The Stone Kept in a Shrine for 1,100 Years
In 861, a stone fell from the sky into a shrine's grounds in Japan. The priests put it in a box and kept it for over a thousand years. It's the oldest meteorite whose fall was witnessed.
What was reported
According to the records of Suga Shrine in Nōgata, in northern Kyushu, on 19 May 861 a bright light and a loud noise were followed by the fall of a black stone in the shrine's grounds. The priests kept it in a wooden box, which was marked with the date, and it was treasured as a sacred object.
In 1979, scientists were allowed to examine the stone and confirmed that it was a meteorite, weighing about 470 grams.
Explanations offered
The Nōgata meteorite is the oldest known meteorite whose fall was seen and recorded at the time, and which still survives. It's an ordinary stony meteorite, a chondrite. It remains at the shrine.
- When
- Fell on 19 May 861
- Where
- Suga Shrine, Nōgata, Fukuoka, Japan
- Witnesses
- The shrine's records
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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