[meteorite-list] Livingston mystery rock might be from space

From: Mr EMan <mstreman53_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:18:55 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <182358.70607.qm_at_web55202.mail.re4.yahoo.com>

Looks promising...anyone know how this stacks up with the fireball sighting just announced?

Elton


--- On Wed, 4/22/09, Mike Groetz <mpg444 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Mike Groetz <mpg444 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Livingston mystery rock might be from space
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 4:01 PM
> http://www.mercedsunstar.com/livingston/story/804260.html
>
> Livingston mystery rock might be from space
>
> By SCOTT JASON
> sjason at mercedsun-star.com
>
> LIVINGSTON -- It's clear a 170-pound black boulder
> doesn't belong embedded half-a-foot into a sandy loam
> field north of Livingston.
>
> The puzzle is whether it fell from the sky -- a meteorite
> on a collision course with Earth. Or if the giant rock was
> abandoned 10 feet off the road for some unknown reason,
> coincidentally about the same time residents saw a fireball
> burning in the Central Valley sky.
>
> The missing piece of information should be known in a few
> weeks, if not sooner.
>
> Jerry McAlwee, the self-described rock hound who found the
> boulder with a friend, hopes it's an extraterrestrial
> discovery. And even if it's not, the suspense is worth
> the time and effort.
>
> "It's kind of a CSI-type thing," he said
> Tuesday. "If it's not a meteorite, I don't know
> how to explain some of the things (about the rock)."
>
> For example, magnets stick to most of its surface. Part of
> its crust is melted and smooth. The grass is stained around
> it.
>
> McAlwee, 40, lives in Sunnyvale but helps his girlfriend
> maintain five acres and a house about 100 yards from Highway
> 99. Along with a friend, Tim Mihalko, he was extending a
> fence on Sycamore Street.
>
> Surrounded by grass, Mihalko thought he'd stumbled on a
> tree stump. As he made a closer pass with a ride-on mower,
> he realized it was a rock about the size of a microwave.
>
> He called over McAlwee, who wasn't sure what to make of
> it. The last time he had mowed the field was early December.
> The object wasn't there. It would've mangled his
> mower blade.
>
> After pondering a few theories, he wondered if it could be
> the remnants of the fireball seen in the night sky Dec. 27.
>
> Several people in the state saw a tomato-green fireball
> flying northwest through the Central Valley. It sparked
> interest among meteorite hunters. A few are said to have
> spent some time scouring the area.
>
> Meteorite researchers put the landing, if there was one,
> somewhere near the north Merced County line. No one has yet
> announced that they've discovered any pieces of it.
>
> It remains to be seen whether this is from that event or
> some coincidence.
>
> McAlwee sent a walnut-size sample to Eric Whichman, a San
> Diego resident who runs www.meteoritesusa.com.
>
> Whichman said he will run preliminary tests to see if it
> contains nickel and iron, two minerals found in chondrites,
> the most-common kind of meteorite.
>
> He'll also look for round mineral patches called
> chondrules. If both those pan out, he'll ship the sample
> to a lab for tests.
>
> "We're taking a wait-and-see attitude,"
> Whichman said.
>
> Based on the photos alone, he's skeptical that it's
> a meteorite. If he was forced to make an immediate judgment,
> he'd say it's not a space rock.
>
> If it turns out to be a meteorite, he said he'll visit
> Merced as soon as he can.
>
> If it's not, he still wants to spend some time looking
> for any meteorite left by the fireball.
>
> Regardless of how this mystery turns out, McAlwee looks at
> discovering the rock with a philosophical bent.
>
> "Everyone lives between their alarm clock and their
> next meal," he said. "It broadens your idea of
> what might be the context of reality."
>
> In other words, between a rock and a starred space.
>
>
>
>
>
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Received on Wed 22 Apr 2009 10:18:55 PM PDT