Fragment of Meteoroid 2008 TC3 in IAU Press Office

2008 TC3 (Catalina Sky Survey temporary designation 8TA9D69) was a meteoroid 2 to 5 meters (7 to 16 ft) in diameter that entered Earth's atmosphere on October 7, 2008, at 02:46 UTC (5:46 a.m. local time). It exploded an estimated 37 kilometers (23 mi) above the Nubian Desert in Sudan. A search of the impact zone that began on December 2008 turned up 8.7 pounds (3.9 kg) of meteorites in 280 fragments, which are surviving pieces of the meteoroid. The meteorites are of a rare type known as ureilites, which contain, among other minerals, nanodiamonds.