RESULTS ARE BACK ON THE SUSPECTED METEORITE...SEE POST #12

[DANGLANGLEY]

My brother showed me a bunch of what he and I think are meteorite/s. His son and a friend saw a bunch of impact holes in a field and they gathered these. There's over 20 pounds of these and he said they were covered in soot when they found them. They are slightly magnetic and my Ace 250 picked them up mostly in the nickel range but switched a little back and forth to iron. I imagine a large one must have exploded above the ground for them to be found close together. They are hard to break with a hammer and do appear to be a mixture of a shiny metal and a darker metal. They appear to have started to rust in very small places. They appear to be iron/nickel meteorites. Please let me know your opinions.

Thank you all.
DANGLANGLEY

 

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[jimb]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorite/s?

Meteorites are not covered in soot. They are covered in what looks like melted rock, sort of glassy looking. You can't wash it off. It is called fusion crust. But they do look nice! I would have to see one to really tell.

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorite/s?

I cleaned one of them up as good as I could so you can see how the outside looks.
This one weighs 2 1/2 lbs.

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

I like the colors. I think you got some meteorites there.

 

[paseclipse]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

Meteorites don't have vesicles and I see some in your pictures. If they are from a fresh fall like you say then there wouldn't be any rust on them, just a nice fusion crusted rock. Also looks like the edges are not rounded enough and meteorites also don't have "soot" on them. Your best bet is to cut one and see what the inside looks like.

 

[jimb]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

Would you be willing to sell a small one to me cheep? I will try to have it checked out but that could take about a year as there is a backlog most everywhere. It also looks like there are two types of rocks there. Neither look too much like a meteorite.

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

Thanks for all of the replies. I talked to my nephew and he said these were found widely scattered out in a 2 1/2 acre plowed field about 6 months ago. They had been laying outside in a flower bed at his house since then. I guess that explains the rusty spots on them. I checked them with my metal detector and it kept switching back and forth between iron and nickel and it's easy to tell that there's 2 different metals in them. There's a thin crust on each of them once you scrub them good. I don't think it is soot on them. I believe it's oxidation and some of them appear to be glazed over in spots. If a meteorite broke up in the atmosphere wouldn't it make them pointed and have thin edges on some of them?

Thanks again

DANGLANGLEY

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

I'm telling you, I'd get 'em tested. Or give them to me, I'll get 'em tested.

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

I had a couple of them checked by a science professor and they said they passed all of the tests for being meteorites. It does look like they are real. I am supposed to get an address to send one to make 100% sure. Thanks for all of the input. I will let you know when I know anything else.

DANGLANGLEY

 

[trish76642]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001dev/Open1.htm
Good websight, and they will test a small sample of your rock for free. They specialize in meteorites.

another good one with lots of interesting info on it....
http://earthsci.org/fossils/space/craters/met/mineral.htm

Tests

The best single test is to grind a corner of the suspected object with an emery wheel or emery or silicon-carbide paper. An iron meteorite will show a bright white metallic surface and the vast majority of stony meteorites will show tiny flecks of shiny silver-colored metal. Because the iron-nickel metal is always magnetic it can be attracted with a hand magnet or refrigerator magnet. Irons are strongly magnetic while most stones will attract a magnet weakly. (Weak magnetism can be demonstrated by hanging the magnet on a string, then showing that it moves when the sample is passed near to it.)

If the specimen has a black interior, is highly magnetic and feels less dense than a piece of iron metal of similar size, it is probably the iron oxide magnetite. Magnetite is the most common material confused with meteorites, particularly in the Western United States. The identification of magnetite can be confirmed by seeing if the specimen gives a black streak on an unpolished (e.g., bottom side of) ceramic tile.


What to do if you think you have a meteorite?

If you think you have a meteorite, remove a small piece, about half the size of a large grape, for examination. Small pieces can be removed from most specimens with a hammer and chisel, with a hacksaw or by sawing at a local rock shop. Please send the sample along with your name, address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address to:

Professor J. T. Wasson
Institute of Geophysics
University of California
Los Angeles, California 90095-1567
USA

A reward of $500 or more is offered for the first specimen (i.e., the main piece) of any new meteorite. The UCLA Collection of Meteorites is the largest of its kind on the West Coast and contains over 1600 samples from about 650 different meteorites.

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

Thanks Trish, I'll send a sample to them. I'll cross my fingers.

Nathan

 

[trish76642]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

Take a look at this one too, they look a little bit more professional.....GOOD LUCK!

http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001dev/Open1.htm

 

[DANGLANGLEY]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

I just got the results back from UCLA and it was bad news. Here's the e-mail I got back.

Thanks for sending in the suspected meteorite to Prof. John Wasson. He asked me to examine it. Unfortunately, the rock is not a meteorite. It is a piece of sulfide.
Alan Rubin

I realize they are supposed to be the experts but I don't agree with his opinion. I know I'm probably wrong but I'm going to send a sample off to another place and get a second opinion. That sure did burst my bubble, lol. Thanks for taking time to read my posts.

DANGLANGLEY

 

[trish76642]

Re: My nephew found an impact site and meteorites?

That sure did burst my bubble, lol. Thanks for taking time to read my posts.

DANGLANGLEY

i sure know that feel'n!

 

[paseclipse]

Alan Ruben has been working with meteorites for many years so I would trust his professional opinion. If they were meteorites the man would probably be very ecstatic to analyse them for you.

Just looking at your pictures there's a few obvious clues (edges, color, shape, vesicles, etc) that tells me you what your nephew has found most likely aren't meteorites. Sorry, keep at it though because they're out there.