Howardites
Meteorites of Britain and Ireland · Republic of Ireland

The Mooresfort meteorite

A stone so hot it could not be handled two hours after landing near workmen on a Tipperary roof.

Key facts

Fell
10 August 1810
Where
near Tipperary town, County Tipperary
Type
H5 ordinary chondrite
Mass
about 3.5 kg
Where it is kept
National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
Nation today
Republic of Ireland

At about half past eleven in the morning of 10 August 1810, workmen laying lead on the roof of a house at Mooresfort in County Tipperary heard thunder-like sounds and saw a small dark cloud. A stone fell about 300 metres away, making a hole about 30 centimetres deep. When they reached it, it was too hot to hold, and it was said to be still warm two hours later.

The landowner sent the stone to the Dublin Society, where it was analysed by the chemist William Higgins. It weighed about 3.5 kilograms.

Mooresfort is an H5 ordinary chondrite: H for high iron, the group with the most metal among ordinary chondrites, and 5 for a stone that was well heated inside its parent asteroid. H chondrites are the most common meteorites seen to fall, and many are thought to come from one family of asteroids.

The stone is now in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.

Did you know?

Did you know?

Reports that a meteorite was hot on landing are common but not universal: the interior stays as cold as space, and only the thin crust is heated.

Did you know?

The name is often misspelt Mooresfoot in older writing.

Find out more

Nearest other British and Irish meteorites