The National Museum of the Philippines has acquired pieces of six of the country’s seven documented meteorites after the addition of the Pampanga, Paitan, and Ponggo meteorites to its National Reference Collections on August 5.
The acquisition, part of the Philippine Space Week celebration, saw the Pampanga and Paitan specimens donated by the Bayanihan Meteorite Recovery Team, while Ponggo fragments came from a private collection.
They now join the Pantar, Bondoc, and Orconuma meteorites already on display.
The Pampanga meteorite, which fell behind Santa Monica Church in Mexico, Pampanga in 1859 is believed to be the oldest documented in the country.
The Paitan meteorite, which landed in Ilocos Sur in 1910, was once thought to be part of Halley’s Comet and interpreted by its discoverer as a sign of the world’s end.
Ponggo, confirmed to have struck Quirino province in 2022, is the most recent meteorite to hit the Philippines, leaving a palm-sized crater on a house’s concrete floor.
The only known Philippine meteorite not in the National Museum’s collection is the Calivo meteorite, which fell in Aklan in 1916.
“At first glance, they may seem like ordinary rocks. Still, these new pieces in our National Collections are storytellers of the Universe —fragments of space and Earth that connect science, culture, and our imagination,” the Philippine Space Agency said.
