Hoba meteorite
Meteorito de Hoba
- Date
- 1920 · confidence high
- Place
- Hoba West, Grootfontein, Otjozondjupa, Namibia
- Credited to
- Jacobus Hermanus Brits (farmer)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
In 1920 the farmer Jacobus Brits struck a block of iron-nickel of about 60 tonnes, the largest known meteorite and the largest natural mass of iron at the Earth's surface. It fell some 80,000 years ago and left no crater.
It is thought to have embedded in the limestone and never moved; it is an ataxite (about 16% nickel, with cobalt traces).
What it led to
- a reference for studies of iron meteorites (ataxites)
- a national monument of Namibia
- an example of an impact without a crater because of entry angle