[meteorite-list] NPA 01-16-1970 Freshly-fallen (Lost City) meteorite found by US scientists

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Oct 22 11:28:03 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-F16WNaBJjvmZp0000044dd_at_hotmail.com>

Paper: Daily Gleaner
City: Kingston, Surrey, Jamaica
Date: Friday, January 16, 1970
Page: 11

Freshly-fallen meteorite found by US scientists

     WASHINGTON, January 14, (Reuters): American scientists today proudly
displayed a meteorite that they said could prove as scientifically valuable
as moon samples brought back by Apollo astronauts.
     The 22-pound lump of grey rock was found on a snowy cart track in
Oklahoma last week after automatic cameras picked up its fiery trail through
the earth's atmosphere.
     It is the first meteorite, the name given to a fallen meteor, whose
orbit is accurately known and which has been recovered promptly after it
crashed to earth, scientists said.
     With the aid of 16 unmanned tracking stations scattered across the
mid-western states, American scientists have been trying for five years to
pinpoint a meteorite's landing so that the object can be recovered and
examined before becoming contaminated by earth's molecules. Until this
month, all efforts failed.
     The meteorite, about the size of a volley ball, came down January 3.
Within a few days it was calculated that impact occurred in an area half a
mile across near the tiny community of Lost City, Okla.

Hysterical

     The man who recovered the rock January 9, was Gunther Schwartz, project
field manager, who had gone to Lost City to gather information from anyone
who saw the falling star.
     Schwartz told a Press conference, "I was driving along a dirt track
when I suddenly saw it in the road. I was hysterical, I couldn't believe my
luck."
     Scientists now have begun preliminary examination of the meteorite
which came from beyond Mars.
     Meteorites have been examined sooner after falling to earth - for
instance, after crashing into a building. But Dr. Richard McCrosky scientist
in charge of the project, said "What is unique about this is we know the
orbit. There is only one other case where this was so, and that meteorite
was not analyzed early".
     Scientists wanted what they call a fresh meteorite for analysis of
radioactivity caused by cosmic ray bombardment during the trip through
space.
     There radioactive "fingerprints" provide valuable clues to the
composition and history of the universe, officials explained.
     The rock could even give a clue to whether life exists elsewhere in the
universe, the officials added. Since the meteorite has only just fallen to
earth, it has probably not had time to become contaminated.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
www.meteoritearticles.com
Received on Fri 22 Oct 2004 11:27:27 AM PDT