Editing Meteorite (section)

===Falls===

[[File:Benldmeteorite.jpg|thumb|Car seat and muffler hit by the [[Benld, Illinois|Benld]] meteorite in 1938, with the meteorite inset. An observed fall.]]
Most meteorite falls are collected on the basis of eyewitness accounts of the fireball or the impact of the object on the ground, or both. Therefore, despite the fact that meteorites fall with virtually equal probability everywhere on Earth, verified meteorite falls tend to be concentrated in areas with higher human population densities such as Europe, Japan, and northern India.

A small number of meteorite falls have been observed with automated cameras and recovered following calculation of the impact point. The first of these was the [[Přibram meteorite|Příbram meteorite]], which fell in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) in 1959.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ceplecha |first=Z. |year=1961 |title=Multiple fall of Příbram meteorites photographed |journal=Bull. Astron. Inst. Czechoslovakia |volume=12 |pages=21–46 |bibcode=1961BAICz..12...21C }}</ref> In this case, two cameras used to photograph meteors captured images of the fireball. The images were used both to determine the location of the stones on the ground and, more significantly, to calculate for the first time an accurate orbit for a recovered meteorite.

Following the Příbram fall, other nations established automated observing programs aimed at studying infalling meteorites. One of these was the ''Prairie Network'', operated by the [[Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory]] from 1963 to 1975 in the [[Midwestern United States|midwestern US]]. This program also observed a meteorite fall, the ''Lost City'' chondrite, allowing its recovery and a calculation of its orbit.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McCrosky |first1=R.E. |first2=A. |last2=Posen |first3=G. |last3=Schwartz |first4=C.-Y. |last4=Shao |title=Lost City Meteorite–Its Recovery and a Comparison with Other Fireballs |year=1971 |journal=J. Geophys. Res. |volume=76 |issue=17 |pages=4090–4108 |doi=10.1029/JB076i017p04090 |bibcode=1971JGR....76.4090M|hdl=2060/19710010847 |s2cid=140675097 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Another program in Canada, the Meteorite Observation and Recovery Project, ran from 1971 to 1985. It too recovered a single meteorite, ''Innisfree'', in 1977.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campbell-Brown |first1=M. D. |last2=Hildebrand |first2=A. |year=2005 |title=A new analysis of fireball data from the Meteorite Observation and Recovery Project (MORP) |journal=Earth, Moon, and Planets |volume=95 |pages=489–499|issue=1–4 |doi=10.1007/s11038-005-0664-9 |bibcode=2004EM&P...95..489C|s2cid=121255827 }}</ref> Finally, observations by the [[European Fireball Network]], a descendant of the original Czech program that recovered Příbram, led to the discovery and orbit calculations for the ''[[Neuschwanstein]]'' meteorite in 2002.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=J. |last1= Oberst |first2=D.|last2=Heinlein |first3=U. |last3=Köhler |first4=P. |last4=Spurný |year=2004 |title=The multiple meteorite fall of Neuschwanstein: Circumstances of the event and meteorite search campaigns |journal=Meteoritics & Planetary Science |volume=39 |issue=10 |pages=1627–1641 |bibcode=2004M&PS...39.1627O |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.2004.tb00062.x|s2cid= 59324805 |doi-access=free }}</ref> NASA has an automated system that detects meteors and calculates the orbit, magnitude, [[ground track]], and other parameters over the southeast USA, which often detects a number of events each night.<ref>{{cite web
 | last = Cooke
 | first = Bill
 | title = NASA's All Sky Fireball Network
 | publisher = NASA
 | url = http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/
 | access-date = 3 April 2013
 | archive-date = 4 February 2021
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210204060829/https://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref>