[meteorite-list] Tornado snatches 1, 000 pound pallasite meteorite

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 16:45:03 -0500
Message-ID: <0d1c01c79027$ce34a770$f54de146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, All,

    Maria Haas's original post on relief efforts had
a message from Steve Arnold appended to it that
hasn't appeared separately on the List.

    In it, he says:
    "On a side note, if you go here:
http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/050507tornadoaerials/
In photo #12, is the picture of the twisted water tower,
and the Big Well building that housed the 1,000 pound
meteorite. You can see what I think is the oak stand
(about 2 feet high and 3 feet wide, possibly tipped
over) that the 1,000 pound meteorite had sat on (in
the center of the frame, about 1/6 of the way up
from the bottom). If I am not mistaken, I think
the meteorite is the brown object on the floor just
to the right of the stand."

    I can't of anybody more qualified to recognize
a big Brenham, so maybe it hasn't gone very far.


Sterling K. Webb
---------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Darren Garrison" <cynapse at charter.net>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Tornado snatches 1,000 pound pallasite
meteorite


On Sun, 6 May 2007 13:49:07 -0500, you wrote:

>I agree with Charlie. I don't think it would be moved much, if any.
>I think a wind greater than the terminal velocity of the object in
>free fall would be needed to lift it, and that would be several
>hundred miles per hour. If it is truly missing, I would be willing
>to bet on theft.

I wouldn't expect theft-- yet. A chaotic situation known about only minutes
in
advance, destroying the entire town, and a theft needing heavy lifting
equipment
and transportation (even if only a engine-block lifter and a big pickup)
doesn't
seem too likely. I'd bet it is still in the pile of debris that was the
building containing it. Unless that building is what is now on top of the
well,
in which case it could be at the bottom of the well. What is more of a
concern
(from a meteorite perspective, not to belittle all the other human an
material
loss) is the other meteorite collection of the town that is mentioned--
which
would be much more easily lost and much harder to find.

Speaking of, anyone have photos of the other meteorite collection, as
mentioned
in the articles?
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Received on Sun 06 May 2007 05:45:03 PM PDT