[meteorite-list] New Orleans Meteorite

From: Matt Morgan <mmorgan_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jun 18 18:42:31 2004
Message-ID: <003e01c45585$85c10f90$6401a8c0_at_PILSNER>

 
Very nice piece Mark.
 
I am offering some of the NO meteorite up for sale as well.
Email me off-list if interested. Both small and larger
pieces.
Matt Morgan
Mile High Meteorites

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com] On
Behalf Of MARK BOSTICK
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 2:43 PM
To: Meteorite List
Subject: [meteorite-list] New Orleans Meteorite


Hello List,
 
Within a couple weeks the New Orleans meteorite will be
making it's way to the market. The meteorite has not been
classified yet, however it looks a lot like Bensour or
Kilabo to me.
 
I imagine this was posted to the list about a year ago, but
the BBC did a really good job on its article, by just
quoting the homeowner and not putting in any price
speculation or untrue facts. So forgive me for reposting it,
if that is the case.
 
Here is a 64g fragment with sheetrock that was not water
damaged.
 
http://www.meteoritearticles.com/colneworleans.html
 
 
Mark Bostick
 
 
 
 

BBC News

United Kingdom

Date: Monday, October 6, 2003

'A meteorite smashed through my roof'


The chances of being hit by a chunk of space rock are
measured in the billions-to-one. Roy Fausset, 59, had the
closest of escapes last month when what scientists now say
was a meteorite crashed through his New Orleans home.

"I walked through my front door and it was like a mortar
bomb had fallen on my house.

There was dust all over the floor of the entrance way and
the two doors leading to a utility room and the powder room
had been blown open.

There was ceiling debris everywhere. I thought it must have
been a broken pipe, but there was no water.

As I was coming home, I'd noticed something on the roof, but
had thought nothing of it. It turned out there was a hole
the size of a basketball through the tiles.

Whatever it was, it had passed through the attic, then my
daughter's bedroom, through the powder room and into the
crawl space under the floor.

I thought it must have been some frozen waste that had
fallen from a passenger airliner - they are carrying out
improvements at our local airport, so planes have been
diverted over our house.

I called the police. An investigator went down into the
crawl space and he found some rock fragments. There are no
rocks in New Orleans, it's all silt. He said: 'It's a
meteorite.'

I took a sample over to the nearby Tulane University, where
Stephen Nelson - the head of earth and environmental
sciences department - examined it.

He said the rock was rhyolite - which is found in Mexico and
Texas. He thought it must have been thrown out of a plane by
a vandal or become attached to a plane somehow and then
fallen off.

But now, after further analysis, it seems it has a profile
consistent with that of a meteorite. The police investigator
was right.

I've collected up all the pieces. It's not a meteorite from
Mars or Venus, which sell for $1,500 a gram. It probably
came from an asteroid, so is only worth $3 - $10 a gram. It
might help with the repairs.

But I don't care about the money. I'm just very grateful
that no one was injured. We really dodged the bullet. If
anyone had been at home, they might have been killed. I
think just hearing the noise would have caused me to expire.


One of my neighbours was out in her yard with her children
eating popsicles. They heard the impact and thought it was a
car accident. If it had fallen 100 feet away, they could all
have died.

I've been very disorientated by the whole thing, especially
when I consider what a narrow escape we all had and what
could have happened.

I keep asking: Why me? Maybe God was telling me something? I
certainly went to church on Sunday and I will never mock Him
as I did in my foolish youth.

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Received on Fri 18 Jun 2004 06:41:50 PM PDT


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