Nias (Botohilitano) - LL5 Ordinary Chondrite - Fragment w. Crust & Road Chip - 2.33g - Indonesia (Sumatra)

A 2.33g fragment of the Nias meteorite with fusion crust, presented alongside a pale road chip in a frame display that tells the story of the fall. The display also holds an Indonesian 1000 Rupiah banknote, whose reverse shows the Lompat Batu stone-jumping site on Nias Island.

The meteorite fell at around 8:30am on 20th July 2015 on Nias, an island off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, and is officially named Botohilitano. It came down roughly 600m from the stone tower where young men of Nias perform Lompat Batu, leaping over a stone column of around two metres. The tradition is so closely tied to the island that it featured on the 1000 Rupiah note.

Botohilitano is classified as an LL5 Ordinary Chondrite. LL chondrites have the lowest total iron and metal content of the three ordinary chondrite groups, and petrologic type 5 shows that the stone was strongly heated inside its parent asteroid, so its chondrules are recrystallised and less sharply defined than in more primitive meteorites.

For collectors, witnessed falls carry a special appeal because the date, time and place of arrival are known. This display brings together a crusted fragment of the meteorite and a link to one of Indonesia's best-known cultural traditions, making it a piece with both scientific and human interest.