[meteorite-list] Carancas birthday yesterday.

From: Michael Farmer <meteoriteguy_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:54:29 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <587827.25155.qm_at_web33106.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

I got busy yesterday and totally forgot to email the list.

Yesterday, 15 September, the Carancas meteorite slammed into the Peruvian countryside. This event, a crater-forming chondrite, made worldwide news for months and forced scientists to re-think cratering models since it should not have happened.

I was in Spain, with Robert Ward and Moritz Karl that day. We woke up on the 16th, (today one year ago) and I borrowed Moritz's computer to check my email before we got ready for the daily grind of picking up "La Mancha" eucrites. I saw a news article detailing the fall of a massive meteorite which made a crater in Peru. There were photos and even video. The problem was, when they started making all the statements about gasses and people getting sick because of the smell, we all thought that it was more likely some sort of volcanic gas blowout.

Later when they showed pictures of the gray fragments of stone, I became much more interested. When Robert and I were at the Madrid airport a couple of days later, we were discussing that we would get home and have to get things taken care of because it looked possible that it was a meteorite fall and we would be on our way to South America. I returned from Spain, and a day later I had tickets to both Peru and Colombia. A Cali stone (the last one) had been recovered and the seller told me to come get it immediately or he would start contacting other dealers. I had all of the other Cali stones, so I was not willing to risk letting that one go. I flew to Cali, bought the stone, and flew home the next day, only to wash my clothes, and repack my bags for the trip to Peru on the following morning. I did not want to go to Peru from Colombia, as I did not want to carry so much money or the Cali stone down there.

The rest, as they say, is history.
I just wanted to remind everyone of the very important first birthday that passed by yesterday both here and in Peru it seems, with nobody recalling that important meteorite fall.

Michael Farmer
Received on Tue 16 Sep 2008 11:54:29 AM PDT