Al-Khadhaf: The first camera-observed (H5–6) meteorite fall from Oman

Abstract

A fireball camera system installed in 2022 by the Oman Meteorite Monitoring Project (OMMP) as part of the Global Fireball Observatory (GFO) recorded a 3.2 s fireball on March 8, 2022 at 8:15 p.m. UTC. A meteoroid of 4 ± 2 kg entered the atmosphere at 14.0 km/s. Its trajectory, with a slope of 68.4°, started at 67.6 km and ended at 30.2 km where the meteoroid traveled at 7.36 km/s. Approximately 50 g survived atmospheric entry. On February 7, 2023, two meteorites of 13.85 g and 8.21 g were recovered at the predicted site. Gamma spectrometry confirmed their young terrestrial age via short-lived cosmogenic radionuclides ⁵⁴Mn and ²²Na. Al-Khadhaf is thus the first camera-observed meteorite fall from Oman. Petrography and mineral composition classify it as an ordinary H5–6 S2 W1 chondrite. Its pre-impact orbit (a = 1.72 AU, e = 0.45, i = 4.36°) is consistent with asteroid-belt delivery, with both inner-belt and Koronis-family sources remaining plausible. The cosmic ray exposure age of 8.57 ± 1.2 Ma coincides with an exposure-age peak observed among H chondrites. Al-Khadhaf adds to the record of camera-observed falls, linking meteorite compositions to their solar system context via orbit calculations.