Ofen

Name in the NHM catalogue: Ofen
Locality*: Between Buda Budapest, town with county rights and Esztergom, Komárom–Esztergom megye [county], HUN
Co-ordinates: 47° 48' N, 18° 45' E
Fall/find: Fall
Date of the fall*: 12.12.1642
Type (level 1)*: Very doubtful
Group: No data available
Recovered weight: No data available
Remark: Data from Grady, M. M. (2000): Catalogue of meteorites. 5^th rev. enl. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Data marked with an asterisk (*) are supplemented or corrected. Presumably a hail-storm and not a meteorite fall.

History: This doubtful fall got into the meteorite catalogues from the first compilation of this kind, published by Chladni in 1819. The original source must have been the “celestial battle” reported by contemporary sources. The manuscript available for us reported the appearance of five fiery balls in the sky accompanied by heavy detonations. Then a celestial battle began between armies in the sky [!] lasting for three hours. The next day a shower of lead and tin fell on Buda (at that time under Turkish rule). This story, especially the shower of lead and tin (the latter was also mentioned and erroneously dated to 1643 by a Transylvanian manuscript) might have been inspired by a meteorite fall indeed, but a more plausible explanation is found in a book published in 1698 on Hungarian and Transylvanian curiosities of the 17^th century. It mentioned an unusual, heavy December hailstorm in Buda from 1643 (obviously an error for 1642).