Novo mesto, Slovenia
3 min read
Novo mesto, SLOVENIA – February 28, 2020, 10:30 AM local time, a large meteor fireball entered the atmosphere over Croatia, travelling NNW at 22 kilometers per second, before burning out over a rural area, just outside the city of Novo mesto, Slovenia. Total atmospheric impact energy was equivalent to 340 tonnes of TNT!
| Date/Time: | 02/28/2020 9:30:34 UTC |
| Location: | Novo mesto, Slovenia |
| Reference Coordinates: | 45.8213°N 15.0775°E |
| Reference Altitude: | 23.5 km above sea level |
| Energy / Mass Estimate: | 0.34 kt / 6141 kg |
| Reference Speed: | 21.53 km/s |
| Bearing: | 339° NNW |
| Slope: | 42.46° from vertical |
| Event Links: | AMS Event 1027-2020 |
Hungarian Meteoritical Society.
Video and News
The videos below were used to calculate a trajectory for the meteor and predict the meteorite fall zone, called strewn field.
Strewn Field Maps
A strewnfield search area has been generated for this event, by the StrewnLAB algorithm. This map shows the most likely area to search for meteorites, in the yellow map squares. Please download the KMZ file below and load it into Google Earth.
Weather Data
The weather data below is sourced from weather balloons, and spublicly available via NOAA’s Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA). This data is downloaded and post-processed by the StrewnLAB algorithm, to account for changing weather patterns and weather balloon drift. The plots have altitude on the y-axis, in kilometers above sea level. The wind speed below 10km has large effect on the drift of meteorites.
News & Search Efforts
This was a large event with plenty of data available, so meteorite hunters from all over the world travelled to hunt in Slovenia. On Saturday, March 7th, a meteorite was found by a local resident, Gregor Kos, driveway of his house in the village of Prečna near Novo mesto. Details of the find can be found on the blog website of geologist, Bojan Ambrožič.
Meteorite Found!
Details at Bojan Ambrožič’s Blog
If you are interested in hunting, please join the newly created Strewnify Europe Facebook group, to stay up to date on this event and others in Europe.
Search Grid & Status
A search grid has been established for the center of the predicted area and you can use it to coordinate your search efforts.
If you would like to load this search grid on top of your map, you may download it here (download the strewn field separately):
If you find suspected meteorites in the area, feel free to post pictures to the Facebook group. If you do not wish to release the exact location of a find to the public, you can email it to admin@strewnify.com and we can use it to improve the strewn field prediction.
The author and founder of Strewnify.com, an automotive controls engineer, with a passion for physics.
Hancock, Michigan, USA | james.a.goodall@gmail.com | +1 586 709 5888
Thank you Jim! Your efforts are much appreciated. You’re been a treasure of information for local hunters here in Slovenia and around Novo mesto. You’ve also been published in quite a few media outlets. We’ll let you know if we find anything on the ground 🙂
Thank you Mark! Good luck!
Hi Jim, according to my calculations based on video taken (Dash-cam footage), Google Earth Street View and bespoke sarOS™ solution (live link) for search and rescue I have created map of an area where meteorite derbies probably hit the ground. There is no way that position of meteorite is in direction NW of Novo Mesto. Geo-spatial PDF is available on request. As well methodology how the likely area was determined.
Regards, Dusan
Hello Dusan, yes I would be interested in your methods and any information you can provide. Please email me at admin@strewnify.com or contact me on Facebook Messenger. Thank you!
First pieces found:
https://www.radio-odeon.com/novice/po-neuradnih-podatkih-del-meteorja-padel-v-zilje/
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.radio-odeon.com%2Fnovice%2Fpo-neuradnih-podatkih-del-meteorja-padel-v-zilje%2F
I don’t think these are meteorites. They are too far south and they don’t look like meteorites.
Here it is meteorite “Novo mesto”.
https://bojanambrozic.com/2020/03/08/najden-je-bil-prvi-kos-meteorita-novo-mesto/