Meteoritos y meteoros en Costa Rica (verdaderos, posibles y falsos)

Abstract

Geological, documentary (since 1799) and anecdotal (second half of the 20th century) information on meteorites and meteors in Costa Rica has been compiled. There is only one case of sighting and recovering a meteorite, in Heredia on April 1 st , 1857, from which a fragment (2.9 g) is preserved in Costa Rica. It is an H5 chondrite with olivine, bronzite and metallic minerals, probably originated in the asteroid 6 Hebe. Two more meteorites would have landed in 1912 and 1962 or 63, though we lack of the rock proof. There are also three documented cases of fireballs, two false fireballs (cases of anthropogenic bodies), four doubtful cases (possible anthropogenic bodies), and two supposed impact craters that resulted not to be true. According to world extrapolations, probabilities that a meteorite weighting >1 kg falls in Costa Rica, are 0.44/year, despite it would be expectable to recover a meteorite in Costa Rica every 1200 years of history. The legal deficiencies about the property of meteorite falls and insurance against meteorites are discussed.