Some fragments of the small asteroid 2024 BX1, which in the early hours of January 21 entered the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies above Berlin, were found near the German town of Nauen.
The event had caused a sensation because it was the eighth time that an asteroid had been discovered just a few hours before its fall.
The search for the fragments, explain Media Inaf experts, began after the trajectory of the celestial body was triangulated thanks to calculations made by researchers from the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, who manage the European Fireball Network.
Since the fireball fell at a high inclination with respect to the Earth's surface, the fragment dispersion area (strewn field) west of Nauen was relatively compact and about 3 kilometers long.
"In the area the ground is flat and it was not difficult to recover meteorites", add the experts from Media Inaf.
"In fact, a few days after the fall, on January 26, researchers from the Natural Science Museum of Berlin, the Free University of Berlin and the German Aerospace Center recovered fragments which, most likely, are meteorites from asteroid 2024 BX1, both about the size of a walnut."
In the next few days the fragments will be examined in the museum's laboratories to verify their chemical composition and origin, while field research will continue.
"Thanks to the heliocentric orbit determined with telescopic observations just before the asteroid disintegrated in the atmosphere - conclude the Media Inaf experts - these will be meteorites with a 'pedigree', because their dynamic origin can also be investigated".
Throughout the world there are only 50 meteorites with these characteristics, out of 70,000 meteorites collected.
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