[meteorite-list] UK Woman Hit By A Meteorite?

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Aug 17 13:29:28 2004
Message-ID: <200408171729.KAA08131_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED16%20Aug%202004%2020%3A14%3A49%3A410

Was Lowestoft woman hit by a meteorite?
MARIA FULCHER
EDP24 News (United Kingdom)
17 August 2004

It may have been a Martian attack or simply bad luck, but whatever it
was it left a Lowestoft woman with a nasty gash on the arm.

Pauline Aguss, 76, was hanging out her washing last week when she
received the mysterious cut.

At first the only explanation was her peg bag but, husband Jack was
unconvinced and later found a small brown metallic rock, no bigger than
a walnut, in the garden - which had the markings of a meteorite.

On average one meteorite falls every week to earth, and the last
significant find in the UK was in 1991 in Peterborough. According to
experts, no one has ever been hit by one.

But given the metallic colour and visible crystals on the rock, Neil
Bone, director of the meteor division at the British Astronomical
Association, said he could not rule out the possibility that the
Lowestoft find was genuine.

He said: "It seems East Anglia is the place for meteorites. However,
these things are pretty rare and the chances of being struck by one are
vanishingly small."

He added that the last record of a meteorite causing injury was when a
dog was thought to have been killed in Egypt sometime in the last century.

The unidentified object fell from the sky last Wednesday afternoon and
would have been hurtling at a speed of about 20km a second, having
travelled millions of miles from the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars.

Mr and Mrs Aguss, who live in Normanston Drive, have spent the past few
days looking on the internet, with help from the rest of the family, in
a bid to confirm the origin of the rock.

Mrs Aguss said: "If you get a microscope out you can see lots of
crystals on it, but I would like an expert's opinion to get to the
bottom of this. I just wondered if it was a little Martian wanting to
attack me."

Local astronomical groups are also keen to identify the latest offering
from the skies, and Mark Lawrick-Thompson, chairman of the Norfolk
Astronomical Society, thought there was a good chance it could be the
real thing.

"It is quite rare to find them and the presence of crystals doesn't mean
it is definitely a meteorite, but there is good chance that it is one,"
he said.

However, the possibility that it was connected to the annual perseid
meteorite shower, which was at its peak last Thursday, was discounted by
Mr Bone who explained that the material from the shower was too small
and would burn up in the atmosphere.


----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/12620274?source=Evening%20Standard

Woman hanging out washing 'hit by meteorite'
By Mark Prigg
Evening Standard (United Kingdom)
17 August 2004

A woman believes she was hit by a meteorite fragment while hanging
out her washing.

Pauline Aguss was in the garden when she felt a searing pain and
noticed a cut on her arm. She said: "It looked black and peculiar. I
went indoors and put a plaster on."

It was not until the next day that her husband Jack found a
walnut-sized rock on the path. Mrs Aguss, 76, of Lowestoft, Suffolk,
said: "It was an odd shape and you could see a few small crystals in
it.

"That is when we realised it might have been a meteorite and now,
after talking to people who know about these things, we are 99 per
cent certain." The odds against being hit by a meteorite are billions
to one. On average one a week falls to earth but most are burned up
as they enter the atmosphere at 40,000 mph.

Norfolk Astronomical Society chairman Mark Lawrick-Thompson said:
"There is a good chance this is a meteorite. It is very rare indeed
to find one."
Received on Tue 17 Aug 2004 01:29:25 PM PDT