Meteorite Dronino – Ryazan district, Russia

The Dronino meteorite is classified as an iron meteorite of the ataxite type containing sulfide inclusions. Most of its meteoritic iron is kamacite, complemented by smaller amounts of rare taenite. The first fragment of the Dronino meteorite, which weighed over 40 kg, was discovered by a resident of Moscow while mushroom picking in 2000 near the village of Dronino, about 20 km southeast of the city of Ryazan in Russia, but it was not identified as a meteorite until 2003 at the Vernadsky Institute. Later that same year, scientific expeditions were organized, and together with meteorite hunters, they collected more than 600 additional fragments with a total weight of 3,000 kg, the largest single piece weighing 250 kg.

Historical records of the meteorite impact are missing, and therefore it is estimated that the meteorite fell before the 12th century, when the area was largely uninhabited, suggesting that the fall may have occurred even much earlier. This estimate is based on the extent and depth of the meteorite fragment finds, which were scattered over an area of 0.5 × 1.5 kilometers. Based on the distribution of fragments, it is estimated that the impact formed a crater with a diameter of 30 meters. The total mass of the recovered fragments exceeds 3 tons, with the largest individual pieces weighing several hundred kilograms.