Is it real?

[Aggie]

Hi everyone I found a some rocks that me and my friend think might be a meteorites. I think we've done every possible home test to verify it and all of them came back positively. Is there any chance someone can direct me where to go to check it professionally please? I don't wanna put my hopes too high but my friend is super excited 😅 what do you think: meteorite or meteowrong? 😄😅

 

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[tamrock]

I'm leaning towards a piece of slag or clinker from a coal fire power plant.

 

[robertk]

I'm leaning towards a piece of slag or clinker from a coal fire power plant.

That was my immediate reaction too. Coal slag.

 

[Blackfoot58]

It does look like a clinker

 

[Red-Coat]

Welcome to Tnet.

My vote would be slag too.

When you say you've done "every possible home test to verify it and all of them came back positively" that doesn't help us much unless you tell us exactly what tests you performed and what the results were.

If you do want to satisfy yourself by getting it professionally tested, I gave a recommendation for a competent laboratory in the US at the link below. Personally, I think you would be wasting your money, although the testing fee is modest at $30 and they return the specimen to you since the testing is non-destructive.

Anyone can confirm if this is a shergotit metroite

I found this rock in the western side of Algerian Sahara I asked few people and they all said this is a shergotit from Mars, magnetic field is weak And it weighs 30 grams

www.treasurenet.com

 

[KaiCor]

Welcome to Tnet.

My vote would be slag too.

When you say you've done "every possible home test to verify it and all of them came back positively" that doesn't help us much unless you tell us exactly what tests you performed and what the results were.

If you do want to satisfy yourself by getting it professionally tested, I gave a recommendation for a competent laboratory in the US at the link below. Personally, I think you would be wasting your money, although the testing fee is modest at $30 and they return the specimen to you since the testing is non-destructive.

Anyone can confirm if this is a shergotit metroite

I found this rock in the western side of Algerian Sahara I asked few people and they all said this is a shergotit from Mars, magnetic field is weak And it weighs 30 grams

www.treasurenet.com

You think the lab will return a meteorite if it's confirmed to be a meteorite? I think it's more valuable than gold and scientifically valuable. I think they would transfer it to a government research center. Or don't they have that authority?

 

[tamrock]

You think the lab will return a meteorite if it's confirmed to be a meteorite? I think it's more valuable than gold and scientifically valuable. I think they would transfer it to a government research center. Or don't they have that authority?

Sounds like a way to make a buck and in the same time discover unknown meteorites out there in private hands. I see they give a count of what they say are authentic meteorites found in each state. It seems like quite a few genuine meteorites have been found across the country by what they claim.

 

[Red-Coat]

You think the lab will return a meteorite if it's confirmed to be a meteorite? I think it's more valuable than gold and scientifically valuable. I think they would transfer it to a government research center. Or don't they have that authority?

You have some weird notions! It's a highly reputable laboratory and they provide this service at a subsidised fee, as part of an educational outreach programme.

Meteorites are not more valuable than gold in general. Only particular rare classifcations or notable specimens with a low fall weight would command those kinds of prices. Typical prices for nickel-iron meteorites start at about $2 per gram and chondrites start even cheaper. Even for rare classifications, neither the laboratory nor the government has any particular right to claim a meteorite and the laboratory would assuredly return your specimen if you sent it for testing... whatever the result.

 

[Aggie]

Thanks everyone ☺️

 

[VisaliaCa]

If I thought something was a meteorite I probably would keep it outside until i. Could use a Geiger counter on it, and i would probably store it in a closed bucket packed in the same soil i found it in, just incase it was reducing oxidation or any small fragments of it could be recovered or gleaned from the soil. Iv never found something like that though.
The biggest indicaton that it might be something man made is that it looks like it has a flat smooth polished surface.
Butler I'm just postulsting. I'd prefer i was wrong and It was a chunk of Saiyamite and you get rich.

 

[TORRERO]

is it magnetic ? Meteorites are magnetic.. Did you watch any videos on how to ID meteorites ? I did and they said if they make a streak when scratched on a hard surface they are not... (mine did) ... but who knows..

 

[Red-Coat]

If I thought something was a meteorite I probably would keep it outside until i. Could use a Geiger counter on it, and i would probably store it in a closed bucket packed in the same soil i found it in, just incase it was reducing oxidation or any small fragments of it could be recovered or gleaned from the soil. Iv never found something like that though.
The biggest indicaton that it might be something man made is that it looks like it has a flat smooth polished surface.
Butler I'm just postulsting. I'd prefer i was wrong and It was a chunk of Saiyamite and you get rich.

Just to set the record straight, all rocks – both terrestrial and meteoritic – have at least some radioactive isotopes, but meteorites generally provide lower radiation than the background levels found in most places on Earth and not high enough to even register on a conventional Geiger counter.

The most radioactive meteorite known (the lunar meteorite Sayh al Uhaymir 169, found in 2002 in Oman) was the first to have sufficiently high levels of thorium and uranium to give a Geiger counter reading. Even then, handling that meteorite would give you significantly less exposure to radioactivity than a trip to the Rocky Mountains, the Black Hills, the Sierra Nevada, the Appalachians, or a visit to Grand Central Station. The granite used for construction of the latter gives the workers there an average dose of 525 mrem/year, which is higher than that permitted in nuclear power facilities. Even having a granite worktop in your kitchen is probably going to give you more exposure than you’d get from any meteorite.

What the heck is 'salyamite'?

 

[Red-Coat]

is it magnetic ? Meteorites are magnetic.. Did you watch any videos on how to ID meteorites ? I did and they said if they make a streak when scratched on a hard surface they are not... (mine did) ... but who knows..

Not all meteorites are attracted to a magnet, and many terrestrial rocks will also exhibit at least some attraction. Slags and clinker can be highly magnetic. What can always be said is that if a rock looks metallic but is non-magnetic, then it won't be a meteorite.

The streak test is usually a good indicator, although some meteorites may give a weak dirty scratch. It's also important to blow away any dust arising from corrosion on the surface to examine the underlaying streak and, ideally, perform the streak using a freshly-exposed unweathered surface.

 

[Fugio]

I vote slag as well. The vesicles (small holes) throughout the surface is an excellent indication that you are almost certainly not looking at a meteorite. There are exceptions to almost every rule in identifying meteorites, but this rule holds in most all cases (I can't think of an exception off the top of my head).

 

[Red-Coat]

I vote slag as well. The vesicles (small holes) throughout the surface is an excellent indication that you are almost certainly not looking at a meteorite. There are exceptions to almost every rule in identifying meteorites, but this rule holds in most all cases (I can't think of an exception off the top of my head).

I'm still with slag/clinker too.

As you say, almost every rule has an exception. For reference only, surface vesicles have very occasionally been seen in glassy fusion crusts on achondrites. Interior vesicles are sometimes seen (fewer than 1 in 1,000 specimens) but are almost invariably tiny and restricted to specific meteorite types with igneous origins such as eucrites and diogenites. So far, I think only the diogenite Dhofar 700 has been found to have vesicles of significant size. Small vesicles have also been observed in two of the lunar basaltic magma specimens brought back by Apollo 17, so it’s possible that a lunar meteorite (or a martian one) might contain them, but none have been found so far.

 

[Bucket Lister]

If I thought something was a meteorite I probably would keep it outside until i. Could use a Geiger counter on it, and i would probably store it in a closed bucket packed in the same soil i found it in, just incase it was reducing oxidation or any small fragments of it could be recovered or gleaned from the soil. Iv never found something like that though.
The biggest indicaton that it might be something man made is that it looks like it has a flat smooth polished surface.
Butler I'm just postulsting. I'd prefer i was wrong and It was a chunk of Saiyamite and you get rich.

Meteorites are no more--or less--significantly radioactive than terrestrial rocks, so a Geiger counter is of no value in determining if a specimen is a meteorite.

Some meteorites are magnetic, but that's no indication of extraterrestrial origin either.

The sample in the first photo appears to have been sawn on a lapidary saw. True? I agree with others that the rest of the photos appear to be slag/klinker.

I got into trouble the last time I posted a link, but you should be able to find more info on positive ID from USGS, University of New Mexico Meteorite Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, or googling, "identifying meteorites".

IME, metallic meteorites don't look like the photos above; they look more like this:

Somewhat smooth from the material fusing as it penetrates the Earth's atmosphere.

 

[Fugio]

I'm still with slag/clinker too.

As you say, almost every rule has an exception. For reference only, surface vesicles have very occasionally been seen in glassy fusion crusts on achondrites. Interior vesicles are sometimes seen (fewer than 1 in 1,000 specimens) but are almost invariably tiny and restricted to specific meteorite types with igneous origins such as eucrites and diogenites. So far, I think only the diogenite Dhofar 700 has been found to have vesicles of significant size. Small vesicles have also been observed in two of the lunar basaltic magma specimens brought back by Apollo 17, so it’s possible that a lunar meteorite (or a martian one) might contain them, but none have been found so far.

Really informative post. Thank you!