[meteorite-list] Magnetite/Glass Meteorite Balls

From: Pete Pete <rsvp321_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:42:54 -0400
Message-ID: <BAY141-F30E69A5D376E138737F3B1F8FD0_at_phx.gbl>

>>....somebody here on the list recounted
their successful retrieval of micrometeoroidal dust from their
gutters this way...


Hi, all,

I suggest you don't attempt to gather celestial dust near a building - a lot
of asphalt shingles have granules with magnetic qualities.
I attempted this recently, and collected what was obviously from my own
rooftop.

Cheers,
Pete

From: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>,"Meteorite List"
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Magnetite/Glass Meteorite Balls
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:52:22 -0500

Hi, Chris, List,

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20030813/Feature1.asp
(Scroll down past the Stardust Mission...)

     True, micron stuff from "shower" meteors takes
a long time to drop, which is why it's falling all the time.
The much larger, heavier, and vastly rarer low altitude
meteor ablation product falls much more rapidly, but
you have to have a meteor burn along overhead!
     The eBay stuff, collected from a mountain stream,
is a cumulate record of 100's (1000's?) of years (depending
on how fast the sand is flushed). Collected pond muck,
or the goop in the bottom of your gutters, can be harvested
of meteoritic dust by mixing it with clean water and stirring
with a magnet.
     Years and years ago, somebody here on the list recounted
their successful retrieval of micrometeoroidal dust from their
gutters this way but I can't remember who it was. And another
list member told of leaving a water collector out during "shower
times" as a kid and collecting residue, but you're quite right --
it couldn't have been contemporaneous dust!


Sterling K. Webb
-----------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:41 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Magnetite/Glass Meteorite Balls


> Meteoritic dust or cosmic dust: put a flat white
> plastic pan or small "splash pool" of water out away
> from the trees on the peak night of a meteor shower,
> and in the morning you will be rewarded with a black
> dust on the bottom of the pool...

Have you actually done this? Because the sort of micron-scale dust
produced by meteors has an atmospheric lifetime measured in months.
While there's certainly meteor dust falling all the time, you won't find
any in the morning from the previous night's shower.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Mike Groetz" <mpg444 at yahoo.com>; "Meteorite List"
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Magnetite/Glass Meteorite Balls


> Hi, Mike, List,
>
> The Seller believes this material to be "Jurassic"
> in origin because he finds it in sand produced from
> Jurassic strata, but while he's wrong about that, he
> may be right about it being meteoritic!
>
> When a meteorite ablates in the atmosphere, the
> majority of its mass is turned into a dust of tiny fused
> droplets. Eventually, that meteoritic dust will fall to
> earth; some will land on water, sink to the stream and
> lake bottoms and become incorporated in the sand
> (or mud).
>
> Meteoritic dust or cosmic dust: put a flat white
> plastic pan or small "splash pool" of water out away
> from the trees on the peak night of a meteor shower,
> and in the morning you will be rewarded with a black
> dust on the bottom of the pool, that could well be
> interpreted as:
> "Meteorite balls, glass balls, zircons, garnet, magnetite
> and some other minerals... The balls are magnetite balls.
> Somethimes with the white transparents glass balls you
> can find some green balls that look like moldavite or
> olivina fused samples..."
>
> Much more fun to collect your own than to
> buy it on eBay, though.
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb

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Received on Fri 13 Jul 2007 12:42:54 AM PDT