[meteorite-list] America's Greatest Meteorite Hunter

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Oct 16 18:59:19 2006
Message-ID: <A8044CCD89B24B458AE36254DCA2BD0701DFBB4A_at_0005-its-exmp01.us.saic.com>

Hi Ruben,

I very much enjoyed your post about Skip Wilson, meteorite hunter
extraordinaire. I certainly hope to meet him some day as his
Roosevelt County successes were definitely an early inspiration
to me when I started searching for meteorites in the late 90s.
More specifically, he demonstrated that if you search thoroughly
enough in favorable locations you MUST find meteorites. I like
to add the corollary: if someone else has already made a find
at a particular location, that's usually all the evidence you
need that the location ~is~ favorable, and that additional
meteorites remain to be found. No location is ever completely
searched.

Success at finding meteorites depends mainly on two things:
(1) recognizing and exploiting geomorphologically favorable
locations [blowouts, in Skip's case], and (2) knowing how to
visually distinguish meteorites from terrestrial rocks. If you
only do (2), you may expend hundreds or even thousands of
manhours before you make your first extraterrestrial find.
(Just as many meteorites fall per square mile in forests and
swamps, but why stack the deck against yourself?) If you only
do (1), you'll probably make a meteorite find by dumb luck ...
along with hundreds of meteorwrongs, of course. But if you
know how to do both (1) and (2) as Skip does, finding rocks
from space is assured -- and at an hours-per-find rate that
would surprise many.

Cheers,
Rob
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Received on Sun 15 Oct 2006 10:06:48 PM PDT