Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2016

SMALL BODIES what asteroids are, how the meteorite shower of Campo del Cielo was produced, which effects it had on the ancient inhabi- tants of that territory, how the first mete- orites were found and many other ques- tions. Unmissable destination for all the amateur astronomer tourists, the entire structure is now classified as national park, condition that will protect it with specific rules. Also thanks to new financing, it will be possible to proceed with the recovery of other great meteorites and preserve the ones already recovered by acts contrary to public interest, such as theft, also countless in the recent history of that precious terri- tory. The most clamorous case dates from 1990, when a citizen from the US, taking advantage of the negligence existing at that time in Campo del Cielo, was able to carry El Chaco into a truck in order to take it away. Fortunately, the thief fell into a traffic control, got arrested and the gigan- tic meteorite was returned to its place. least among the ones known. The investigators believe, in fact, that the other 100 tons of meteorite material recovered so far represent not more than 30-33% of the whole meteorite shower, so it is likely that in that area at least 200 tons of meteorites are still buried. The big meteoroid that produced the phenomenon certainly came from the main belt of asteroids (located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter) and had an estimated mass of about 840 tons, more than 500 of which were de- stroyed while cros- sing the terrestrial atmosphere, which vaporized almost entirely all the com- pounds and chemi- cal elements lighter than iron and nickel. Curiously, the dis- covery of Gancedo occurred a few days before the opening of the 12 th Fiesta Na- cional del Meteo- rito, which happens every year, since 2005, in the territory of Gancedo. As well as by the new gigantic meteorite, the success of the party was secured by the opening of the Scientific and Educative Park “Campo del Cielo”. Located about twenty kilometers away from the vil- lage of Gancedo, the new park is an open sky museum, with trails spread inside an area of 100 hectares, across which the visitants can find the 8 multi- ton meteorites already extract- ed from the soil (inclusively the last one) and then reach the Center of Representation which hosts more than 300 meteorites inside blades. Here the visitants can acquire lots of information through interactive devices which explain C ampo del Cielo is today a theme park of national rele- vance: every year the party of the meteorite is cele- brated (poster on top), and inside the Center of Representation there are collec- tions of meteor- ites (upper right) and interactive devices (in front) where the visitors are able to ac- quire a great amount of infor- mation. [Instituto Turismo Chaco] n