Find out more
- Leighlinbridge in the catalogue: the official class and recorded mass
- L 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
- Dundrum 12 August 1865 · about 75 km away
- Mooresfort 10 August 1810 · about 95 km away
- Pettiswood 1779 · about 100 km away
- Limerick 10 September 1813 · about 125 km away