[meteorite-list] Meteorite Mistaken For Clumsy Lizard

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:52:25 2004
Message-ID: <200208301626.JAA11427_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Note: A goanna is a sand monitor lizard that normally reaches
      7 inches in length.

Ron Baalke

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http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/29/1030508098483.html

Meteorite mistaken for clumsy goanna
By Richard Macey
The Age (Australia)
August 30 2002

It really did come from outer space.

At 10.05pm on December 14, 1999, the slumber of Paul Hancox and
his family was shattered by an unexpected visitor arriving at
their home in Dunbogan, 30 kilometres from Port Macquarie, in
New South Wales.

"We heard a mighty crash," recalled Mr Hancox, a real estate agent.
Dashing to the living room he found a 30-centimetre hole in the
ceiling and the floor covered in debris.

Initially he feared a goanna living above their ceiling had fallen
through. But two scientists who studied the debris have now
confirmed the intruder was a golf-ball-sized meteorite that spent
almost five billion years wandering in space before Dunbogan
got in the way.

Mr Hancox retrieved the meteorite's remains by vacuuming his lounge
and emptying the cleaner on his kitchen table. By passing a magnet
over the mess he collected "300 to 400" metallic pieces - the
biggest no larger than a thumbnail.

Professor Peter Flood, dean of the faculty of sciences at the
University of New England, where the samples were analysed, said:
"We cut the rock and then made some polished thin sections and put
them under an electron microscope. It consists of a series of
silicate minerals and sulphide minerals and is 3 per cent
metal - iron and nickel."

Professor Flood and fellow geologist Ross Pogson, of the Australian
Museum in Sydney, say the meteorite's chemistry is similar to the
Earth's core, suggesting both formed from the same cloud of cosmic
dust, about 4.8 billion years ago.

Professor Flood said the rock was only the second Australian
meteorite to be recovered after being seen falling. That night
11-year-old Elyse Smith, who lives about 50 kilometres from
Dunbogan, saw a spectacular shooting star.

She told Professor Flood she saw "a huge flamey ball crossing in the
direction from the middle (of the) northern sky. After a few seconds
it broke into one large fragment and two middle-sized bits, with a
lot of rubble fragments flying off".
Received on Fri 30 Aug 2002 12:26:17 PM PDT