METEORITE BOOK

<<< THE WTUSA METEORITE BOOK >>>

( ELEVEN CHAPTERS )

WHAT ARE METEORITES ? : "METEORITES" are Rocks or Pieces of Metal > that fall from "OUTER SPACE" down to the Earth. We see these objects frequently as bright "METEORS" ( YOU MAY CALL THEM SHOOTING OR FALLING STARS ) burning up white hot with friction as they enter and are slowed down by the Earth's atmosphere. A "METEOR" is only called a "METEORITE" > if it actually falls all the way down to the ground still intact. Far less than 1 in 10,000 visible Meteors in the sky , or "Falling Stars", actually results in a small "METEORITE" being left on the Earth's surface. All of the rest will completely burn up to dust in the Earth's atmosphere > well before they reach the ground. Many of the larger meteorites that do make it all the way, however, explode or break up in the air well above the ground as they are falling, and then shower many smaller fragments over areas ranging from a few yards to hundreds of square miles. The Area on the ground over which the many pieces from a single meteorite breakup are scattered > is called a Meteorite's "STREWNFIELD". Meteorites are the Oldest objects on the Earth. Most of them originated shortly after the very beginnings of the Solar System, estimated to be about Five Billion years ago. They have been floating around in outer space ever since then, and have remained essentially unaltered since that time > protected due to the lack of moisture & total vacuum in deep space. As such, ... they tell us a great deal about how our planet Earth, the Sun, Asteroids, and all of the other matter in our Solar System & beyond > first came into Existance. Meteorites have recently acquired additional importance to Science as we have begun to establish our initial footholds in outer space. These fragments of remote celestial bodies are our best opportunities to study future sources of oxygen, water, minerals, and metals necessary for space travel > and possible colonization in other parts of space. Meteorites are also some of the Rarest objects on Earth. There is less total known meteorite material on Earth, counting all the known collected varieties except dust, > than there is known precious Gold Metal. Most of our meteorites originated as the bodies of "ASTEROIDS" ( The large chunks of Rock and Metal floating around in Space ) that orbit our Sun > primarily between the planets Mars and Jupiter. The Nine Planets are also made up of the same materials as the Asteroids > but the minerals that make up these much larger Planetary Bodies have been altered over time by Heat, Pressure, Irradiation, & their Atmospheric Conditions. Before there was a Solar System containing the Earth ( around Five Billion years ago ) this part of space that we live in was a Nebula, or cloud of hot dust and gasses resulting from the decay and Nova explosions of earlier Suns (Stars) in space. Gravity and turbulence caused clumps of this gas, dust, & debris to draw together forming a New Star (Our Sun). Heat and violent winds blowing out from our newly forming Sun, caused droplets of matter to form among the dusts and gasses, much like raindrops form in Earth's clouds. We call these droplets Chondrules. Metals, mostly iron and nickel, also condensed in this cloud as small flakes, much like our Earth's snowflakes form. Then .... these small rocky droplets known as "Chondrules", the metal flakes, and bits of space dust were all attracted to each other, by mutual gravity, in larger and larger groupings > until they began to form large masses several meters in diameter or even kilometers across. The largest of these masses, known as proto planets > fell into relatively steady orbits around the Sun due to their hugh size. The smaller masses continued to be blown and hurled around by the influences of impacts with each other, solar winds, and gravities of these larger massed proto planets. For millions of years these proto planets continued to sweep up all the dust and smaller objects around them by gravity , and occasionally, they even ran into each other, fusing together and creating larger and larger masses. Within a billion years of our Suns formation, over 99.9% of all the matter in our Solar System had fallen into the Sun or onto the surface of these largest proto planets or planetoids. The largest survivors are known as our nine known Planets and their many Moons. But .... between Mars and Jupiter there is a very large open space, roughly equivalent in width to twice the distance between the Earth and the Sun. In this Big space, and to a lesser extent in the spaces between the other Planets, there were no remaining bodies large enough to have enough gravity to sweep up & draw down the many smaller rocks and metal bits, > so they settled into their own stable Orbits around the Sun. Neither Mars nor Jupiter has a powerful enough gravity to pluck these rocks from their Orbit in that Vast Gap. Most of the meteorites found on Earth come from this area in space > it is known as the "ASTEROID BELT". The process of the largest objects in the solar system sweeping up the smaller objects and becoming larger and larger > still continues today, although on a lot dramatically smaller scale than happened early in Solar System history. The Earth still increases it's mass by about 35,000 to 100,000 tons a year due to a steady rain of this gravity captured space matter. This is roughly the equivalent of a large mountain falling to Earth every 100 million years. However, most of this space matter is quite harmless, and falls to Earth softly & unnoticed in the form of space dust and micro-meteorites. Very rarely, an object large enough to be seen with the naked eye, a Meteor or "Falling Star", is caught by the Earths gravity field > and pulled down thru the Earth's atmosphere towards the ground. If it actually makes it all the way down to the ground without burning up completely > A "New Meteorite" has landed on the Earth. The frequency with which meteorites fall decreases strikingly as the size of the meteorite increases. Dust sized particles fall regularly on every home and person in the World. Particles of a gram or more in weight ( about the size of a small pea ), however, are estimated to fall at a rate of less than 8 per square mile per year. Similarly, objects of about 10 grams in weight (approximately a U.S. Quarter sized stone sphere) fall at something less than the rate of 1 per 1,000 square miles per year. And ... as the size of the object gets larger & larger, the rate of fall becomes Exponentially Smaller, so that we can expect that an object over One Kilo (approximately 2.2 lbs or about baseball size) might fall to Earth in a given 1 square mile area of land > only about once every 50,000 to 100,000 years !!! The estimates of meteorite fall rates vary widely, and the above numbers are probably even quite Overly Generous.

BUT WE DO KNOW THAT :

LARGER SIZE "METEORITE" FINDS ARE UNUSUAL & RARE.

 

WTUSA > CHAPTER 2

THE TYPES OF METEORITES : All of the Colliding, along with the process known as "Radioactive Decay", generated a lot of heat in the proto-planets and larger planets of the early solar system. Our Earth Moon is an example of the type of heat that can be generated by collisions. It is theorized that the Earth was struck by a proto-planet at one point in it's early history, and much of it became molten from the energy of the impact of the two bodies. The moon was flung, as melted molten matter, from the surface of the Earth during this violent impact. This occurred about 4.95 billion years ago, when the Earth was a very young 50 million years old ( Now our Earth is approx. 5 billion years old ). The smaller planetoid that caused this catastrophic impact was about the size of Mars, or about half the earths diameter, with a weight of only about 1/10'th as much as the Earth. Although a lot of heat can be generated by impacts, the heat generated from radioactive decay is much more important in understanding meteorite types. Heavy radioactive elements can only be made, in nature, by the action of a Super Nova or Nova type explosion of a star. These elements were abundant in the nebular cloud from which our solar system condensed. Over time, all radioactive elements decay into inert stable elements > the way Uranium will turn to Lead as it decays completely. This happens at a predictable rate, but the process can drag out for billions of years before all of the radioactives finish decaying. Today, 5 billion years later, we still have some radioactive elements on earth, such as Uranium. But in the early history of our Planet, before it had billions of years time to decay, there was much more radioactive material on Earth. The decay of radioactive matter can create intense heat. In the early days of the solar system, when there was a lot more radioactive matter out there, it created a lot of heat. In small bodies, the heat can radiate out into space as fast as it is generated. However, in larger dense masses that are many miles in diameter, such as large Asteroids, Planetoids, and Planets > the heat builds up faster than it can escape in to space. The size of the objects insulates their center interior so that they just get hotter and hotter. It can take thousands to billions of years for objects of this size to cool significantly, even after all major impacts have completely ceased and the majority of the radioactive material has decayed and is no longer producing any substantial heat. In our early Solar System, as bodies swept up more and more matter, and began to grow in size to planetoids and then to planets, the heat of radioactive decay inside them built up until they began to fuse or, in the larger examples, until they completely melted. When these larger objects melted, the metal flakes combined and ran to the center because of gravity & they were heavier, while the silicates, the minerals that made up the dust and most of the chondrules, floated to the surface of this molten metal mass. This process of separation & crusting is known as "DIFFERENTIATION". We can still see this effect today in our own planet Earth, where the center of our planet is a molten round core of dense iron and nickel, and the outer crust is mostly rock, dirt, & dust. The Earths crust contains very little metal except for that which was thrust up from deep inside the Earth > by Volcanoes & thru Fissures in the crust. The exact same thing happened in proto-planets, larger asteroids, and moons. This common process gives us 3 of the 4 major types of meteorites:

1. ) STONE Meteorites ( Achondrites ) > A fancy word for the stoney crusts of ancient asteroids. The most common type of meteorite found on the Earth. Today .... You probably have walked on a small one or a broken piece > mixed in with the gravel & dirt under your feet.

2. ) STONEY IRON Meteorites ( Pallasites and Mesosiderites ) > which are a mix of stoney material and Iron metal > from the border areas where the lighter stoney and heavier metal elements didn't completely separate from each other.

3. ) IRON Meteorites ( Irons ) > chunks and pieces of the molten iron-nickel metal cores of those early giant Asteroids, Moons, and Planetoids. Less than 1 in 10 meteorites on the Earth is of this type. Some "Irons" are known to even contain trace amounts of precious Platinum group metals !!!

4. ) CHONDRITES > which are simply pieces of objects that were too small to build up enough heat to melt. Chondrites are so named because of the presence of visible circular chondrules of about 1 MM to 1 CM in diameter that can be seen in their interior. These chondrules are important because there are few other objects that have not been melted or otherwise destroyed since they formed in the early Solar System. Only in the remnants of very small Asteroids > are these original components of all matter in the solar system still visible. Chondrites tell us the most about how our solar system started out, because, of all of the meteorite types, they are the least altered by heat and pressure. Because the matter in the early solar system was sorted to some extent by gravity, chondrites that formed from material that was located closer to the Sun tend to be made of heavier elements than those that formed farther away from the Sun.

Each of these FOUR Major Types of meteorites is, of course, subdivided into many different sub types or classes. Chondrites differ according to how far from the sun they formed ( ordinary, carbonaceous ) and by how hot they got ( petrologic grade 3 - coolest, to 6 - hottest ) which is related to how big of an object in space they were a part of, as was explained above, and by how much of certain types of metal they contain ( LL, L, H, etc.). This relates both to how hot they got and how far from the sun they formed. Irons and Mesosiderites are subdivided by how much iron and nickel they contain ( the metal alloy ), as well as by what other non-metallic minerals they might contain. And the Achondrites, which are much like Earth rocks, are subdivided by what type of rock material they are, and how they were formed.

Although it is estimated that only about 6% to 8% of the meteoroids in Orbit around the Sun are the Iron Type ( the remainder being Stoney and Stoney Iron ), ... they are the most common type meteorites identified on Earth > because Iron meteorites are much easier to recognize than the other types. Most stand out as "obviously different" from other Earth rocks & they can be easily located with a metal detector. As a result, ... the odds are over 99 percent that there is an undiscovered smaller "Stoney" meteorite on the ground within 1 mile of you right now. Although it is very challenging to recognize and authenticate a small stoney meteorite ( many of them look just like Earth rocks & gravel ), ... it is much easier to do so for an Iron meteorite. A test for the presence of nickel metal is done first, since it is almost always present in Iron meteorites of this type. If it tests positive for nickel content > then a portion of the specimen is sliced, polished, and then acid etched to reveal the meteorite metal's "Widmanstatten Pattern" ( see the chapter & photo below ), which will only be present in "Genuine" Iron meteorites, ... and not in other "Earth" Iron metal.

There is a FIFTH type of meteoritic material that isn't usually counted when we are talking about collectible meteorite specimen types, but should be mentioned here. It is made up of the space dust and microscopic particles to small for you to see. While a meteorite of any good size is quite a rare find, and even a meteorite the size of small pea is not likely to fall on your house anytime during your entire lifetime, ... these microscopic dust particles from outer space float down to the Earth (Land & Oceans) with amazing frequency. Billions & Billions of these microscopic particles > made up of the the remains of the many smaller meteors that totally burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere and did not make it all the way down to the ground intact, particles of burnt up man made space junk ( Old Rockets & Satellites ), and dust originating from deep outer space >>> Rain Down on our homes, streets, cars, and onto & into our human bodies each day. Many Thousand Tons of this Extraterrestrial " DIRT " falls down to the Earth each year !!! These particles are, for the most part, harmless and too small to see with the naked eye, But ... Under a high powered microscope > many will look like very small shiney black metallic or glass like spheres.

THE METEORITES FROM OTHER PLANETS : A very very small percentage of meteorites originate, not from among the Asteroids, but from our other Planets. The only other planetary bodies from which there are known meteorites are Mars and the Earths Moon. 20 Martian meteorites are currently known, and 21 Lunar meteorites. These are some of the most rare, very expensive, actively sought after by serious collectors, as well as some of the most scientifically important of all the meteorites. Planetary meteorites are extremely difficult to find on the Earth, unless they are a very fresh fall or land in a selective environment such as the Antarctic ice sheets where they can be more easily recognized. The reason they are so difficult to find, apart from the fact that they are so rare and incredibly few and far between, is that they look so similar to normal earth rocks. We can generally only tell for certain if a meteorite is from one of these 2 sources by using very detailed chemical and isotopic testing. Humans have been to the moon and have carried back over 350 Kilos or well over 800 pounds of moon rock for study. So far .... we have only sent remote probes to the planet Mars > no people, and nothing has ever been brought back from there. A very few Martian meteorites are the only samples of Mars that we have on this planet. As such, they are very important for scientific study. The most famous of the Martian meteorites is Alan Hills # 84001. This is the meteorite on which some scientist believe they may have found fossils of an ancient Martian lifeform of a type similar to some bacteria that can be found in Earth soils. The question of whether these are actually real genuine lifeform fossils or just look alikes > is still being actively debated among top meteoriticists and planetary scientists today. And this debate is far from being resolved either way. However, it is already widely accepted that there was once liquid water flowing and standing on the surface of the planet Mars, and that some or all of the conditions we know are necessary to support life were once present there. Mars is now a planet with very little atmosphere, very little surface water, and extremely high and low temperatures ... that vary greatly from day to night. Even if we do find that there "was" life on the planet Mars 1 or 2 billion years ago > it is extremely unlikely that it would have survived the serious known atmospheric changes on that planet > that have occurred since that time.

HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE A GENUINE METEORITE ? : In order to recognize all possible meteorites, you would need a tremendous amount of specialized knowledge & equipment. But ... There are a few characteristics, however, that might help you to recognize well over 90% of them. Most genuine meteorites can be attracted by a very strong magnet since the vast majority contain between about 5% and 95% of Iron - Nickel alloy metal. Because of this metal content, most meteorites will be very slightly to significantly heavier than common Earth rocks. The surface of any recent fall meteorite, unless it is a broken piece, should have a darker colored burnt outside crust known as "FUSION CRUST". If the meteorite is an Iron, it may also be covered with a thin to very heavy layer of rust. The interior of a meteorite will most often be a different color than the fusion crust, usually a lighter shade of stone or a brighter metallic. The meteorite surface (especially the Irons) may show many thumbprint like depressions known as "REGMAGLYPTS", ... and-or melted "FLOW LINES" > both of which originate from the uneven white hot burning away of the surface of the meteor ... while it was falling down thru the Earths atmosphere to the ground. The interior of a stone meteorite, if cut & polished, may also show round mineral chondrules. True meteorites, if cut and polished, will usually show some amount of shiny silvery colored metal. This can vary from very small flakes mixed in with the stone, ... to ... in many of the Irons > the entire body of the meteorite specimen being composed of a heavy solid iron-nickel metal alloy. Most "Genuine" Iron meteorites > if carefully sliced, polished, and acid etched > will reveal their natural Metallic Crystalline "WIDMANSTATTEN PATTERN". This unusual cross hatch pattern visible in the metal is unique to different meteorites, ... & can help in their authentication & fall locality identification. When a piece of common Earth made cast iron is cut & acid etched > it will not display this unusual & unique type of crystalline metal structure.

A SLICED IRON METEORITE > DISPLAYING IT'S "WIDMANSTATTEN PATTERN".

No known meteorites contain quartz crystals or mica flakes, and very few contain any significant number of gas bubbles of the sort found in Earths basalt stone or volcanic pumice. The presence of any noticeable fossils is also probably a quick meteorite eliminator.

NOTE : Also be aware that there are Common Earth Stones & Foundry Factory Debris that is attracted by a magnet > & can easily be mistaken for a "Genuine" Meteorite from Outer Space.

If after you closely examine a specimen and taking into account the above factors, you still think you may have a "Genuine" Meteorite, you can send thespecimen to any of the following institutions for their validation :

TO : WORLD TRADING USA > FOR A LOW COST EXPERIENCED SECOND OPINION. YOU CAN JUST EMAIL CLEAR PHOTOS, OR MAIL THE SPECIMEN TO WTUSA > ADDRESS UPON REQUEST.

OR YOU CAN CONTACT ....

The American Museum of Natural History , Central Park West at 79'th Street , New York , NY 10024

The National Museum of Natural History , Department of Mineral Sciences , Smithsonian Institution Washington , DC 20560

The Field Museum of Natural History , S. Lake Shore Drive , Chicago , IL 60605

METEOR-WRONGS : Of the thousands of possible meteorites that are sent in to these Institutions for examination > most specimens are not from Outer Space, a few are pieces of genuine meteorite material from previously "KNOWN FALLS" of large atmospheric exploding meteorites, and maybe ONE turns out to be a find from a "NEW INDIVIDUAL" meteorite fall. There are many types of natural Earth minerals and Earth made objects that look somewhat like meteorites to the untrained eye, and can be easily confused by the layman. Some of the most common of these imposters are : magnetite stone, basalt stone, volcanic lava & pumice stone, geodes, iron rich nodular accretions, blast furnace slag, foundry waste, and chunks of old rusty scrap iron. Anyone wishing to take up meteorite hunting or collecting as a serious hobby should not only familiarize themself with the appearance of the various types of genuine stoney & iron meteorites, but also with these commonly mistaken items. In addition to a solid familiarity with the objects which are frequently mistaken for meteorites, there are a few other items of understanding that help meteorite dealers and researchers in distinguishing real finds from cases of mistaken identity. First, over 99% of all meteorites are cold or only very slightly warm when they reach the surface of the earth. This is because the outer part of the meteor that we see burning brite as it falls thru the Earths atmosphere is shedded & blown away ( the meteors glowing dusty tail ) as quickly as it is heated to white hot by friction with the atmosphere. The remaining inner body of the meteorite is mostly insulated from this heat and will still retain something close to the temperature it had while it was still in space > usually below minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Most larger meteorites will hit the ground still cold or only slightly warm. Thus, virtually any news report that involves a big flaming or glowing object striking the ground, a found meteorite being to hot to touch, or a fire being started from a small meteorite impact, ... is most likely the result of a wild imagination, a downright falsehood, or a mistaken identity of what really fell from the sky > all on the part of the observer - reporter. Secondly, ... and closely related to the concept explained above, any report of a witness seeing a bright glowing "shooting star" fall to the earth, is almost uniformly a false report. A bright streak of light is frequently reported as being seen as the object fell & landed ... "just over the hill", "on the other side of the field", "at the edge of town", or "in that bunch of bushs". This is an easy mistake to make, as the "Shooting Stars" appear very bright, making it virtually impossible to visually judge their distance. Most of these reported "very close" falls > turn out to be meteors that burned totally away in the atmosphere, or fell to the Earth dozens or even hundreds of miles away from the observer. The object appears to fall as it passes the horizon or the limits of the observers field of view. A "Real" meteorite fall usually consists of a small rock thudding unexpectedly to the earth with no flash or fanfare ... or ... if it is large enough maybe a few distant rumbling sounds or whistling will be heard > and it could possibly even make a small crater when it hits. The bright streak of white light and occasional rumbling sounds from breaking the sound barrier > that may accompany the fall of a larger meteor > usually cease when the object is slowed down enough by the Earths atmosphere to below a certain speed. This usually happens about 8 to 16 miles way up in the sky, and the meteorite during the remaining miles of it's travel down to the ground, is mostly quiet and gives off no obvious light, ... & will hit with just a quick sharp thud. This is the way of a smaller meteorite fall ... But ... if a very large meteor hits > it is a whole different scenario. Less than 1 in 100,000 meteors make it all the way down to the ground and most are smaller sized objects > Thankfully ... or we would all be in Big Trouble !!! If a very large sized meteor were to fall all the way thru the Earths atmoshere > it would be coming in so Fast & Hard that it would explode in the air above or strike the ground with such destructively explosive force that it would level buildings > and kill anyone and anything nearby. Think of it as a "giant cannon shot" from outer space. The bigger the meteor's mass ( the cannon ball ) still is when it explodes above the ground into many large pieces ( like a Huge Shotgun Blast ), or actually strikes the Earth in one Massive Piece > the more "Very Serious" destructive damage it would do. You definitely would not want to be anywhere near by a "Big Meteor Hit" !!! Scientists have even theorized that a Very Huge Comet ( Made of Solid Ice ) or Meteorite strike was responsible for the ultimate extinction of all the Dinosaurs on Earth !!! But ... "Any" size meteor that makes it all the way to the ground can still be a Hazard , even if it is not a "Hugh Cannon Shot" > if it happens to hit in the wrong place at the right time. The probability of this happening is well over one in a million ... if it wasn't ... you would frequently read in the papers "His death was caused by a meteorite" or "The car was destroyed by a falling star". Things like this can and have happened a few times in the past > but please do not lie awake at night worrying about it > Because you are much more likely to get struck by a Bolt of Lightning !!! A Much Bigger Worry for Humanity is another "HUGE" Meteorite or Comet Strike sometime in the Earth's Future > Which is Going to Happen ( It is Just a Matter of "WHEN" ).

AN ARTIST RENDITION OF A HUGE "KILLER" METEORITE EARTH IMPACT LIKE THE ONE THAT THEORETICALLY WIPED OUT THE DINOSAURS APPROXIMATELY SIXTY FIVE MILLION YEARS AGO !!!

FINDING METEORITES : Most of the meteorites that fall to the Earth will be broke down & completely destroyed by moisture, weathering, rust, temperature changes, or some other natural force > within the first few thousand years of lying on the Earth's surface or buried underground ( & ... If an impact crater was formed > most will fill back in over a relatively short period of time > due to the Earth's gravity & weather erosion ). The meteorites that land in the Earth's Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Streams usually deteriorate even faster ( Over 50% will hit water ). This leaves very few "ancient" meteorites left to be found in any humid areas. Most of the smaller ones have already crumbled or rusted away completely, and the larger ones are in varying stages of decay ( The outside darker fusion crust & the sharp edges of regmaglypts are usually the first to disappear ). In order to find & identify those few ancient & the more recent meteorite falls that still remain, we must somehow manage to recognize them as different from the surrounding natural Earth rocks, gravel, scrap iron & other man made junk. This can be & usually is a very formidable task. But ... In a few rare locations on Earth > such as hot dry deserts in the Sahara and on deep frozen Antarctic ice sheets, ... the meteorites do not break down as rapidly > and are somewhat easier to find and tell apart from the surrounding environment. This is possible since there are conditions such as barren ice sheets, fewer other rocks, little top soil, very little covering and hiding vegetation, & previously unsearched areas > that aids in new meteorite discovery and their recovery. We have only recently realized this, and in the last few years, there has been a meteorite prospecting rush to these unusual locations > similar to the famous Gold Rush of California in the 1800's. The deep ice sheets of Antarctica are probably the most ideal setting for meteorite recovery. A rock sitting in the middle of big sheet of ice by itself is obviously unusual and worth taking a look at, especially, as in deep Antarctica, there have been no people around to carry it there. In the last 20 years, almost 20,000 meteorites have been recovered by Artic expeditions to favorable locations on the antarctic ice sheets. This represents about 90% of all of the known meteorites ever found on the Earth, > leaving only about 10% for us meteorite collectors to acquire, collect, & hold. Most of these antarctic found meteorites are held and reserved for study by scientists. They are shared among Governments and Countries around the World > and are not for sale. The second target for this meteorite rush is the hot dry desert regions of North Africa. The deserts are easier to access than the Antarctic, but there are a lot more similar looking natural rocks there to confuse with "stoney" meteorites. Because of this, searching in these areas depends mostly on the knowledge of the local desert Nomads. They know the land & can tell a genuine stone meteorite from a common Earth rock > just by their hunting & handling experiance. One good big meteorite find for a desert Nomad that he sells on the free market, would probably make him more money than he could make in a year of hard work. Soooooooo ... Hundreds of desert Nomads in these unexplored regions prospect the desert (Many on a Camels back !) > and have learned to recognize Meteorites when they see them > even when they spot them at quite a distance !!! They gather these precious rocks throughout the dry Saharan Desert, ... then haul them by Camel Back or Truck to the free market > and sell them to Western dealers in trading towns such as Erfoud, in Morocco. Recently : The hugh number of meteorites that have come onto the market from this source ... have driven current prices of many of these meteorite varieties (mostly the stoney types) to record lows. Many of the meteorites of this desert area have names that begin with Sahara or NWA, followed by a 5 digit number (The first 2 digits of this number are the year in which the meteorite was found > and the next 3 refer to the specific meteorite). These names are assigned by the Nomenclature Committee of the International Meteoritical Society > the organization responsible for naming and tracking information about all the known meteorite falls. Due to the sheer volume of recently recovered Sahara Desert material coming on the market, as well as lack of interest among Scientific Institutions with these meteorites, who find themselves with a big surplus of these type specimens, many of these desert found meteorites are simply going unnamed and unclassified by Science. Many meteorite dealers and Scientists feel that this desert meteorite surplus may last only a few more years ... before these African Desert areas have been completely scoured and picked clean > and then these now abundant specimens will become a lot harder to find & therfore much more valuable. For those who want to search for meteorites a little closer to home than the Sahara Desert or Antarctica > the best bets for places to look are near known meteorite strewnfields, dry lake beds, and deflated desert areas. By far the easiest place to find meteorites are the well known meteorite strewnfields. A "STREWNFIELD" is the land area over where a large meteorite exploded in the air or broke apart while falling to the Earth, and where most of it's pieces landed. Seldom if ever are "ALL" of the smaller pieces recovered from a large meteor strewnfield. In the case of the Holbrook strewnfield in Arizona > tens of thousands of tiny little stone meteorite pieces ( A Shotgun Blast ) fell in the strewnfield. Over 16,000 known pieces have been recovered so far from this one site alone !!! Most of the Holbrook stone meteorites found were smaller in size than a pea. But ... Many meteorite pieces of varying size are still on the ground waiting to be found around sites such as : Allende in Mexico, Imilac in Chile, Campo in Argentina, Odessa in Texas, Sikhote-Alin in Russia, Nantan in China, Gibeon in Africa, Canyon Diablo in Arizona, ... and at many other sites Around the World > of the Larger Meteor Hits. At some of these sites > there is still a big meteor impact crater visible !!! ( See the photo below > of the Canyon Diablo Meteorite Impact Crater ). This only a sampling of some of the larger well known meteorite strewnfields > there are many more large & small strewnfields > that are located all around the World. However ... You could have a problem searching for meteorites in many of these known places, ... prospecting for or removal of meteorites is not allowed at all, is severely limited, or requires special permission by the local property owners, or even the Government of the Country where the site is located. Meteorite hunters who wish to add to Science or their Collection by locating "NEW" meteor hits can do so by chasing new reported falls, a process that is well detailed in the book "Find a Falling Star" by Harvey Ninninger, ... or by legally prospecting dry lake beds and deflated desert areas. Deflated desert areas are expanses in which the wind has blown away most or all of the top soil or sand, leaving many years accumulation of rocks ( and hopefully a few Meteorites as well ), exposed on the surface of the ground. Dry ancient lake beds and deflated desert areas allow efficient searching because > there will be little vegetation and the topsoil will be thinner > so it is not as likely to hide your "Stone Meteorite" find on the surface ... & your "Iron Meteorite" find may not be buried too deep for your metal detector. Search areas that are in more Remote Territory > that hopefully have not been picked too clean before you. First look very closely around the area, & then sweep the ground with a decent metal detector that will detect iron. Be sure to closely examine any unusual rock or piece of metal you find ... that looks like it could be a possibility. This can be a long, arduous, and time consuming task, ... but the final result of finding a nice big undiscovered Rare & Valuable "NEW INDIVIDUAL" Meteorite to add to your collection > can make it well worth your Time & Effort !!!

INFO ON SOME OF THE BIGGER IRON FALLS :

THE CAMPO METEORITE : > Location: Campo del Cielo, Gran Chaco Gualamba, Argentina, about 500 miles north-northwest of Buenos Aries. Latitude 27 degrees 39 minutes South, Longitude 61 degrees 44 minutes West. / Structural Class: Coarse octahedrite, Og, Widmanstatten bandwidth 3.0 ±0.6 mm. / Chemical Class: Group I > Approx. 92% Iron, 6.68% Ni, 0.43% Co, 0.25% P, 87 ppm Ga, 407 ppm Ge, 3.6 ppm Ir. / Time of Fall: Est. 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. / History > The first written record of the Campo fall was in 1576. A Spanish governor learned of the Iron that had fallen from the Heavens > from the local Indians. The governor sent an expedition under the command of one Captain de Miraval who brought back a few pieces of a huge iron mass he called Meson de Fierro (large table of iron). The location of the find was the Campo del Cielo ( Field of Heaven ), a very fitting name for the location of this meteorite. Since the Indians of the time believed that the Irons fell from the Heavens > this name may have originated from the meteorites fall in this area. The area is an open brush-covered plain that has little standing water and few other bigger rocks ... very good country in which to locate & recover meteorites. A "New" dryer location of the Campo Strewnfied has recently been discovered > higher up in the surrounding mountain areas. It has been producing some very nice high quality Iron Meteorite Specimens > due to 5,000+ years less exposure to moisture at this higher & dryer mountain slope location. Most of these "New Campos" show far more detail and have much less rust damage than the "Old Campos". The previously known "Old Campo" crater area & strewnfield is very long and narrow > approximately 3 KM by 100 KM in area . Then ... In 1999 ... The " New " part of the Campo meteorite strewnfield was discovered > in the province of San Juan, nearly 600 KM. distant from the "Old". The "New Campo" area is in a direct line with the first strewnfield ( Probably a big chunk broke off of the Campo Iron mass when it was still very high up in the Earths atmoshere ) > and it has not yet been well studied or documented. Scientists "have" confirmed a metallurgical, mineral, and Widmanstatten pattern > that is an exact match with the earlier Old Campo Meteorite finds. It has been hypothesized that the original body of this hugh Campo meteor was a very large tabular shape when it was still in outer space > and then it broke up & fragmented upon entry into the Earths atmosphere. The estimated total weight of this Campo Iron meteorite fall is > approx. 50,000 Kilos ( 1 Kilo = approx. 2.2 LB. ). The Campo del Cielo meteorite is described as a polycrystalline coarse octahedrite. At 3mm wide the Widmanstatten bands are thicker than those found at Canyon Diablo, Arizona or Odessa, Texas > but still thin enough to have the same coarse octahedrite classification. The main mass was composed of large austenite crystals from 5 to 50 cm in size > on breaking up in the Earths atmosphere > the many different size fragments were cold worked like those at Sikhote-Alin and Gibeon. The more important minerals are: Kamacite: this iron nickel metal alloy makes up about 90% of Campo specimens > in finger size and width crystals ... & Neumann bands are common / Taenite and plessite: these other iron nickel alloy constituents are found at grain boundaries / Troilite: is found aggregating with graphite and silicates / Schreibersite: is sometimes found / & even a small trace of the precious & expensive platinum group metal "Iridium" is usually found in these Campo meteorite specimens !!!

THE SIKHOTE - ALIN METEORITE : > Location: Siberia, Russia > Coordinates: 46 deg 9.6Õ N, 134 deg 39Õ E. Trajectory: Azimuth 20 deg East of North; Altitude (descent angle to horizon) 38 deg; at the final segment 60 deg. / Structural Class: Coarsest octahedrite, Ogg, Widmanstatten bandwidth 9 + 5 mm. Chemical Class: Iron IIB; Fe 93.32%, Ni 6.00%, Co 0.47%, Cu 0.03%, P 0.28%. / History > It was a still, frosty winter, almost cloudless morning of February 12, 1947 in Eastern Siberia, about 270 miles NE of Vladivolstok, Russia > when at 10:38 AM local time a bolid was observed in the sky, clearly visible in full sunlight. It initially looked like a very bright distant star, but soon turned into a dazzling white fireball, which became slightly elongated as it crossed the daytime sky. The bolid rapidly crossed the sky from North to South, leaving behind it a long visible dusty trail of burnt meteoroid particles. Then it was observed passing low and then out of sight > behind the hills in the Russian Sikhote-Alin mountains. The many people who saw and heard the fall (some up to 200 miles away) > reported a smoke trail 20 miles long with the meteorite coming in at about 41 degrees from about 15 degrees East of North. An Expedition to find & explore the fall site > was sent out at the end of April 1947, after the Siberian weather slightly improved & the heavy snow started to melt. The main strike area was found & then thoroughly examined. The Explorers discovered 24 major impact craters of a diameter of more than 9 Meters ( the biggest one, No 1, was 26 M. in diameter and 6 M. deep ), ... and also 98 smaller craters and penetration holes ( with a 0.5 M. to 9 M. diameter ). They outlined the " ellipse shaped strewnfield " ( containing many scattered small meteorite pieces ) that stretched far North from the principal meteor crater field & that encircled an area of about 4 KM. to 12 KM. in size. This ellipse shape was a result of the meteorite exploding apart into many pieces during it's flight down to Earth. The smaller pieces, which lost speed in the thick lower atmoshere sooner than the larger ones, fell down to the ground as a shower in the main meteoriteÕs tail. Scientists believe the Sikote entered the atmosphere at about 31,000 miles per hour and began to break up almost immediately > but the main mass fragmented in a violent explosion at the relatively low altitude of about 3.5 miles above Earth. The main fragments travelled together and landed in an elliptical area of about half a square mile, creating a number of bigger impact craters. The complete fragments that broke off early & high prior to the near ground explosion are found with brown fusion crust and atmospheric ablation, & the fragments from the main explosion near the ground look more like clean metallic "Shrapnel". These unusually " clean " meteorites can have some very interesting shapes and textures ( See the photo below ). This big Sikote meteor fell in a very cold & hostile environment > therefore meteorite recovery has been quite difficult. / Two principally distinct types of Sikote specimens have been discovered. The First Type: there are many smaller fragments, or "Shrapnel" pieces > These are jagged shaped shivers of the meteorite that occurred as a result of the explosion of larger pieces ( approx. 2-3 ton size ) > near or on the ground which shattered them into many smaller sharper fragments ... these are the pieces of iron known as "Sikote Shrapnel". Most Sikote-Alin " Shrapnel " specimens have no fusion crust, have sharper edges than the usual irons, and the fresh mostly rust free clean iron metal has a dark shiney metallic surface ( similar to blued gun metal ). Some of these sharp shrapnel pieces were even found deeply embedded in hardwood trees of the surrounding forest !!! The Second Type: This type is the complete whole piece individuals. These are probably the chunks that broke off of the main mass very early in the descent > high in the Atmosphere. They show fusion crust > their surface was vaporized and eroded by the white hot trip down through the Earths atmosphere. There are usually regmaglypts, flow lines, and ablation cavities on the surface of these whole piece specimens. The largest & finest whole piece of this Sikote meteorite found so far (weight of 1,145 kilograms) was excavated from Crater # 45 > with an Impact Crater diameter of 3.5 M. , ... & at the depth of 4 M. . This hugh meteorite is an excellent individual specimen > showing fusion crust, orientation, flow lines, and a distinct regmaglyptic surface. This big priceless Sikote meteorite specimen > is on display at the Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow, Russia. The Total mass of meteorite iron that reached the ground in this one fall > is estimated to be Approx. 70 to 100 Tons. Official data reports > that over 27 tons have been recovered up to this date.

THE GIBEON METEORITE : > Location: Great Namaqualand, Namibia, Africa. / This is a group IVA iron meteorite classed as a fine octahedrite (average crystal width of 0.3 mm). On average the composition is approx. 90% Iron and 8% Nickel > with minor amounts of Cobalt and Phosphorus. There are a number of scarcer minerals found in it, including Kamacite, Taenite, Triolite, Chromite and Daubreelite. / History > the Gibeon meteorite is beleived to have fell to Earth several thousands of years ago > in Prehistoric times. Captain J.E. Alexander was the first to report finding pieces of it in 1838. The Gibeon meteorite was a meteorite that appears to have broken up very high in the Earths atmosphere > as pieces of it are found scattered over an area ( a hugh Strewnfield ) of about 16,100 square miles. To date, no impact Craters have been found > common with ancient meteorites > Mother Nature fills impact Craters back in over time. Larger pieces of this Iron meteorite are the more common > with smaller fragments being more unusual. Radiometric dating places the metal in this meteorite at over 4 Billion years old. Gibeon meteorite specimens have been severely depleted in the last two years as the Gibeon strewnfield is becoming picked clean, and the Namibian Government has stopped any further exports of the Gibeon Meteorite. The collector supply of Gibeon meteorite specimens is drying up, ... and prices have been climbing dramatically. The Gibeons can be very large, rust free, have beautiful unusual sculpted shapes, & are usually highly regmaglypted, > & therefore they are highly sought after & valuable Irons.

 

THE CANYON DIABLO METEORITE : > Location: Approx. 40 miles East of Flagsaff, Arizona, U.S.A. / Classified as a Course Iron Octahedrite and composed of mostly Iron and Nickel > with traces of other minerals. Slices of this meteorite can sometimes show large trilolite enclosures > and on very rare occasions small black diamonds. / History > It was in the year 1871 when the Crater was first mentioned in Coconino County, Arizona, newspapers. The big crater is approximately 3850 feet wide with a rim, & unusual surrounding terrain > even today it is a very impressive sight. The Origin of this crater however was debated for many years > with many early observers believing the crater to be caused by a large natural gas blowout. Then In 1902, Philadelphia Lawyer and Mining Engineer Daniel Barringer visited the crater > he immediately suspected the big crater's cosmic origin. After quickly making a prospectors mining claim > Barringer and a group of investors started drilling in the center of the crater > searching for the unbelievably hugh mass of meteorite material that he believed to be buried at the bottom of the crater. He & the Investors who backed him > Expected to make a fat commerical profit from mining & selling the Many Tons of Valuable Minerals that they suspected were buried there. About 30 deep holes were attempted to be dug in various areas of the crater floor > but ... the setbacks were numerous. The flooding of drilling holes, snapped drill bits & broken machinery, desert Sun beating down, and the slow going non productive hot dusty work made the job very frustrating to the workers > & finally a losing proposition for the Investors. They failed to find any sellable minerals > except sand. Then around 1952, Harvy H. Ninninger, a knowledgeable college professor from a small Kansas university, spent several years studying the impact crater and its surrounding area . One day while walking the area > he noticed a small part of the crater rim > that was freshly torn into by the local highway department. Here he found pieces of Nickle metal positive glass impactite material . Thus ... this craters true meteorite origin was finally Scientifically conclusive. It was shown that this Canyon Diablo meteorite was much smaller then the prospector Barringer dreamed of > but this was not the worst news that Barringer would have learned had he lived longer. Modern Physics showed that this meteorite did not survive the impact with the Earth. The crater was caused by a meteorite hit all right > but the very hard impact with the sandy ground made this big iron meteorite explode to bits > & this threw most of the Iron pieces far away from the craters center ( Bits of this iron have been found as far away as 7 miles !!! ). Barringer was prospecting in the wrong place > no large amount of meteorite material would be found on the crater's actual floor area. Mr. Barringer is still remembered & respected for his insight and for following a belief that he thought was true > which ultimately helped the Scientific community understand more about meteorites. The Canyon Diablo Crater is beleived to be the oldest proven meteorite crater in the United States. This Arizona " Big Meteor Crater " has also been given several other names including : Coon Butte, Crater Mountain, or Barringers Crater. The impact crater and the land around the crater area > are now a listed National Park that is protected by the U.S. National Park Services. One of the bigget pieces of this Canyon Diablo Meteorite is an impressive 639.1 KG. or 1,406 pounder > that is owned by the Barringer Meteorite Company. Many years ago ... Canyon Diablo's were one of the most common meteorites for sale on the U.S. market. This however ... has drastically changed in the last few years. Less and less of these meteorites have been finding their way to the market > due to a big increase in meteorite collectors, much more Government restrictions on searching the "Canyon Diablo" Strewnfield, & the Strewnfields "easy finds" being picked clean in the years past. At the year 2003 Tucson Gem & Mineral Show & Sale > I could only find a couple of dealers selling a few smaller specimens of Canyon Diablos > & the asking price was very high. This Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. Show > is the largest yearly Gem & Mineral show in the World > & it goes on for over a week. If you get a chance to make it to this show > you can also go to see the Arizona Big Crater ( The Canyon Diablo Meteorite Impact Site ) > it is located near Flagstaff > not too far of a driving distance away from Tucson, Arizona.

ARIZONA'S "CANYON DIABLO" METEORITE IMPACT CRATER.

 

THE NANTAN METEORITE : > Location : Nandan or "Nantan" China, near the towns of Lihu & Yaozhai, Nandan County, Guangxi Province, in Southern China. / This is a coarse octahedral IIICD Iron meteorite with a composition of approx. 85% iron and 7% nickle. More than ten other rarer minerals have been found in the Nantan meteorites, dominantly kamacite and taenite. Secondary minerals found are plessite, scheribersite, triolite, graphite, spherlite, sideroferrite, dyslytite, cliftonite, and lawrencite. Traces of the following Elements have also been detected: C, Cu, Co, S, P, Cr, Ga, Ge, As, Sb, W, Re, Ir, Au, Ru, Pd, Os, Pr, and Mn. Ag, Cd, and Pb. As a generality > This Nantan Iron meteorite material may have more internal cavity's, inclusions, & fractures > then many of the other big "Irons". The density of the Widmanstatten pattern, it's crystalline structure, and its composition determines the category. The word "coarse" refers to the large crystals forming the Widmanstatten pattern. The larger the Asteroid was, the longer it took to cool down, and the larger the size of the metal crystals in the meteorite. Therefore, ... Scientists know that this big Nantan meteorite came from the core of one of the largest Asteroids. It is theorized that billions of years ago, a very large Asteroid collided with another very large Asteroid, which shattered both of them to bits > and strew thousands of smaller meteoroids in a donut shaped orbit around our Sun (the Asteroid belt). This Nantan meteorite was a big chunk of the metal core of one of these hugh Asteroids > that was drawn into the Earths gravity field, & pulled down to the ground. / History > This big Iron fall reportedly Sizzled into the Earths lower atmosphere over Chinese farmland in May, of the year 1516. Early Chinese Scholars saw & recorded this big bright meteor crossing the sky, the long dusty trail, and the subsequent hugh aerial explosion & multiple meteorite fall > at the time it happened in 1516 ... calling it " A Dragon Rain of Fire ". It was recorded that " During the Summertime in May of Jiajing 11th year, many Stars fell from the Northwest direction, five to six fold long, waving like Snakes and Dragons thru the Sky ... They were as bright as Lightning and disappeared in seconds ". The Scholars 1516 reported location of the fall and the strike direction > match that of the Nantan Strewnfield. This rare but very local event quickly fell into obscurity ( No television, radio, telephones, or internet back then !!! ) ... and was quite unknown to the World until 1958. That was the year of Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong's catastrophic Great Leap Forward > when all the poor Chinese Peasants were firmly ordered to " Collect every piece of iron and steel that could be found " > in order to make new machinery, ships, munitions, steel girders, etc., ... to help the Government thrust this then dirt poor country into the 20th century. Even the peoples plows, hand tools, cooking pots, and utensils had to be sacrificed to this foolish Communist plan. All this metal was melted & processed in crude backyard furnaces, and then the blocks of Iron were sent to central Government collection points. The sad result was that soon after this forced event > millions of the Chinese common people died from starvation > because the farmers could not attend to their crops without their plows, shovels, & hoes. And ... to add insult to injury ... most of this collected iron was never used for it's proposed industrial use > because it was of such a low quality. During this constant Communist Chinese Government quest for more and more scrap metal for the cause, ... the Nantan Iron meteorites which had just lain on the ground rusting away for many centuries (and were viewed as just useless junk by the locals ... who had long known of them) > were collected from the huge meteorite strewnfield ( An approx. 400 square mile area ) > and added to the iron furnace fires. When these strange iron rocks would not melt in the furnaces ( due to the high nickel content ), ... Officials in the Capital of Beijing were notified, and Scientists were sent to study, ... & subsequently identified the local iron rocks as " Iron meteorites " from outer space. Nantan meteorites have been on the ground in the humid climate of Southern China for nearly 500 years > As a result > all Nantans have some degree of naturally occurring weathering & rust. Most of them are now quite rounded off, do not have visible fusion crust, show few sharp regmaglypts, & can be very rusty. Since there is now free trade with the poorer Chinese people > who find these meteorites and want to sell them as soon as possible to raise money > there is a quanity of this Nantan meteorite material currently being offered for sale on the free market. Right now these meteorites are quite affordable compared to other "Irons". This makes smaller Nantans a good choice for novice meteorite collecters, ... & larger Nantans ... a far less expensive way to own a Bigger Iron Meteorite Specimen. I suspect that like the "Canyon Diablos" > In future years when the Nantan Meteorite Strewnfield is finally picked near clean > the price for these "Nantans" will probably go up considerably.

ABOUT TEKTITES : If a very large meteor or comet hits the Earth or Moon > it can strike with so much force & create so much heat > that it can melt the sand & stones into a liquid glass like material > splashing it very high & far out of the meteorite crater. This molten matter can sometimes be flung so high that it cools & hardens in the air as it is falling back down to Earth > forming "DROPLET" & "DUMBELL" shapes ... or if it is still molten when it hits the ground, will sometimes form a "PUDDLE" shape. This is what is generally known as a "TEKTITE". The odd and diverse chemical make up of Tektites is probably the result of certain meteorites striking certain Earth or Moon rock types > producing unique particular combinations. This is modern scientifically what is believed to be the origin of Tektites > although some Scientists still theorize that they come directly from outer space > very much like a meteor-meteorite !!! A specimen of a Tektite can be extremely old > possibly landing on the Earth many many millions of years ago. They are still in existance because much of this Tektite material is formed from a very gemmy dense high silica glass like material > that does not rust or break down & crumble away nearly as fast as the meteorites do > even under the heavy assault from Earths worst atmospheric conditions. The deposits of melted or partially fused glassy material sometimes found under and on the ground around the area of a large meteorite impact crater is called "IMPACTITE". Some of this "Meteorite Tektite" material is even "Gemmy" enough to use for gemstone cutting. A Rare faceted European "Moldavite Gemstone" is cut from very transparent green glassy tektite material. The unusual clarity & deep green color is thought to have been created by this particular giant meteorites huge Explosive Impact with the Earth ( approx. 15 million years ago ) > which caused a "Fusion" of the Meteorites extraterrestrial Nickel Metal with certain terrestrial Earth Stones & Silica Sand. Some specimens & gemstones even have visible bubbles of Ancient Earth Air > that was trapped inside the moldavite material 15 million years ago !!! This unusual "MOLDAVITE" Tektite material is only found in the area of this one unique large meteorite impact site. This gemmy green tektite material is only found in an area around the Czeck Republic & Germany ... located near the Moldava River in central Europe > hence the name. NOTE : Be Aware that the bright green colored "AFRICAN MOLDAVITE" being sold as genuine tektite material is very pretty, but not nearly as valuable because it has not been proven to be extraterrestrial > and was in fact probably created by the Eruption of an Ancient Earth Volcano (Natural Green Obsidian Glass) .

EXAMPLE > OF A BLACK GLASSLIKE "TEKTITE" DROPLET.

MYTHS & MISCONCEPTIONS : Because of early Hollywood movies depicting meteorites as big poisonous radioactive brite green glowing monster carrying harbingers of death, doom, & destruction > there are a number of public misconceptions that need to be dispelled. Most of the meteorites found are quite harmless. They do carry small traces of radioactivity from the interaction of their atoms with cosmic rays in outer space, but it is so small of an amount that they are no more dangerous to people than common Earth rocks. In fact > The few traces of radioactivity that these objects do give off > can be used to our benefit by helping us in dating them and their origins. Just use some common sense when handling them >>> and don't let your kids or animals lick them ... they may contain certain minerals that are not good to ingest > this also goes for some Earth rocks too. Always keep meteorites in a safe dry place to protect and preserve them ( A Locking Cabinet is good ). Keep your "Iron Meteorites" Coated with a thin film of Marvel Mystery Oil or just plain clean Motor Oil > to help protect them from rusting & corrosion. Don't show them to clumsy or careless people > who just might drop or damage them. Most of all " JUST ENJOY OWNING & STUDYING THEM " ... & learn more about their amazing age, travel thru outer space, and the fascinating history once they made it down to our Earth.

REMEMBER : EVEN A GREAT BIG "METEORITE" SHOULD NOT HURT YOU, .... UNLESS YOU HAPPEN TO DROP IT ON YOUR FOOT !!!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE : The best over all meteorite information book that I have found is : "The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites" by O. Richard Norton. > Published recently in April of 2002. it has 354 pages of current & interesting photos and text > that synthesizes most of what is known about meteorites as of today. There are many good books out there to study about this subject ... but this is one of the best, & well worth reading & looking at. It is a more scholarly work > that achieves the rare balance of still being appropriate for the beginner who is just learning > as well as a prized reference book for the advanced meteorite collector. Also : Visit your local public library > to see what books they may have available on this subject ... and always talk & share information with, plus show your finds to other collectors !!!

THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF METEORITES : Scientists that study meteorites are known as meteoriticists, and their field of study is known as meteoritics, ... or sometimes planetary sciences. Meteoriticists study a wide range of topics including meteorite craters, impact catastrophies, the origins of life, the formation of planets and stars, high speed impacts, orbital mechanics, minerals and metals, and many other interesting topics. Meteorites provide us with glimpses of parts of space that we may not be able to reach directly for many decades > if ever at all. By combining a study of meteorites with remote observation through telescopes, meteoriticists and planetary scientists can learn a great deal about objects that are millions of miles away. In a few rare meteorites, scientists have even found ancient grains of dust from ancient stars located billions of miles outside of our solar system. The efforts of today's meteoriticists, combined with the studies of our other space scientists and explorers, are paving the way for humanities gradual push towards colonizing our solar system and surrounding space, and then deep space exploration. Because meteorites are unique and scientifically important objects, that provide a significant key to the Earths and human kind's past & future. Much care should be taken that meteorites are never accidentally disposed of, carelessly damaged or destroyed. REMEMBER : To many Uneducated or Apathetic People > they are just Plain Old Dumb Rocks or Dirty Rusty Scrap Metal !!! For the Sake of Science & Your Own Sanity > Protect Them the best that you can. Always keep Stoney Meteorites very dry & protect them from temperature extremes, & coat the Iron Meteorites with a Light Oil > to heip protect them from rust & corrosion. Always document what you know about the history of any Meteorites that you have found or own , ... & be sure that you pass them on to a very "Responsible" person. Be sure that all "Unwanted" Meteorites reach the hands of scientists at a Museum or University, or donate them to a serious meteorite collector > so that they can be in safe possession, examined, & studied by the Experts .... That is if "YOU" ever grow tired of Looking At and Playing With your very own Personal "METEORITE" Collection !!!

< THE END >

 

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GOOD COLLECTING !!!

from SCOTT >

The Author of this Book, ....

and the Owner of WTUSA

 

This Book Is Dedicated To My Good Friends >

S.G.W. , D.G.M. , K.S.T. , M.G.P.