Wadsworth (meteorite)

Wadsworth
Typestony meteorite
Classachondrite
ClanHED meteorite
Groupeucrite
Shock stagemoderate
Weathering gradelow
CountryUnited States
RegionOhio
Coordinates41°2′42″N 81°45′26″W / 41.04500°N 81.75722°W / 41.04500; -81.75722
Observed fallYes
Fall date17 March 2026
Found date18 March 2026
TKW1.728 kilograms
Strewn fieldYes
Alternative namesMedina County

Wadsworth is a rare HED meteorite that fell in the US state of Ohio on 17 March 2026. A bright daytime bolide was seen streaking through the sky over Cleveland before fragmenting.[1][2][3] With an estimated airburst energy equal to 250 tonnes of TNT (1.0×1012 J), it created a sonic boom heard dozens of miles from the event.[4][5][1][2][6]

The fireball was captured by the GLM instrument aboard geostationary satellite GOES-19.[7]

Fall

A 6-foot (1.8 m), 7-short-ton (6.4 t) asteroid entered the atmosphere on 17 March 2026, 08:57 EDT at an altitude of 50.1 miles (80.6 km) while moving at a speed of 39,200 miles per hour (17.5 km/s).[2][3][8][6] It fragmented at an altitude of 30.5 miles (49.1 km) over Valley City after passing 34 miles (55 km) through the atmosphere.[2][3][1][9][10] The bolide was seen as far as Wisconsin and Maryland.[8][11] Falling fragments from the asteroid were observed by three weather radars located in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.[12]

Calculation of the strewn field resulted in a prediction of small stones being dropped to the northeast over a length 30 kilometres (19 mi) and kilogram-scale fragments falling south of Rittman.[12]

Meteorites

The first pieces were found by meteorite hunters from Connecticut, Roberto Vargas and Matt Perison. These stones were 12.2 and 1.75 grams in mass.[13][14][15] Soon after, many more fragments were found; so far the largest known fragment from this fall, which was found by Mark Sokol and others on 20 March 2026 weighs 509.9 grams (1 lb 2 oz).[13] A total of 1,728 grams (3 lb 13 oz) were found.[12][13] This meteorite was scientifically classified by the Ohio Meteorite Classification (OMC) Team as a monomict eucrite.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mogensen, Jackie Flynn. "An asteroid just exploded above Ohio with the force of 250 tons of TNT". Scientific American. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Wild, Franziska; Indriolo, Michael; Castele, Nick (2026-03-17). "Sonic boom? Experts break down Northeast Ohio's rare event". Signal Cleveland. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  3. 1 2 3 "Event 20260317-125642". NASA's All Sky Fireball Network. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  4. ↑ Dolce, Chris (2026-03-17). "Rare fireball spotted over eastern US caused a sonic boom". CNN. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  5. ↑ Brackett, Ron (2026-03-18). "NASA Confirms Loud Boom Triggered By Asteroid Seen Over At Least 10 States". The Weather Channel. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  6. 1 2 Wood, Anthony (2026-03-19). "Ohio fireball may have dropped meteorites between Akron and Canton — should you pick it up if you find one?". Space. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  7. ↑ "GOES-19 GLM captures the signature of a bolide over Lake Erie and northern Ohio". CIMSS. 2026-03-17. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  8. 1 2 "Meteorite hunters scour Ohio for chunks of 7-ton fireball that crashed into Earth - CBS Pittsburgh". CBS News. 2026-03-20. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  9. ↑ Thyret, Julia; Williams, Avery; Molesky, Colton; McCarthy, Caitlin (2026-03-17). "7-ton asteroid lights up Northeast Ohio skies, fragments above Medina County". Cleveland 19. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  10. ↑ Aftoora-Orsagos, Patrick; Scolforo, Mark (2026-03-19). "Meteorite hunters scour Ohio for fragments of 7-ton space rock that crashed into Earth". AP News. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  11. ↑ Press, The Associated (2026-03-20). "Meteorite hunters scour Ohio for fragments of 7-ton space rock that crashed into Earth". WOSU Public Media. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Meteoritical Bulletin: Entry for Wadsworth". Meteoritical Bulletin Database. Lunar and Planetary Institute.
  13. 1 2 3 "WADSWORTH meteorite fall (>1728 g, Eucrite) near Wadsworth (Medina County) and Rittman (Wayne County), Ohio, USA at 12:56:42 UTC on 17 March 2026". Karmaka Meteorites. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  14. ↑ Speck, Emilee (2026-03-19). "Ohio man finds possible meteorite after bright fireball streaks across 12 states". AccuWeather. Archived from the original on 2026-03-20. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  15. ↑ Thyret, Julia; Williams, Avery; Molesky, Colton; McCarthy, Caitlin; Grant, Keith; Vadaj, Rachel (2026-03-19). "Meteorite hunters flock to Northeast Ohio after fireball breaks apart over Medina County". Cleveland 19. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
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