[meteorite-list] Shrewsbury Meteorite Comes Back Home

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 12:12:11 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200705041912.l44JCBf02876_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/local/ci_5818074

Meteorite comes back 'home'
CARL LINDQUIST
The York Dispatch (Pennsylvania)
May 4, 2007

A diamond-shaped, two-pound piece of the only meteorite ever found in
York County has returned home for the 100-year anniversary of its discovery.

Found in 1907 about 7 miles north of the Shrewsbury borough line, the
entire meteorite weighed about 24 pounds, said Bill Kreiger, a professor
of Earth Sciences and Science Education at York College.

Dubbed the "Shrewsbury Meteorite," it was cut into several pieces that
were distributed to museums and other institutions across the world.

As a boy, Kreiger learned of the meteorite's existence. For the last few
decades he has worked on-and-off to bring a piece back here and display
it, he said.

In mid-April he got a slice of it from The Academy of Natural Sciences
in Philadelphia. A showing is set for Sunday afternoon in New Freedom
between noon and 2 p.m. at the Rose Volunteer Fire Co., 200 E. Main St.

Best left: "It's the best of all the specimens," Kreiger said. "It's
very valuable."

Kreiger hopes a glimpse of something that originated from outside Earth
will take people's minds away from their day-to-day frustrations and give
them a more philosophical look at the world and its tumult.

Only eight meteorites have ever been found in Pennsylvania, Kreiger
said. The remains of so-called falling or shooting stars, most
meteorites -- about 18,000 of the more than 25,000 known examples --
have been found in Antarctica.

Kreiger said the Shrewsbury Meteorite is composed almost entirely of
nickel and iron, which indicate that it likely came from the core of a
disintegrated planet or moon, or one that didn't form completely.

While it's been here, Kreiger said, it is stored under lock and key in a
local bank.

The public will not be able to hold the meteorite, which Kreiger said
will be kept in a "case-within-a-case" for display.

Scientists generally figure that meteorite's lose about 90 percent of
their mass during entry, which means the Shrewsbury Meteorite probably
weighed about 240 pounds as a meteor, he said.
Received on Fri 04 May 2007 03:12:11 PM PDT