[meteorite-list] brenham and Stempson in the news

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:09:18 -0500
Message-ID: <9g1k03pd732fooq9l2nf4batvj99il983d_at_4ax.com>

Photo on the site of a 300 pounder.

http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2007/mar/27/kansas_meteorites_just_go_together/

Kansas, Meteorites just go together
By Scott Rochat (Contact)
Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Cram Science Hall was the place to be Monday for fans of really hard rock.

That?s where Don Stimpson showed off a pair of 300-pound meteorites to a crowded
classroom. And not just any meteorites. These were pallasites, a rare stony-iron
mix. How rare? Try less than 1.5 percent of all asteroids.

Despite the rarity, shoplifting was obviously not a concern.

?It has kind of a built-in security system ? gravity!? joked meteorite hunter
Don Stimpson of the Haviland Crater Institute.

Stimpson has been a space buff for a long time. Originally from Detroit, he
thrilled to the exploits of astronauts John Glenn and Alan Shepherd but saw his
own dreams of test-pilot glory go south when his eyes went bad at 13. His
parents encouraged an interest in science that eventually led to a doctorate in
biophysics.

But he never lost his love for the final frontier, particularly meteorites. To
the bemusement of friends, he and his wife Sheila spent many summer vacations in
Kansas, hunting space rocks. They even visited Ellis Peck, whose book ?Space
Rocks and Buffalo Grass? told the story of pioneer bride Eliza Kimberly and her
discovery of meteorites on her land in the 1880s.

Then Peck died. The Kimberly land came up for auction. And the Stimpsons put
their heads together.

?My wife and I looked at each other and said ?Are we crazy enough??? Stimpson
said. ?I guess we were.?

The land, now known as the Kansas Meteorite Farm, is part of a strewnfield ? a
six-mile long, one-mile wide strip of land with meteorite pieces strewn all over
it. Those pieces are the survivors of a big meteorite that may have hit Earth
about 20,000 years ago, according to Stimpson.

Since buying the farm, Stimpson has found about three tons of meteorites,
according to Emporia State University journalist-in-residence Max McCoy, who met
Stimpson while working on a manuscript. That total includes the Ross meteorite
he discovered last year, about 1,500 pounds of mass in five segments found on a
neighboring farm.

Earth pulls in its fair share of rocks, but most burn up in the atmosphere. Any
that can be seen are called ?meteors? while they?re still in motion. The rock
that hits the ground is called a ?meteorite.?

Sometimes the ground isn?t all they hit. In 1992, a 25-pounder smashed the trunk
of a parked Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, N.Y. Don?t worry about the insurance ?
the meteorite sold for $69,000 and the car for another $10,000.

These days, Stimpson is working to build a museum on the site of the Kimberly
homestead. His hope is to get people to realize these meteorites have an impact
? sorry ? beyond their financial value to a collector.

?It?s not just the rock,? he said. ?It?s all that we know about it. That?s its
value.?
Received on Wed 28 Mar 2007 02:09:18 AM PDT