[meteorite-list] Tests Show New Jersey Object Isn't A Meteorite

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 17:36:10 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200705150036.RAA13215_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070512/NEWS/705120341/1004/NEWS01

Tests show object isn't meteorite
BY JOSEPH SAPIA
FREEHOLD BUREAU
May 12, 2007

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - The flying object that came crashing through the
roof of a township house in January was not a meteorite, as initially
thought.

Not to worry. It appears man-made, not space invader-made, according to
recent testing, information about which was released Friday.

"Basically, it's a piece of stainless steel," said Jeremy Delaney, a
Rutgers University meteoriticist who became involved in analyzing the
item Jan. 3, the day after it fell and when the homeowner notified
township police.

The rock-like item was silver and brown, lumpy but smooth. It was about
2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches, weighing about 13 ounces.

Because the object had no specific distinguishing characteristics, "we
can't take it much further" to identify its source, Delaney said.
Although it remains an unidentified flying object, Delaney speculated it
was "space junk," or spacecraft debris.

Srinivasan Nageswaran, whose family discovered the silver object after
it crashed through the roof and into the upstairs bathroom of his home,
was disappointed by the news.

"That's the nature of science," the 46-year-old information technology
consultant said Friday. "If the conclusion from the test says it's not a
meteorite, then it's not a meteorite. We have to move forward.

"It's still the world's most popular metallic object that fell from the
sky," Nageswaran said.

Debris falls daily

About 11,000 items of space debris larger than about 4 inches are known
to exist, according to the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. All told, according to NASA, tens of millions of space
debris items probably exist.

Over the last 40 years, an average of one piece per day of known space
debris has fallen to Earth, with no serious injuries or significant
damage to property confirmed, according to the space agency.

"Space junk is kind of a default answer," Delaney said, explaining
conventional aircraft would be eliminated as a source because the
Federal Aviation Administration reported none in the area at the time of
the crash.

Peter Elliott, a Colts Neck metallurgist involved in an early analysis
of the object - and who thought it was a meteorite - suspected space
debris when told of the test results.

The item seems to have come from space because of a triangle-like
pattern, suggesting heat, Elliott said. An item falling from a
conventional aircraft at a lower altitude would not have had the heat
pattern, Elliott said.

About a week and a half ago, scientists viewed the item under a new,
advanced electron microscope at the American Museum of Natural History
in New York, then immediately analyzed the results, Delaney said. By the
end of that day, the scientists from the museum and Rutgers concluded it
was not a meteorite, Delaney said.

The item had chromium, a typical component of stainless steel, Delaney
said. A meteorite would have been basically nickel and iron, Delaney said.

"This particular composition is not one we've ever seen (happening
naturally)," Delaney said.

The delay in testing the item was a combination of arranging schedules
of the Nageswaran family and those of scientists, as well as the
availability of the microscope, Delaney said.

"It's a new tool and it's very much in demand," Delaney said of the
microscope.

On Jan. 2, the item crashed into the family's home in the Colts Pride
development along Route 537. It went through the roof, then into a
second-floor bathroom, where it bounced off a tile floor and embedded
into the wall, according to township police.

Early on, there seemed a sureness the object was a meteorite. Its shape,
density, color and magnetism suggested meteorite, according to Rutgers.

Household stainless steel generally is nonmagnetic, Elliott said. But
stainless steel does come in magnetic forms, Elliott said.

"There was a sureness in the evidence that was available - the physical
evidence," Delaney said. "But we wanted to test it more thoroughly."

Delaney said he was unaware of any continued analysis now that the item
is determined not to be a meteorite.

"I was pretty comfortable from right when I first saw it (that it was a
meteorite)," said Elliott, who was not involved in the recent testing.
"I wonder how many of the past ones (believed to be meteorites) were
fully analyzed."

On Jan. 27, the Rutgers University Geology Museum displayed the object
as a meteorite at its open house.

"Oh, well, you win some, you lose some," said Delaney, speaking of the
display. "Now, we are in the position of saying, "Oops.' "

The public, now, has a glimpse of how scientific analysis works, Delaney
said.

"New experimental evidence routinely causes scientists to change earlier
hypotheses that were based on the best information available at that
time," Delaney said.

After the object crashed through the roof, various people reported
objects falling from the sky. Delaney viewed up to 50 objects, with all
turning out to be a "meteorwrong" - not a meteorite.

Of the 50, only one falling in the "same general area" on possibly the
same day might be related debris, Delaney said. No more information was
immediately available on the other object.

Aircraft debris would have fallen at the same time, while orbiting
debris could have fallen over hours, Delaney said.

Had it been a meteorite, within the context of it crashing through a
house, "it was probably worth several thousand dollars," Delaney said.

And, now that it is likely man-made debris?

"Zero, regrettably," Delaney said.
Received on Mon 14 May 2007 08:36:10 PM PDT