[meteorite-list] Meteor(ite) crater discovered

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 14:59:52 +0100
Message-ID: <007401c94017$f1fbb440$177f2a59_at_name86d88d87e2>

Huh Bernd,

how impolite that article is. Why they don't replace "meteorite collectors"
and "meteorite hunters" by "people"?
They almost seem to be victims of their own propaganda.
Do you remember the comic strips with that William Barriere?

But honestly, when did it happen for the last time, that a Canadian
meteorite was removed or stolen by greedy tomb raiders?
Tagish Lake doesn't count, on contrary, it was due to the initial finder
that more material was rescued.

Well, and when I rummage in the Canadian collections - uh, there must have
been a lot of Barrieres at work from Logan's times on...

No seriously, aside that we all don't appreciate the disparaging accent,
to be lumped together with such looters and their dogsbodies like a
Schreibers, a Hunt, a Logan or a Nininger..,

I'd say such a hysterical article is quite the most awkward, what one can
do, if one wants to protect a new strewnfield or a crater in Canada.

Why? Cause for no meteorite hunter or collector it is attractive to search
for Canadian finds, as they could only sell them to the handful of Canadian
collectors.

Who will be therefore attracted by such statements?
The meteoritical laymen, souvenir and treasure hunters.
People, who were not aware, what a meteorite is at all and that they might
be valuable items.

Now they can read, there is laying stuff in the ground, which is of so high
interest and value, that the authorities are very concerned, that they won't
be able to protect it from "hunters", who would come there, obviously with
the intention to get rich and wealthy.

A really remarkably stupid invitation, in my eyes.

Anyway, the most simple, efficient and inexpensive method to protect
national meteorites, if desired,
is to grant sufficient funds to the institutes, museums, universities
for acquiring the finds.

A fly-funk, as we say in German, compared to the means used in other fields
of research, in recovery expeditions for meteorites, in space flight.
And seen the knowledge and information we obtain from the study of
meteorites - by far the most cost-effective way of space exploration.

O Canada, give more money to the Survey, Alberta, ROM....!

I remember several years back, there a private person in Canada offered me
an amazing multi-kg individual, complete and black-crusted of the St-Robert
fall. The price was so attractive, that every dealer would have taken it
immediately for resale, if there weren't the known troubles with the
Canadian stuff.
That man was desperately searching for a buyer - he asked the same price the
Canadian Survey had paid for the first piece of St.Robert.
But all Canadian collections, museums, universities he contacted, including
the Survey, weren't interested in the stone at all!

And how does that all fit together?
On the one hand all the noble words about the national and cultural
heritage, which has to be protected; the scientific importance of
meteorites, the necessity and efforts to protect the stones, the
propaganda..
and additionally the money which has to be spend for recovering such
material (the Antarctic search and the secondary costs - they cost USA,
Japan, China each year a 3 digit-million-dollar-sum), not to speak about
spaceflight.....

and then the research institutes and museums shouldn't be able to acquire a
big & beautiful entire chunk of their so beloved home-falls at a rate of the
smallest rinky-dink compact car?

There's the rub and not these imaginary William Barrieres are the problem.

In propaganda the Canadians are already very good,
important would be now, to direct the propaganda to get those funds,
which would be more adequate to the declared importance of the meteorites.

I mean each whack Frankenstein, if he tells, I'll create some piggies, which
will glow in the dark, gets immediately a budget.
Meteorite science is in a better way fundamental research and the costs for
that research and the research objects themselves are peanuts.

Btw. here in Europe, whenever an observatory or a private collector is
designing a meteorite exhibition, they can apply for EU-funds for that
purpose, and EU will pay the major part of the costs, including the
meteorites themselves. Even if the exhibition will be only temporary.
And then you have universities here, interesting in working on meteorites,
which have a budget, allowing them to acquire pieces for a few hundred bucks
per year only... Absurd.

Ah, nice addition for the end of that post.

The comic strips weren't true. The kids, who found the new meteorite won't
be rewarded only with a plate with their names on, on the showcase in the
museum, no, the Canadian Geological Survey is more generous:

"The Collection also offers to pay the owner a minimum of $500 for the first
specimen of any new Canadian meteorite." (21 April, 2006).

http://www.museums.ualberta.ca/justin/documents/TagishLakeBackgrounder.pdf

Poor girl, in the comic strip her dream was to spend a holiday in Egypt.
For that cash she hardly could afford the plane ticket.


But now back from such embarrassments.
In my opinion we have a somewhat paradox situation.
Never before in the 200 years of modern meteoritics the great institutes and
collections had so small budgets for acquiring meteorites - and that exactly
in these very times,
when the deserts opened their treasure chests, when the methods of analysing
rapidly improved leading almost weekly to new thrilling results,
and when space flight to planetary bodies underwent a remarkable
renaissance.

Therefore I'd say we need more propaganda for the excellent work the
meteorite scientists are doing and for the importance of the occupation with
that matter from space.
It is so strange for me to read, that e.g. ESA had spent a lot of money to
hunt for terrestrial rocks similar to Martians (btw in Canada), instead (or
at least additionally) to do research on real Mars rocks (which would have
been much cheaper) - or to read in articles about the planned
sample-return-mission to Mars, that then for the first time in history
mankind would be able to touch a piece of Mars.
It almost seems that a major part of scientists involved in planetology and
space exploration are not aware, that the stuff is already here on Earth,
waiting to fill their labs!

But there is hope.
I personally observe, that much more is done during the very recent years to
bring meteorites to a broader public attention.
In Germany/Switzerland/Austria there are opening each year at least 5-6 new
thematic exhibitions about meteorites, in museums, planetaria
(planetariums?), or done by collectors.
No week in TV anymore, where you don't find something about meteorites,
craters, impacts - and even the science columns of the larger daily
newspapers report here and there about new results of the research on
meteorites or new recoveries.
Additional public lessons about meteorites are held, either by scientist or
collectors. Hunters are travelling around with multimedia shows and
collectors are going into schools with their stones.

Therefore I'd say private collectors could be very helpful in spreading
knowledge and awareness about that subject (and shouldn't be bedevilled like
it happens here and there in such articles like that one).

How about Canada,
which activities are taking place in Canada?
Can list members report, I'm curios.

So far to my mind is coming the excellent meteorite-homepage of the
planetarium of Montreal, or the exhibition "Facing Mars", which opened in
summer in the Ontario Science Center, also housing a Martian meteorite.

Best!
Martin










-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von
bernd.pauli at paulinet.de
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 5. November 2008 23:25
An: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteor(ite) crater discovered

Hi List,

"the big concern for local authorities is how to prevent meteorite
 hunters from coming to the site and digging up meteorite fragments."

The best solution would probably have been not to publish all these details!
Remember Gold Basin?! Twink, Jim, and John first did the meticulous
scientific
work of locating, collecting, and cataloging the first finds in
collaboration
with D. Kring before the public learnt about this 15,000 year-old
strewnfield!

Best wishes,

Bernd

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Received on Thu 06 Nov 2008 08:59:52 AM PST