Meteor Events

November 4, 2024

Strewnify

Meteorite Strewn Field Maps, News, and Reports

Saint-Pierre-le-Viger, France (Asteroid 2023 CX1)

3 min read

Bourville, Normandy, France – Monday, February 13, 2023, 3:59 AM local time, a large meteor fireball appeared over the English Channel, impacting the atmosphere with an energy equivalent to ~40 tonnes of TNT and ending in a bright flash. Hundreds of people witnessed the event, both on the ground and viewing live webcams online from around the world. Aside from being rather large, there was something else that made this fireball unique… this meteor was expected and arrived right on time!

Asteroid 2023 CX1 (initially called Sar2667) was discovered less than seven hours before impact, by Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky, at Konkoly Observatory’s Piszkéstető Station, in the Mátra Mountains of Hungary.  2023 CX1 is only the seventh asteroid discovered before being successfully predicted to impact Earth. Before it impacted, 2023 CX1 was originally a near-Earth asteroid on an Earth-crossing Apollo-type orbit. (Wikipedia: 2023 CX1)

Entry Date/Time:2023-02-13 02:59:17 UTC
End Location:150 km NW of Paris, France
Endpoint Coordinates:49.8088°N, 0.6746°E
Reference Altitude:21.3 km above sea level
Energy / Mass Estimate:40 tonne TNT / 1727 kg
Reference Speed:14.0 km/s
Bearing:102° NNE
Slope:41.4° from vertical
Estimated Strewn Mass:< 520 kg
Estimated Fragment Size:< 4.2 kg
Classification:L5-6
Event Links:Vigie Ciel Analysis
UKMON Orbital Analysis
AMS Event 937-2023
IAU MPC Orbital Data
MetBull Bulletin

News and Video

Many videos of this event were captured and posted online. Since the arrival was announced beforehand, many people were outside waiting with cameras in hand. A compilation of some of the best videos was posted by USA Today.

Compilation of videos of 2023 CX1

Search Efforts & Finds

Due to the unique nature of this event and the likely prospect of recovery, meteorite hunters from around the world are travelling to France to search for a piece of 2023 CX1.

IMPORTANT: The search area is very small and mostly private land. You must make arrangments and obtain permission before hunting! PLEASE act responsibily and respectfully, because your actions can affect the reputation of all meteorite hunters.

14 Meteorites Found So Far, Totalling 406 grams!

Read more here:

Original Story, with 100 gram find:

For more information on this and other falls, join the discussion on social media, by clicking the links below:

Join the Strewnify Europe Facebook group


StrewnLAB Search Area

The trajectory of this meteor was solved independently by both UKMON and MPC, and these two datasets agreed to within 180 meters along the path. The Strewnify team reviewed video data to solve the darkflight altitude and verified the trajectory data. The final flight path solution was run through the StrewnLAB software to predict the search area shown below. Please download and review the Google Earth files below for detailed maps of the search area.


Download these files and load into Google Earth:

Version 5.2: includes accurate wind and adjusted for finds

Version 6: Very similar to V5.2, but slightly adjusted for finds and I also collected the coordinates of many searched areas and included them in the calculation of the probability for each grid square. This is a new technique, let me know what you think!

The Finds file now includes the location of the 175g stone found by the American team, Steve Arnold and Roberto Vargas!


StrewnLAB V5.2

StrewnLAB V6, with accounting for searched areas

The critical search area, with accounting for searched areas

Known find locations (except for Thierry Monter’s new 350g fractured mass)

Searched Areas Map (Team Strewnify VIP Content)


Searched areas were collected from several meteorite hunters, and this data is available exclusiviely to Team Strewnify VIP subscribers. For more info, visit our Team Strewnify page.

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Weather Data

The weather data below is sourced from weather balloons, and publicly 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.

Moderate winds from the south pushed meteorites north of the ground track
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