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

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Aug 17 14:18:51 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86904EE5F6D_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi All,

How many mistakes are in this article:

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

> On average one meteorite falls every week to earth

Only 52 meteorites a year?

> ... and the last significant find in the UK was in 1991 in
> Peterborough.

Is she referring to the Glatton fall? Does Leighlinbridge not count
because it's Ireland? And if she really means significant "find" as
opposed to "fall", what about Glenrothes by our own Rob Elliott?

> According to experts, no one has ever been hit by one.

What about Elizabeth Hodges (Sylacauga, Alabama)?!

> 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.

"Visible crystals" as a ~positive~ meteorite indicator?

> 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.

So the author has replaced a known, documented, dramatic case of a person
being hit by a meteorite with a dubious case involving a dog.

> Mrs Aguss said: "If you get a microscope out you can see lots of
> crystals on it ...

Again with the crystals. Unless this word has an alternative meaning
in the UK, I'd say Mr. Aguss picked up a garden-variety rock (no pun
intended).

> "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.

??? Crystals, crystals, crystals...

> 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.

At least Maria ended on a factual note... ;-) --Rob
Received on Tue 17 Aug 2004 02:12:34 PM PDT