[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Cumbrian meteorite..?



>
>In a message dated 7/16/98 1:06:11 BST, you write:
>
><< Stuart-
> 
> I hate to say this because I love your optimism...(we've all been there in
> our pursuit of this otherworldly material)...but based on what you've
> indicated, I would suggest that the liklihood of your coming up empty is
> exceedingly probable.
> 
> best-
> d- >>
>
>Darrly-
>
>Me too, but this is the only lead I've got, so I feel kind of obliged to go
>and make a fol of myself... :-)
>
>Cheers,
>
>Stuart
>

Not really.  Avid meteorite hunters are not afraid to come back empty 
handed.  They try again and again.  Eventually they turn up something and
they make the naysayers the fools.


I remember as a teenager, a planetarium director said to me that you will
not find any Holbbrooks as they weather away too quickly.  My friend and
mentor Harvey Nininger confirmed that they weather away, but said that
a careful search should turn up additional specimens.  So in the hot
summer of '67 my dad and I went out there.  Searched and searced, and
found nothing.  We instead went out to Meteor Crater and did some walking
around several miles away from it.  Result-- I found several meteoriite
fragments right on the surface of the ground.  Thrilled, I even showed
them to the people at the Meteor Crater museum. And their response was
"Oh, those are the ones that Nininger must have missed.  He raked the
ground with drag magnets and took thousands of them"  The Meteor Crater
people did not seem concerned that I had found pieces, but 1967 was a
different time.  There was not much interest in meteorites then.

Later, 1972, I was going to college, and working at Lowell Observatory
here in Northern Arizona.  I decided to go out to the Holbrook and try it
again.  Result-- nothing.  Tried it again, every weekend, and at least
five weekends in a row--nothing.

So far the naysayers were right.

Then, later, I tried again, this time on my hands and knees.  There it
was gleaming in the sunlight, sticking out of a sand dune.  A beautifully
fusion crusted meteorite.  A Holbrook!  2.7 grams in weight.  So fresh
it looked like it fell the day before.  What a thrill that was.

I go out there often and have found hundreds of others, three were 
fully crusted 221, 227, and 238 grams respectively.

So the naysayers were wrong!

Steve Schoner  
>
>----------
>List Archives are located at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/list_best.html
>For other help, FAQ's and subscription info and other resources,
>visit  http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing_list.html
>----------
>
>
>

----------
List Archives are located at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/list_best.html
For other help, FAQ's and subscription info and other resources,
visit  http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing_list.html
----------