Analysis of the daylight fireball of July 15, 2021, leading to a meteorite fall and find near Antonin, Poland, and a description of the recovered chondrite

Abstract

We present the description of an observation of a fireball recorded during the sunrise on July 15, 2021. Atmospheric trajectory, impact area, and heliocentric orbit were determined on the basis of three instrumental video records. The terminal part of the fireball was not instrumentally recorded due to clouds. Based on our computations, one meteorite was found in the predicted impact area by Polish searchers. The specimen was, soon after recovery, analyzed for the presence of short-lived radionuclides and the measurement confirms a very fresh fall, coinciding with the time of the fireball event. The recovered meteorite, Antonin, is an unbrecciated L5 chondrite with shock stage S3, weathering grade W0, and bulk density of 3.42 g cm−3. Unusual for L chondrites, it contains assemblages composed of metal and two sulfides, troilite and mackinawite. We interpret these assemblages to have been formed as products of shock metamorphism and post-shock annealing on the parent body. This suggests that the thermal and collisional history of the Antonin parent body was complex.