[meteorite-list] Mystery Object Crashes Through Ceiling

From: Mike Groetz <mpg444_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 04:52:25 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <805155.61485.qm_at_web32905.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/13546788/detail.html

Mystery Object Crashes Through Ceiling
Experts Say Object Could Be Meteorite

POSTED: 4:12 pm EDT June 21, 2007
UPDATED: 6:51 pm EDT June 21, 2007

WOBURN, Mass. -- At Gerrity Stone in Woburn, they know
a lot about rocks. But they can't identify the one
that punched a hole through their roof the other day.

NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill reported that experts
are examining the object, trying to determine exactly
what it is.

"No one around here has ever seen anything like this.
A real mystery," said Gerrity's Alan Weiner.

One would expect to find granite and marble at the
stone warehouse, but workers were surprised to find
the unusually heavy object on the floor.

"Then we looked up at the ceiling and, 'Oh my God. It
fell through the ceiling,'" Weiner said.

For answers, Weiner headed to Sky And Telescope in
Cambridge where J. Kelly Beatty examined the object.

"I'm suspicious that it's rusty and it shouldn't be
rusty," Beatty said.

Beatty did some tests on the object, which weighs
about 1.24 pounds.

"This is interesting. It's clearly got some metal in
it. The magnet does attract," Beatty said.

Beatty said there is a chance the object could be a
meteorite.

"A third of me says 'yes,' but two-thirds says 'no,'"
Beatty said.

Beatty was intrigued enough by the object to take
photos and e-mail them to an expert at Harvard
University. Beatty said meteorites are rare.

"The only one known meteorite to have fallen in
Massachusetts and that was in Northampton in 1963.
That was iron, as this appears to be," Beatty said.

Meteorite or not, it's a mystery how the object fell
from a warehouse ceiling.

If the object is a meteorite, experts said it could be
worth a couple of thousand dollars.


       
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Received on Fri 22 Jun 2007 07:52:25 AM PDT