Elmshorn, Germany

Elmshorn, Germany – Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 2:14 PM local time, A very bright daytime fireball was observed by many over northern Germany, falling nearly vertical, and ending less than 18km above the village of Elmshorn. Meteorites have been recovered from this event and strewn field density is very high. There are good chances of finding meteorites from this event!

Rating:	Class A
Entry Date/Time:	2023-04-25 12:14:24 UTC
End Location:	35 km NW of Hamburg, Germany
Endpoint Coordinates:	53.7727°N 9.6109°E
Reference Altitude:	18 km above sea level
Energy / Mass Estimate:	~100 tonnes TNT / ~400 kg
Entry Speed:	~20 km/s
Bearing:	153° SSE
Slope:	5° from vertical
TKW:	>6 kg
Estimated Strewn Mass:	< 70 kg
Estimated Main Mass:	< 36 kg
Modelled Strewn Density:	3.9 kg/km^2
Classification:	chondrite
Event Links:	Karmaka Story AMS Event 2341-2023 Sh:z Story Metbull Entry for Elmshorn Bischoff, A. et al (2024)

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News and Video

The story of this fall was covered by Karmaka Meteorites. Click for more…

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Search Efforts

Local search efforts began soon after the initial finds were made known, and the European Space Agency has also organized a search team, focusing on the immediate area surrounding the finds. A team from the U.S. arrived on Thursday, May 4th, and more are likely to make the trip to Germany by the weekend. Much of the search area is residential, but there are also some fields to the west. As always, please ask for permission before searching private property!

If you have find data or information about searched areas, please contact Jim Goodall on Discord or Facebook Messenger.

Meteorites Found!

Updated 2024-07-18

More than 19 meteorites found!

Type: H3-6 Chondrite

Masses Found: 3736g (main mass), 225g, 155g, 20g*, 8.9g, 2.11g…

TKW: 4.28 kg

Updated 2023-MAY-05

* two fragments found in the same area, totalling 20g

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Find Coordinates

Meteorite coordinates are available to VIP subscribers. If you are a subscriber, you must login to view this section, by clicking “Login” on the sidebar (desktop) or on the dropdown menu (mobile).

This KML file contains all available find locations, labelled by mass.

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A local German searcher, Vincent Haberer, arrived at the strewn field on Thursday and sent these photos.

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Steve Arnold has boots on the ground, go Team U.S.A.!

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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

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StrewnLAB Maps & Data

We received some trajectory analysis data from Vincent Haberer, and we calibrated the the trajectory solution in our StrewnLAB software to match the first two published find locations (Karmaka). Wind drift is considered and the angle of entry, so the shape should be correct, but the exact center of the strewn field is unknown. The map below considers all available data to estimate the probability of finding meteorites, by location.

Strewn mass is difficult to estimate, but based on available data and finds, but a reasonable estimate would be <70kg on the ground, with an average strewn density of 2.4 kilograms per square kilometer. This is very high! For this reason, we have categorized this event as Class A, with a high probability of finds for meteorite hunters.

Please download and review the Google Earth files below for detailed maps of the search area.

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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 onthe drift of meteorites.