[meteorite-list] Did meteorite slam Oakland? Field Report

From: Maria Nelson <dragonsoup_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:33 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-F66pY98dymBo7I0004270a_at_hotmail.com>

Ken,

So true. The reporter who interviewed me asked me to call the man who wrote
the original story and give him grief because the writer didn't feel it
necessary to follow up.

Maria



----Original Message Follows----
From: magellon <magellon_at_earthlink.net>
To: maria nelson <dragonsoup_at_msn.com>
CC: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Did meteorite slam Oakland? Field Report
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 08:13:58 -0400

Maria,
Thanks so much for the follow-up.
The Press is quick to publish anyone's 'meteorite' story,
but rarely follows up when it is often discovered to be a wrong.
(No reflection on Ron Baalke, who does an excellent job on keeping us
informed)
I hope the trip wasn't too exhausting :>)
Best,
ken newton


maria nelson wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> Armed with my digital camera, four of my five meteorites, and chips of a
> rare-earth magnet, I went out to Davisburg today to scope out the "impact
> crater". While I wasn't quite sure what I'd do when I got there (I'm
really
> new at this), it became instantly clear when I approached the TV news van
> parked in the lot.
>
> During the interview (on camera) I was informed that the crater was
created
> by the exhaust pipe of a fire truck. It was pretty comical but the
reporter
> did let me show all of the meteorites I brought (some had Mike Farmer's
card
> still in the bag). Even though they didn't air that part, they did air a
> cool part of the interview. I was asked if the lengthy drive was worth it
> and I responded: "Yes, it was worth it. If this had been a meteorite we'd
be
> holding space rocks right now!"
>
> Anyway, my first field expedition and report is now complete and I used
up
> about 15 seconds of my remaining 8 minutes of fame on a very worthy
cause.
>
> Space Rocks Rule,
> Maria ;)
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Maria Nelson" <dragonsoup_at_msn.com>
> To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 10:19 AM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Did meteorite slam Oakland?
>
> > URL: http://www.detnews.com/2003/metro/0308/12/c01-242704.htm
> >
> > Did meteorite slam Oakland?
> >
> > By Tom Greenwood / The Detroit News
> >
> > DAVISBURG -- Live long and prosper -- and duck!
> >
> > The Road Commission for Oakland County may have had a close encounter
of
> the
> > shooting-star kind when what appears to be a meteorite hit one of its
> > maintenance facilities over the weekend.
> >
> > "It happened sometime on Sunday when the yard was locked up and no one
was
> > working," road commission spokesman Craig Bryson said. "Two workers
came
> in
> > Monday morning and found an impact crater outside the main garage near
the
> > employee parking lot. When they told me about it, I thought they were
> > kidding. What's next? We've hired Bigfoot as a snowplow driver?"
> >
> > Bryson said the object left a 12-inch-by-18-inch-by-3-inch crater in
the
> > lot, which may not seem impressive until one learns that the crater is
in
> 6
> > inches of asphalt.
> >
> > "The edges of the crater are seared black, and there's a fan-shaped
debris
> > field spread out all around the site," Bryson said. "One of our
employees
> is
> > an amateur astronomer, and he said it looks like every impact crater
he's
> > ever seen."
> >
> > There is a good chance it was a meteorite, said David Batch, director
of
> the
> > Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.
> >
> > "It's possible, although the description of the crater having charred
> edges
> > bothers me a bit," Batch said. "It could have been debris falling from
a
> > plane, although there's been no reports of anything like that.
Fireworks
> are
> > a possibility, but it would have to be a very strong explosion to have
> made
> > that big a hole in asphalt. The best thing to do is to have the site
> > examined and have the debris analyzed."
> >
> > Meteorites usually fall into one of three compositional categories:
> > nickel/iron, stone and stone mixed with iron, Batch said. They enter
the
> > upper atmosphere at 40 miles per second but are greatly slowed by
> friction.
> >
> > "If this was a meteorite, it was probably about the size of a fist or
> > larger," Batch said.
> >
> > Workers have marked off the crater with orange cones.
> >
> > "We're going to have our amateur astronomer contact some scientists and
> have
> > them take a look," Bryson said. "But what the heck? What else could it
> be?"
> >
> > You can reach Tom Greenwood at commuter_at_detnews.com or (313) 222-2023.
> >
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Received on Wed 13 Aug 2003 10:33:00 AM PDT