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A Tektite Meteorite?!!? Heck, Why Not?

Well, a tektite travelling 2,000 light years is ridiculous (and the
price is equally astronomical), but I wouldn't be too quick to say
tektites are not meteors.  Anyone who has studied 60 years worth of
scientific papers about tektites and their origin knows there are enough
questions about these stones of contention to fill an impact crater!
Oh, the geologist and tektite researcher V.E. Barnes (et al) would
probably say it's all so much nonsense from the "tektites from the moon
men," but put aside all the professional jealousies of these tektite men
and ask experts like J.A. O'Keefe, formerly with NASA Goddard (even
serious, highly reasoned tektite students and collectors like Hal
Povenmire and Darryl Futrell), about speculative parent bodies of
tektites.  Barnes says tektites aren't volcanic extraterrestrial
material; well, if tektites aren't volcanic, then why are  Muong Nong
tektites essentially layered obsidians formed not as "puddles" as often
explained in the literature but as pyroclastic tuffs that are virtually
indistinguishable macroscopically to a vulcanologist?  Why do we all so
confidently presume "impactites" and tektites are de facto terrestrially
derived splash material from impacts?  There's enough
geochemical/petrologic data to make any open-minded geologist think
twice before presuming to know where little tektites came from...

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	GARSON DANIEL [SMTP:DANIEL_GARSON@NYMC.EDU]
> Sent:	Tuesday, July 14, 1998 1:39 PM
> To:	'meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com'
> Subject:	A Tektite Meteorite?!!?
> 
> 
> 
> I ran across the following add in "The Edge Catalog", which is like
> the
> Sharper Image catalog.  How many errors can you find?
> 
> There is a picture of what looks like a raisin shaped black rock with
> dimples on a stand.  The base of the stand sports a plaque 
> that reads " GENUINE FRAGMENT OF A TEKTITE METEORITE".
> 
> The ad headline reads: "Capture an interstellar traveler"
> 
> The ad copy reads:
> 
> -------------------------
> It slammed into Earth in a fiery cataclysm a thousand years ago.  The
> distance it journeyed stretched between the very stars.
> What wonders did it witness?  What strange civilizations noted its
> passing?
> 
> As collectors snatch them up, genuine meteorite fragments are getting
> rarer and rarer.  After all, it's not every day that a visitor
> from 2,000 light-years away crashlands on the planet.  Held in real
> goldplated calipers, authentic Tektite Meteorite is strikingly
> presented.  Rising above its marbled and wooden base, it graces any
> collection, any place of honor in your home or office.
> A powerful gift - for whom among us has not looked up at the sky and
> wondered?
> 
> Quantities Limited.  Retails for $150 at the Houston Space Museum.
> Yours for just $79.95!
> ---------------------------
> 
> Have fun folks!
> 
> Dan
> 
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