The Cranbourne Meteorite Fall

Presenter(s): Dr. Peter Skilton & John Cleverdon

Affiliation(s): MPAS (Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society)

Session details: Sunday, 2024-03-31 03:00:00, STAR

Abstract

In the mid-1800’s, the largest known iron meteorite in the world was encountered by chance by European settlers south east of Melbourne in the township of Cranbourne, where it had rested for about a century. This 3.5 tonne behemoth subsequently proved to be merely the first fragment of a larger parent meteoroid, as further finds have come to light since then, spread over tens of kilometres. More pieces are yet to be discovered in the surrounding regions that are fast being urbanised. This talk summarises and characterises the 13 known discoveries so far, shows what can be deduced from them, and lays the groundwork for future discoveries to be made for this fall before suburbia erases them forever. This work continues a long term project started in 1990 to understand the historical Cranbourne meteorite and the dynamics of its descent, with the aim of helping to find further meteoritic fragments for educational and scientific purposes.

Biography

Peter is a qualified Physicist and Chemist from the University of Melbourne, who spent a short while in the CSIRO Advanced Materials Laboratory before transitioning to become a career project and global data quality manager for Shell internationally. He is a life member of the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society, been on committee for 32 years and in the role of President for 12 years. He leads the MPAS outreach programme for schools, public and community groups which has engaged 142,000 people face-to-face to date. He represented astronomy on the National Science Week committee for Victoria for 24 years, including in the role as Chairman and was a foundation Board Member of Inspiring Australia (Victoria). Peter is a foundation member of the NACAA Inc Secretariat, past Deputy General Secretary and currently serves as Archive Secretary. John has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Cartography) from RMIT University in Melbourne, and is a senior draftsman at an award-winning urban design company in Melbourne, having been there for 20 years; along with a professional interest in the spatial sciences. He has been a member of MPAS for 33 years, including serving on committee for 5 years. John is part of the Rail Futures Institute think tank and belongs to the Geospatial Council of Australia which is involved with the 2030 Space+Spatial roadmap.