Hoba meteorite - wikipedia Hoba meteorite This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( June 2016 ) Hoba Relative size to humans Type Iron Class 12 Coordinates 19 ° 35 ′ 32 '' S 17 ° 56 ′ 01 '' E ﻿ / ﻿ 19.59222 ° S 17.93361 ° E ﻿ / - 19.59222 ; 17.93361 Coordinates : 19 ° 35 ′ 32 '' S 17 ° 56 ′ 01 '' E ﻿ / ﻿ 19.59222 ° S 17.93361 ° E ﻿ / - 19.59222 ; 17.93361 The meteorite in 2014 after becoming a tourist attraction Related media on Wikimedia Commons The Hoba ( / ˈhoʊbə / HOH - bə ) or Hoba West meteorite lies on the farm `` Hoba West '', not far from Grootfontein, in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It has been uncovered but, because of its large mass, has never been moved from where it fell. The main mass is estimated at more than 60 tonnes, making it the largest known meteorite ( as a single piece ) and larger than the 37 - tonne fragment of the Campo del Cielo. It is the most massive naturally occurring piece of iron known on Earth 's surface. Contents 1 Impact 2 Discovery 3 Description and composition 4 Modern history 5 See also 6 Notes and references 7 Further reading Impact The Hoba meteorite impact is thought to have occurred more recently than 80,000 years ago. It is inferred that the Earth 's atmosphere slowed the object to the point that it impacted the surface at terminal velocity, thereby remaining intact and causing little excavation. Assuming a drag coefficient of about 1.3, the meteor would have been slowed to about 720 miles per hour ( 0.32 km / s ) from its speed on entering the Earth 's atmosphere, typically in excess of 10 km / s for similar objects. The meteorite is unusual in that it is flat on both major surfaces, possibly causing it to have skipped across the top of the atmosphere like a flat stone skipping on water. Discovery The Hoba meteorite before the construction of the circular steps. The Hoba meteorite left no preserved crater and its discovery was a chance event. The owner of the land, Jacobus Hermanus Brits, encountered the object while ploughing one of his fields with an ox. During this task, he heard a loud metallic scratching sound and the plough came to an abrupt halt. The obstruction was excavated, identified as a meteorite and described by Mr. Brits, whose report was published in 1920 and can be viewed at the Grootfontein Museum in Namibia. Friedrich Wilhelm Kegel took the first published photograph of the Hoba meteorite. Description and composition Part of the Hoba meteorite at Tatton Park Hoba is a tabloid body of metal, measuring 2.7 × 2.7 × 0.9 metres ( 8.9 × 8.9 × 3.0 ft ). In 1920 its mass was estimated at 66 tonnes. Erosion, scientific sampling and vandalism reduced its bulk over the years. The remaining mass is estimated at just over 60 tonnes. The meteorite is composed of about 84 % iron and 16 % nickel, with traces of cobalt. It is classified as an ataxite iron meteorite belonging to the nickel - rich chemical class IVB. A crust of iron hydroxides is locally present on the surface, owing to weathering. Modern History In an attempt to control vandalism and with permission from Mrs. O. Scheel, owner of the farm at the time, the government of South West Africa ( now Namibia ) on March 15, 1955, declared the Hoba meteorite to be a national monument. In 1985 Rössing Uranium Ltd. made resources and funds available to the Namibian government to provide additional protection against vandalism. In 1987 Mr. J. Engelbrecht, the owner of Hoba West farm, donated the meteorite and the site where it lies to the state for educational purposes. Later that year, the government opened a tourist centre at the site. As a result of these developments, vandalism of the Hoba meteorite has ceased and it is now visited by thousands of tourists every year. See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hoba meteorite. Glossary of meteoritics Notes and references ^ Jump up to : Meteoritical Bulletin Database : Hoba Jump up ^ Harry McSween ( 1999 ). Meteorites and their parent planets ( 2nd ed. ). Cambridge ( u.a. ) : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978 - 0521583039. Jump up ^ Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites - O. Richard Norton and Lawrence Chitwood. Springer Science + Business Media 2008, ISBN 978 - 1 - 84800 - 156 - 5 Jump up ^ Spencer, L.J. ; Hey, M.H. ( March 1932 ). `` Hoba ( South - West Africa ), the largest known meteorite '' ( PDF ). The Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogic Society. XXIII ( 136 ) : 4. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2008 - 09 - 08. Jump up ^ `` Comparative erosion rates of stone and iron meteorites under small - particle bombardment ''. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Elsevier Science, New York. 31 ( 9 ) : 1470. 1967. doi : 10.1016 / 0016 - 7037 ( 67 ) 90021 - X. ISSN 0016 - 7037. Further reading Universe : The Definitive Visual Dictionary, Robert Dinwiddie, DK Adult Publishing, ( 2005 ), pg. 223. P.E. Spargo, `` The History of the Hoba Meteorite Part I : Nature and Discovery, '' Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa 67, nos. 5 / 6 ( 2008 ), pp. 85 -- 94. P.E. Spargo, `` The History of the Hoba Meteorite Part II : The News Spreads, '' Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa 67, nos. 9 / 10 ( 2008 ), pp. 166 -- 77. P.E. Spargo, `` The History of the Hoba Meteorite Part III : Known and Loved by All, '' Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa 67, no. 12 ( 2008 ). Full text at The Free Library Meteorites and meteoritics Meteorite... Glossary Fall bolide impactite statistics strewn field Find hunter Micrometeorite Notable Parent body Classification By type, class, clan, group and grouplet Chondrite Carbonaceous CB CH CI CK CM CO CR CV C ungrouped Enstatite EH EL Kakangari Ordinary LL Rumuruti Achondrite Primitive Acapulcoite Brachinite IAB IIICD Lodranite Ureilite Winonaite Asteroidal Angrite Aubrite HED Diogenite Eucrite Howardite Lunar Impact breccia Mare basalts List Martian Balsaltic Breccia NWA 7034 Chassignites Kaidun Nakhlites Orthopyroxenite ALH84001 Shergottites Martian meteorites list Meteorites on Mars list Iron IC IIAB IIC IID IIE IIG IIIAB IIIE IIIF IVA IVB Stony - iron Mesosiderite Pallasite Main group Eagle Station Pyroxene Structural Ataxite Hexahedrite Octahedrite Obsolete terms Amphoterite Nonmagmatic meteorite Mineralogy and petrology Characteristics shock TKW weathering Grains chondrule presolar Minerals Ca -- Al - rich inclusion extraterrestrial materials meteoric iron Patterns Neumann lines Widmanstätten CI1 fossils Lists Meteorites by find location name type Awards Journals Organisations See also : Asteroid Atmospheric entry Comet Impact event Meteor shower Meteoroid Near - Earth object Meteorites by name A -- B Aarhus Abee Adelie Land Adhi Kot Adzhi - Bogdo Agen Akbarpur Albareto Allan Hills A81005 Allan Hills 84001 Allegan Allende Ambapur Nagla Andura Angers Angra dos Reis Ankober Anlong Annaheim Appley Bridge Arbol Solo Archie Arroyo Aguiar Assisi Atoka Avanhandava Baszkówka Beardsley Bellsbank Bench Crater ( Moon ) Benton Białystok Blithfield Block Island ( Mars ) Bovedy Brachina Brahin Brenham Buzzard Coulee C -- D Campo del Cielo Canyon Diablo Cape York Carancas Chambord Chassigny Chelyabinsk Chergach Chinga Chinguetti Claxton Coahuila Cranbourne D'Orbigny Dronino E -- F Eagle Station Elbogen Ensisheim Esquel Fukang G -- H Gao -- Guenie Gay Gulch Gebel Kamil Gibeon Goose Lake Grant Hadley Rille ( Moon ) Heat Shield Rock ( Mars ) High Possil Hoba Homestead Hraschina Huckitta I -- J Imilac Itqiy K -- L Kaidun Kainsaz Karoonda Kesen Krasnojarsk L'Aigle Lac Dodon Loreto Łowicz M -- N Mackinac Island ( Mars ) Mbozi Middlesbrough Millbillillie Mineo Monte Milone Moss Mundrabilla Muonionalusta Murchison Nakhla Nantan Neuschwanstein Northwest Africa 3009 Northwest Africa 7034 Northwest Africa 7325 Norton County Novato O -- P Oileán Ruaidh ( Mars ) Old Woman Oldenburg Omolon Orgueil Ornans Osseo Ourique Pallasovka Paragould Park Forest Pavlovka Peace River Peekskill Penouille Polonnaruwa Přibram Pultusk Q -- R Qidong Richardton S -- T Santa Rosa de Viterbo Meteorite Santa Vitoria do Palmar Sayh al Uhaymir 169 Seymchan Shelter Island ( Mars ) Shergotty Sikhote - Alin Sołtmany Springwater St - Robert Stannern Sulagiri Sutter 's Mill Sylacauga Tagish Lake Tamdakht Tenham Tissint Tlacotepec Toluca Treysa Twannberg U -- V Veliky Ustyug Vermillion W -- X Weston Willamette Winona Wold Cottage Y -- Z Yamato 691 Yamato 791197 Yardymly Zaisho Zaklodzie List : Meteorite fall Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hoba_meteorite&oldid=808853497 '' Categories : Meteorites by name Iron meteorites Meteorites found in Namibia Otjozondjupa Region Geography of Namibia Geology of Namibia National Monuments of Namibia Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from June 2016 All articles needing additional references Coordinates on Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Azərbaycanca Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español فارسی Français Hrvatski Íslenska Italiano Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Slovenščina Suomi Svenska தமிழ் ไทย Türkçe Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 5 November 2017, at 16 : 33. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: the largest meteorite ever found on earth has a mass of how many kg
Answer: more than 60 tonnes