Magnetized Meteorites?

[Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that some meteorites are
magnetized.  Does anybody know which ones?

When the Galileo spacecraft flew by asteroids Gaspra and Ida in 1991 and 1993, 
it detected possible magnetic fields for these asteroids.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/messenger/oldmess/2Gaspra.html
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/messenger/oldmess/IDA.html

The two asteroids were two small for form an inner iron core on their own, 
so apparently they were a pieces of a much larger parent body.  This 
parent body had a magnetic field, and due to collision over time, smaller 
pieces were broken off (such as Gaspra and Ida) which retained their own 
magnetic fields. This is analogous to taking a magnet and breaking it up into 
pieces, with each of the pieces becoming a smaller magnet.  

Ron Baalke

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