2 meteorites returned to Phl

After over a year of wooing a German astronomer, a group of Filipino space enthusiasts has successfully brought back two Philippine meteorites they plan to donate to the National Museum for public display and research.

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The Philippine Meteorite Repatriation Team on Saturday unveiled specimens Paitan and Pampanga, two of seven local meteorites officially recognized by The Meteoritical Society.

The team obtained the 431.3-gram Paitan main mass and 3.3-gram Pampanga fragment from Dieter Heinlein, a German meteoriticist collecting meteorites and tektites since 1978.

Mar Christian Cruz, one of the team members and a researcher at the National Museum, said they courted Heinlein for 15 months since May 2023 after discovering in an online database that Heinlein had owned Pampanga and Paitan.

"At first, Heinlein refused to hand over the main mass beAMPANGA METEORETE cause it is the most valuable part of the meteorite," Cruz told The STAR during the unveiling ceremony in Pasig.

"He said it was difficult to cut the specimen, so he didn't give us a chance at first."

"We would explain to him, Sir, we are doing this for the people, the Filipino people.