Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

The Vienna Museum of Natural History in Austria presented a fragment of the meteorite donated to museum by Azerbaijan.

The event, organized by the Azerbaijani Embassy to Austria and the Cultural Center of Azerbaijan was opened by head of the Mineralogy and Petrography Department of the Museum Franz Brandstetter. He said that, the Vienna Museum of Natural History has the largest meteoric collection in the world, where more than 7,000 meteorites are deposited in various regions of the world. He noted that, the presented fragments of meteorites are detailed and used for scientific purposes.

Then, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Austria Galib Israfilov noted that, presenting a fragment of a meteorite as a gift to the museum is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. He said that, the fragment of the meteorite that fell to the territory of Yardimli is the second meteorite given to the museum after the meteorite Hindarh, found in Shusha in 1891.

Executive Director of the Foundation for the Development of Science under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, PhD in Physics and Mathematics Elchin Babayev said that, the initiative to present a part of the meteorite as a gift to the museum was put forward by Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva. He said that, the Azerbaijani government took this noble step to establish intensive ties between the relevant research institutes of the two countries. E.Babayev said that, a fragment of the meteorite was donated to the museum for usage in scientific research.

Meteorite collection coordinator of the Museum of Natural Sciences, a member of the International Society of Meteorites, Louis Ferrier informed the participants about the Yardimli meteorite. He noted that, on November 24, 1959, a meteorite that fell on the territory of the Yardimli region of Azerbaijan became the first iron meteorite on the territory of the country. The total weight of the meteorite that fell during the meteor shower of Sikhote-Alinski, which consists of 6 separate samples is 152.5 kg. According to the composition and structure of the surface, this unique meteorite is of particular importance for the study of the solar system. At the same time, considering the low number of iron meteorites falling on the Earth, the scientific value of the Yardimli meteorite is even greater. He noted that, a fragment of a meteorite weighing is 250 grams, carved from the largest part of the meteorite Yardimli (117 kg) will become one of the most valuable exhibits of the museum.

Then, a fragment of the meteorite was placed in the exhibition hall of the museum.

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