Nantan Meteorite

Nantan, Nantan County, Guangxi Region, China

The Nantan Meteorite burst during passage through the atmosphere in 1516 CE. Pieces of the meteorite scattered in a strewn field 17 miles long and 5 miles wide in Nantan County in Guangxi, China (about 250 miles northeast of Hanoi, Vietnam). 

Large iron meteorite are exceptionally rare- an iron-nickel meteorite, over 20,900 pounds of the Nantan meteorite have been retrieved. Pieces of the meteorite were not retrieved until 1958 when it was gathered for smelting. Most fragments show weathering due to the long time it took to discover them.