A rare exhibit of the State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan - the Kunyaurgench meteorite - is 25 years old.
As reported on the website of the State Publishing Service of Turkmenistan, this meteorite fell on the territory of Turkmenistan on June 20, 1998 at 17:30 local time, 7 kilometers south of the city of Kunyaurgench.
The Kunyaurgench meteorite became the fifth iron-stony sample of extraterrestrial matter recorded in the country in 40 years. There is also “Kabakly”, found in 1965 in the northern part of the Karakum near the Enekuduk well; “Bahardok”, discovered during field geophysical work in 1978; “Akmolla” and “Dengli”, similarly named after the place of discovery, and migrated from private collections to the general scientific collection of Turkmen meteorites. However, their mass is incommensurably less than that of the Kunyaurgench, recognized as the largest such specimen found in the CIS in the last century.
Eyewitnesses remind that a meteorite fell on the edge of a cotton field where people worked, a few dozen meters from a residential building, and by a lucky chance no one was hurt. Its flight and fall were seen by many residents of the region, who claimed that the body moving for several seconds exploded at a high altitude, and then a part separated from a huge dark cloud, which began to fall down. All this was accompanied by a whistle and a deafening crack. When a celestial body hit the ground, a strong shaking of the soil was felt, hot debris, as well as dust and soil, were thrown out of the funnel formed to a great height. When everything was quiet, people approached the place of the fall: the rocky parts were still hot to the touch.
The meteorite formed a funnel in the soil with a diameter of up to 6 meters and “buried” to a depth of 3,5 meters. Representatives of the headquarters of the Dashoguz division of the Department of Civil Defense and Rescue Operations of the Ministry of Defense of the country immediately arrived at the place. Then a group of scientists led by Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Seyid Muhamednazarov was delegated to the space guest. Scientists have confirmed that the object that fell from the sky is a meteorite, and the first fundamental research was carried out by the Central Laboratory of the State Corporation “Turkmengeology”.
In the future, the study of cosmic matter continued on the basis of the Magtymguly Turkmen State University. At first, substances in the form of gas and dust were released from the cracks of the meteorite, since chemical processes were still ongoing in it. These secretions changed the color of the meteorite from its original dark gray color to its current almost white color.
Scientists have established the chemical composition of the block: the metal part includes iron (a third of the stone), nickel and cobalt. In total, more than a dozen minerals that could only form in space. The total weight, taking into account the fragments that had broken off from the main monolithic mass, should have been up to 1200 kg. The approximate age of the fireball is 4,5 billion years. However, it remains unknown where the meteorite comes from and how long it traveled through the Galaxy before falling to Earth.
Initially, the meteorite was kept in the geological museum of the State Corporation “Turkmengeology”, later it was decided to place it in the state museum for a wider circle of scientists, residents of the country, and guests of the capital to get acquainted with it.
The meteorite is in the exposition of the Department of Nature and Local History and is enclosed in a specially ordered hermetically sealed display case, which helps prevent oxidation and decay processes. It was in this showcase that it was transferred to the place of permanent exhibition in the new building of the Museum of Ethnography and Local Lore, for which it was necessary to expand the doorway.
