The meteorite Moss - a rare carbonaceous chondrite

On July 14, 2006, at about 10:20 a.m. local daylight time (UTC+2), a bright fireball travelling SSE-NNV was witnessed from the Baltic Sea to SE Norway. On the east side of the Oslo fiord, around Moss, an explosion and a rumbling sound was heard, and pieces were observed falling. Rapid recovery of meteorite stones gave an opportunity for detailed petrological and geochemical investigations, including analyses of indigenous organic species, and short lived isotopes. The meteorite is a chondritic stone meteorite, with some carbon (0.21-0.25 wt% C). The cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) age is 14 Ma, i.e. when Moss was ejected from its parent body. Gas retention ages are approximately 3.95 . 10(9) yr (U/Th/He) and 4.43 . 10(9) yr (K/Ar), respectively. The meteorite has the official name Moss, and is classified as carbonaceous chondrite type CO3.6. It was the first witnessed fall of a CO3 chondrite since Kainsaz in Russia in 1937.