THE METEORITE FROM MOCIU

-text and photos by Dan Uza-


In 2012
I dedicated many days
to heavenly bodies
naturally placed in the sky:

-Stars



-Super-Moon



-“Spotted” Sun



-“Blue” Moon



-The Transit of Venus across the Sun



-The Occultation of the Moon over Jupiter



…

So I decided to dedicate a day
to heavenly bodies
fallen on Earth.

Thus, on 3 February 1882
a meteorite fell over the Mociu village in Transylvania,
who belonged to the Habsburg Empire at that time.
The chroniclers said that the luminous signals
which accompanied this fall of the cosmic boulder
could be observed from Slovakia to the south of Romania,
and its noise - similar to the intermittent clatter of a carriage
on a cobbled road - could be also heard on a large area.
The boulder of 300 kg broke into thousands of pieces,
from which the biggest recovered part
can be seen today at the Mineralogy Museum
in the building of Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca,
Transylvania, Romania.





The Mociu meteorite is placed in a corner of the museum,
on a small wood table,
behind the showcases of other exhibits.
You can admire, touch and even caress it.
You can absorb its astral energy
without any problem.

Only to elevate it is forbidden.
Otherwise, the policemen would elevate you.

Anyway,
you would risk to broke your back
with the boulder of 36 kg….



In time,
smaller pieces from the Mociu meteorite
were sent to over 100 institutions from all over the world.
The museum makes international exchanges,
enriching in this manner its own collections
with meteorites fallen in other countries:
Slovakia, Poland, Russia, USA etc.











Even with so many exports,
Cluj County is represented by at least 3 stands
with remnants of the astral stone
that must have terribly scared the people
130 years ago…

*
Design: Florin Stancu
English translations from the Romanian: Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
© 2012 Borealis Astroclub and SARM