Meteorite Exhibit in Easton Public Library

March 27 – April 30.  Meteorite Exhibit in Easton Public Library

On the morning of February 15, 2013 residents of Chelyabinsk, Russia and neighboring towns were startled by a meteor  which streaked overhead, then exploded spectacularly, shattering windows, damaging buildings, injuring hundreds, and raining down celestial debris.  In an age of cellphone cameras and the internet, news of this remarkable event spread around the world within minutes.

A little over two hundred years earlier, and halfway around the world, a similar event took place in the skies above New England.  In the early morning hours of December 14, 1807 the peaceful rural quiet was shattered by a passing meteor exploding over the eastern part of Weston, Connecticut, an area which would in 1845 become Easton.  There were several eyewitnesses, but at a time when news travelled by horse and foot their story took days and weeks to reach the outside world.  Over the next two centuries, despite its importance as the first recorded fall of a meteorite in North America, the Weston Meteorite’s location became lost in confusion and rumor.

The Historical Society of Easton will present an exhibit at the Easton Public Library (691 Morehouse Road, Easton, CT) from March 27-April 30, during library hours, describing the results of research to re-discover the actual fall sites of the Weston Meteorite and ultimately correct its location in the scientific literature.