[meteorite-list] West, Texas meteorite finds

From: mail at mhmeteorites.com <mail_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:50:56 +0000
Message-ID: <2127819247-1235227940-cardhu_decombobulator_blackberry.rim.net-627012108-_at_bxe1027.bisx.prod.on.blackberry>

Nicely done Doug. Thanks for the update. I will be heading there Wednesday and you made the wait even harder!!
Best
Matt
Matt Morgan
Mile High Meteorites
http://www.mhmeteorites.com
P.O. Box 151293
Lakewood, CO 80215 USA

-----Original Message-----
From: mexicodoug at aim.com

Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 06:36:11
To: <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>; <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] West, Texas meteorite finds


Hello from Sunny Texas, under clear and starry-eyed skies at the moment,

A few stones were found right at the time of the fall, however, they
were not definitively identified as meteorites - though that was the
suspicion and they were saved.

We (Doug Dawn, Dmitry Sadilenko, Sergey Petukov) drove across the
country and estimated the location of the strewn field within 48 hours
of the event. With a bit of tenacity, scarcely four hours after the
second day, thanks to the help of some Texas-sized hospitality, we
arrived in the strewn field and found our first couple of stones and I
had the distinct pleasure of shaking the finders hand and removing any
lingering doubts in his mind that he had meteorites fresh from Heaven's
farm.

After the initial success, my good friend and asteroidhunter, Rob
Matson of Los Angeles, joined up with the team. We have found some
stones, but more are being found by others, and we really expect larger
masses to be found, though hard work in the field definitely gets you
wondering if just because such a meteoritical spectacle drops one
stone, should it drop the thousands we keep expecting to see? The TKW
is rapidly evolving, but the area is being hit quite hard by hunters
already. This doesn't seem to be a dense fall, and some areas are very
easy to search, though bramble in other areas effectively keeps those
off limits. All land is private and most families keep their gun
collections well oiled. In our case, the big-hearts of the landowners
have humbled easily as much as the witness reports of the bolide's
fragmenting itself. This is at odds with some other reports, only
because residents of the area treasure their privacy and were
completely overwhelmed by the wave of treasure hunters that descended.
We almost lost our permission to hunt when they believed that we were
somehow responsible for several meteorite hunters showing up with a
news crews. Besides being quite busy, I promised to respect the
anonymity of our hosts as a condition of our search, and this evening
we reaped the benefits of a delicious home-cooked dinner prepared by
the caring hands of our hosts at their dinner table. There is a great
Texas steakhouse on I-35 which adds to the flavor for anyone wanting to
experience Texas culture, cowboys and pretty cowgirls from West, TX.

It has been an incredible last few days, which started by being the
first to walk in a virgin strewn field, though my mother had some
problems (she seems better now) that have somewhat muted what will
undoubtedly be some of the most memorable moments of my life. It is way
past bedtime and I will post more tomorrow. The meteorite itself is
moderately to highly shocked and has a very bright, light, interior and
veins of troilite and nodules of metal, and the majority of stones
found are fully fusion crusted. More on the classification on Saturday.
We certainly were not in a mass-laden portion of the strewn field,
other hunters please take note; more likely just a place where a minor
fragmentation impacted. In any case, we are committed to getting the
science done so everyone else can rest assured that we have already
gladly provided the mass requirements necessary for this honor.

All in all, a very humbling experience for many reasons. To pick up a
piece of a falling star and I thought, detect a faint sulfurous odor.
It seems a dog even caught the scent of a meteorite and laid it down on
the owners porch!

Best wishes and clear skies
Doug


-----Original Message-----
From: Pat Branch <pat_branch at yahoo.com>
To: drtanuki at yahoo.com; Global Meteor Observing Forum
<meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 9:28 am
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) West, Texas meteorite finds


The University of North Texas Astronomers have found 4 so far. I saw a
video clip of them. The biggest is about 3 times the others...just
about palm sized.

I think that is 4 for Farmer and 4 for UNT. I have not heard of other
teams finding anything.


--- In meteorobs at yahoogroups.com, drtanuki <drtanuki at ...> wrote:
>
> Dear List,
> Here are the latest reports from the West, Texas fall.
>
> http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/
>
> Best Regards, Dirk Ross...Tokyo
> _______________________________________________
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Received on Sat 21 Feb 2009 09:50:56 AM PST