[meteorite-list] West Texas meteorite fall

From: Ed Deckert <edeckert_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:24:41 -0500
Message-ID: <01e001c99313$26dbcad0$6401a8c0_at_EdDeckertMain>

Mike,

I'll have that one "sunny-side up!" That pic is too cool for words!

Ed Deckert

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Farmer" <meteoriteguy at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 10:25 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] West Texas meteorite fall




Check out this piece I found today;)

http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=birdnestxq6.jpg


Hi everyone. Sorry for the attempts to write emails from my IPHONE. Not the
easiest thing to do while walking through the pasture, looking for
meteorites.

Here is a short note about what we know.
When the meteorite fell, a farmer was working near his barn and saw the
explosion and fireball in the sky. He said that a few seconds later, stones
started falling out of the sky, and he ran into the metal barn to escape the
falling rocks. He heard pieces hitting the metal roof. A minute later, he
went out and started picking up the black burned rocks.
It seems they told a couple of family members but wanted to keep it to
themselves as they do not like outsiders and hate the government. Don't
forget, this is WACO, Branch Dividian nut-job country, so people seem to be
a little odd here.
Anyway, word did get out and Robert Ward, Moritz Karl, Robert Woolard and
his son Rob, Shauna (Robert's girlfriend and meteorite-huntress
extraordinaire) and myself had been working on this fall since a few hours
after it occurred. We narrowed down the fall site as West, Texas. We were
right on, within 20 minutes of arriving at West, we located the farm, spoke
to the landowners, got permission to hunt, and then minutes later got
evicted from the land, as the people did not like so many people arriving at
once. It scared them.
We promptly got permission to hunt on surrounding properties and Moritz
within seconds found a meteorite. This is what was all over the news
yesterday.. We all hunted today, in numerous places, trying to extend the
strewn field out, which we did by about 1 km only. Of course, the
strewn-field must be very large, but it will take some days to get a hit
further afield I think..
This morning I found a nice piece, pictured above in an opportune pose:) and
very quickly Robert Ward and the Woolard?s both found pieces, then I found
another.
As far as I know, I would say at least 20 stones have been found, all under
50 grams. This is just the beginning, larger stones are there, but further
afield, waiting to be saved. And saved in about two weeks or less, as the
grass is growing right now, turning green and the farmers are all getting
ready to plow and plant. Anything not found right now will be lost, and I
mean all of it. There is virtually no hunting ground that is not plowed
farmland.

Anyway, things are good, we are all tired, sunburned, chapped, cut up, and
extremely happy to be on a successful meteorite hunt days after the long
Tucson show. Who would have imagined.
Michael Farmer
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Received on Thu 19 Feb 2009 11:24:41 PM PST