[meteorite-list] Perseid Meteor Hammerstone!

From: Phil Whitmer <prairiecactus_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:19:11 -0400
Message-ID: <0623D3C360C3426BBAEE6455791FE41A_at_whitmerjbqtim1>

Yet another Perseid meteor strikes the Earth! This one's a hammerstone!
Any chance that nearby passing train kicked up a piece of railroad rock?
Nah......

Phil Whitmer



http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/2056117_meteorite_shatters_mans_conservatory

'Meteorite' shatters man's conservatory
By Jack Sommers
August 21, 2009


A MAN is convinced a meteorite hit his home in Fleet on Tuesday.

Humphrey Peek was sitting at his home in Cove Road on August 18 when he
heard a loud bang.

He said: "I thought that doesn't sound right. I thought it my washing
machine had gone or a door had blown shut."

When he went to his conservatory he found the glass door had been smashed.

His first thought was that someone had thrown something from a passing
train.

A day later his neighbour inspected the damage and spotted a small black
piece of rock.

"If that had hit me when I was out in the garden it would've killed me stone
dead," Mr Peek said.

Mr Peek, who worked for 35 years in the mining industry identifying
materials and rocks, put it under the microscope.

What he saw convinced him it was an Enstatite chondrite meteorite.

He contacted the Natural History Museum, who told him meteorites hitting
falling to earth was "not as uncommon as you might think".

The museum asked if it could have the rock but he wanted to keep it.

He filed an insurance claim and was visited by his insurer.

Mr Peek said his insurer wrote meteor strike on his clipboard under the
section describing the cause of the accident.

The "meteorite" hit a week after stargazers were out looking to see the peak
of the annual Perseids meteor shower.

Mr Peek was among those hoping to catch a glimpse of the shooting stars
Received on Fri 21 Aug 2009 07:19:11 PM PDT