[meteorite-list] NPA 03-03-1977 Meteorites tell tales of history - Innisfree Meteorite
From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Oct 7 13:27:08 2004 Message-ID: <BAY4-F11UNWYJVmjuh300039007_at_hotmail.com> Paper: Walla Walla Union Bulletin City: Walla Walla, Washington Date: Thursday, March 3, 1977 Page: 9 Meteorites tell tales of history RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - Scientists at Battelle's Pacific Northwest Laboratories don't make wishes on falling stars - they just wish they had more of them. Battelle has the only laboratory in the United States capable of analyzing the "stars," which are actually meteorites, said Lewis Rancitelli, manager of the planetary chemistry section. About 100 tons of the flying rocks fall to earth each day, but "only a few tens of pounds are collected in a year, typically one or two meteorites a year," said Rancitelli. The latest extraterrestrial visitor is a meteorite that was tracked to the earth's surface by Canadian astronomers and recovered Feb. 5 from near Innisfree, Alta. The meteorite had been traveling from inside earth's orbit to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and back again every 1.3 years, said Dr. Ian Halliday, an Ottawa, Canada, astronomer. The more than 4 1/2-pound meteorite is being analyzed at Battelle for radioactivity and chemical composition. The Albertan meteorite was a rare find, Rancitelli said. The meteorites are examined in a machine called a multi-dimensional gamma ray spectrometer, developed by Battelle for non-destructive testing of low-level radioactivity. There are 12 of the sensitive machines at Battelle and six in the rest of the world. (end) Mark Note: Named the Innisfree Meteorite, this stone was classified as a L5 Stone Chondrite. The meteorite fell February 5, 1977 at 7:17am local time. 9 pieces in total were recovered totaling 4.58kg. Please visit, www.MeteoriteArticles.com, a free on-line archive of meteor and meteorite articles. Received on Thu 07 Oct 2004 01:26:37 PM PDT |
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