Middlesbrough meteorite, Space rock in Middlesbrough, England
The Middlesbrough meteorite is a stony meteorite that fell in 1881 near what is now St. Luke's Hospital in Middlesbrough, England. It belongs to the chondrite class and was recovered shortly after landing, making it a rare find in good condition.
The stone fell onto a railway embankment in 1881, where four workers recovered it shortly after. A dispute over ownership followed between the railway company and several museums before the object entered a scientific collection.
The stone was found by railroad workers who heard the impact and dug it out of an embankment shortly after it fell. Today visitors can see it up close in a museum display, where it sits as a reminder that space rocks can land anywhere.
The meteorite is on display in a museum and can be seen during regular opening hours. Since it is a single object, a short visit is enough to take it in, and it pairs well with other parts of the surrounding collection.
The European Space Agency analyzed this stone in 2010 and used it as a reference object to compare with future finds from Mars. A rock that landed on a railway embankment became part of the groundwork for interplanetary exploration.
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