Planetarium gets ‘gifts from the heavens’
Print Edition
THE Shanghai Planetarium announced at the weekend that it has brought a meteorite crater found in Xishuangbanna, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, back to Shanghai for its collection.
At a press conference on Saturday, the main crater of Xishuangbanna meteorite shower and two meteorites were shown to the public for the first time. The museum said both the main meteorite and crater will be put on display when planetarium opens to the public.
The planetarium, which is under construction, will be part of the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum.
On June 1, a fireball was observed illuminating in the night sky over Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. Some people made video clips of the fireball and posted them online, attracting meteorite hunters from all over the country.
More than 500 pieces of meteorites, about 50 kilograms in total, have been recovered, said the museum.
The crater, with a 1,228-gram meteorite embedded inside, was unearthed by Yu Xianghuai, a resident of Mangui Village in Xishuangbanna on June 7 while working in her tea garden. The diameter of the crater is about 13 centimeters and its depth is 25 centimeters. The museum has filmed the whole recovery process.
Meteorite craters can be used to reckon important information such as the velocity and direction of a meteorite before impacting which is of great scientific value, according to the museum.
Lin Qing, deputy director of the Shanghai Planetarium Construction Command, told Shanghai Daily that the planetarium plans to build a section called “Guests from Outer Space” for planets, meteors and meteorites.
“We’ll display a collection of interesting meteorites to the public,” said Lin.
“For us, these meteorites and the crater are gifts from the heavens. Besides the exhibits, we will also tell the story of the recovery and science behind it.”
Zhang Bo, a meteorite hunter who donated the two meteorites, said anyone who is passionate about astronomy can become a meteorite hunter.
“However, being a professional meteorite hunter requires one to be tough-minded to overcome problems and setbacks while searching.”
Basic field survival skills are also needed as meteorites are often buried in very remote places or places with hostile environments.
“Finally, one must master the use of various detection tools so that you can work more efficiently,” said Zhang.
Zhang and his team now organize some educational activities for schoolchildren, including hunting meteorites.
During the press conference, Lin also announced the acquisition of a 10kg iron meteorite found and donated by Zhang in 2016.
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