[meteorite-list] Offers pour in for Didim rock - Turkey

From: Bjorn Sorheim <astrogeo_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 22:51:29 +0100 (CET)
Message-ID: <12520858.1171144289989.JavaMail.adm-moff_at_moffice2.nsc.no>

http://www.voicesnewspaper.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=490

COLLECTORS from as far as America have offered astronomical prices to get their hands on the famous meteor of Didim.

The meteor was claimed by Abdullah Ar?t?rk when it rocketed to earth and landed at the Green Park complex, in Ye?ilkent, last Thursday, after scores of people across the Bodrum Peninsula reported to police a ball of fire across the sky.

Since the story broke, first by Voices, across Turkey and the rest of the world, Ar?t?rk has been overwhelmed with offers for a part of the meteorite.

Ar?t?rk, not eager to part from his meteor of which he thinks to be a present from God, solved the problem by splitting it into two. He now will keep one half of the meteor in a special cage made for it; and the other half is for sale!
 
American collector Robert Wesel, who read the news in Voices has offered Ar?t?rk 1,800 dollars. Another American collector Stephan Grossman offered 500 dollars to buy the meteor.

We interviewed Abdullah Ar?t?rk at his house. Ar?t?rk said that he slept with the meteor at nights and that it was a present from God.

Ar?t?rk stated that he would evaluate the claims but because he could not part with his beloved meteor he had split it in two.

He said: ?I will have a special cage made for this meteor and keep it there until my last breath. A lot of people around me have told me to sell it, but ? am unable to spare it. ? wanted at least half of it to stay with me.?

The drama unfolded when a substance resembling a ball of fire was seen in the sky above Bodrum G?ll?k Gulf and Didim. The gendarme and police were overwhelmed with notification calls and the worried farmers had waited outside for hours.

The Astronomy and Space Sciences Department of Ege University made an announcement stating the possibility of this being a meteor and later it was certainly determined as that.

The news published on the front pages of the national papers had caused great excitement and fear all over Turkey.

Following the news being released first in Voices and then in national press, Ar?t?rk started getting astronomical bids for the meteor that in the end, he finally turned his phone off.


Posted by
Bj?rn S?rheim
Received on Sat 10 Feb 2007 04:51:29 PM PST