[meteorite-list] Meteorite Hunters To Get Tutoring

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:45 2004
Message-ID: <200305281545.IAA05457_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/technology/article/0,1299,DRMN_49_1993631,00.html

Meteorite hunters to get tutoring
By Jim Erickson
Rocky Mountain News
May 28, 2003

Denver researchers will visit Montrose and Gunnison this weekend to teach locals
how to spot meteorites and to gather leads in the ongoing investigation of a fireball
that streaked the skies in five Western states last Thanksgiving night.

The Nov. 28 fireball "was probably the biggest and brightest fireball that's come
down over Colorado in 30 or 40 years," said Jack Murphy, curator of geology at the
Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

The space rock zipped from east to west over southwest Gunnison County at 6:21
p.m. It weighed an estimated 200 pounds before it broke apart about 23 miles above
the ground, according to Chris L. Peterson, a member of the museum's meteorite
investigation team.

Murphy said the rock probably broke apart over the Black Canyon area, about 10
miles northeast of Montrose.

"Much of it would have burned away, but it is quite possible that many pounds of
meteorites were deposited on the ground along the last of its path, and extending
perhaps as far (west) as Montrose," said Peterson, owner and operator of
Cloudbait Observatory, west of Colorado Springs.

Murphy and his colleagues will provide search tips for locals interested in hunting
for the meteorite. During lectures on Friday and Sunday, they also will display maps
of the search area and discuss issues of property rights and meteorite ownership.

Friday's lecture is from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Montrose High School Library.
Sunday's lecture is from 10 a.m. to noon at the Elk Creek Visitor Center in
Gunnison.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Several video cameras recorded the fireball, and nearly 350 witness reports were
submitted to the Cloudbait Observatory Web site. Peterson used the information to
determine the fireball's path.

The Nov. 28 fireball was seen in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah.
Received on Wed 28 May 2003 11:45:56 AM PDT