Only the third meteorite in the world
whose passage through the atmosphere was recorded photographically by cameras
at more than one place (the first two were the PrÝbram
meteorite and Lost City meteorite.
Such photographic evidence is important because it enables a calculation
of the object's old orbit and of the area where it is likely to fall. The
Innisfree meteorite fell 13 km north of the town of this name, in Alberta,
Canada, at 7:17 p.m. on Feb. 5, 1977. Although an immediate search of the
area, by light plane and on foot, turned up nothing, photographic records
from two stations in the Meteorite Observation and Recording Program (MORP)
network allowed a computer projection of the most likely fall area. Eleven
days later, the largest piece of the Innisfree rock (2.07 kg) was found
only a few hundred meters from the point predicted. Subsequently eight other
fragments were found, bringing the total mass recovered to 3.79 kg. Analysis
showed Innisfree to be an ordinary
chondrite of the rare LL5 type.