description Kapoeta Overview
Kapoeta is a howardite meteorite that fell in 1942 near Kapoeta, in the territory now belonging to South Sudan. Howardites are breccias made from mixed fragments of eucrite and diogenite material, recording impacts that excavated and recombined rocks from different levels of a differentiated asteroid's crust. Kapoeta is an extensively studied member of the HED meteorite clan, which is widely associated with asteroid 4 Vesta through mineralogical and spectroscopic evidence.
insights Ranking position
Kapoeta ranks #45 of 213 in the Meteorite ranking, behind Murray, ahead of Alais.
help Kapoeta FAQ
Where and when did the Kapoeta meteorite fall?
Kapoeta fell in 1942 near the town of Kapoeta, in territory that is now part of South Sudan. It was a witnessed fall, which gives researchers more confidence about its terrestrial history than they have for an undated find.
Why is Kapoeta classified as a howardite?
Howardites are polymict breccias containing mixed fragments related to eucrites and diogenites. Kapoeta records repeated impacts that broke, transported, and recombined material from different levels of an asteroid's crust.
Did the Kapoeta meteorite come from asteroid Vesta?
Kapoeta belongs to the HED meteorite clan, which is strongly linked to the differentiated asteroid 4 Vesta through spectroscopy and mineral chemistry. Scientists still frame individual meteorite histories carefully, but Vesta is the leading parent-body interpretation.
Why do scientists study tiny fragments inside Kapoeta?
Its clasts preserve several rock types and stages of impact processing within one specimen. Some fragments have attracted particular interest because they may represent unusual carbon-rich or hydrated material mixed into the Vesta-derived regolith.
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