[meteorite-list] West, Texas meteorite finds

From: Norm Lehrman <nlehrman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:49:40 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <897551.98394.qm_at_web81007.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Doug,

Thanks for your story. And Mike F., you've been great. You can't know how envious we are, patiently waiting at our post for something to shatter on the atmosphere over east Africa. Just hearing your stories and knowing you guys and picturing the search in our minds makes us feel like we've touched greatness---

Thanks for sharing. (But as I have relayed to others privately, the Tucson pictures shared by listoids were a bit cruel. We've missed it for two years and it hurts bad---. But really, thanks for your pics. The tugs on our heartstrings hurt a bit, but they keep us going).

We'll be back.

Cheers (from Tanzania),
Norm & Cookie
(http://tektitesource.com)


--- On Sat, 2/21/09, mexicodoug at aim.com <mexicodoug at aim.com> wrote:

> From: mexicodoug at aim.com <mexicodoug at aim.com>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] West, Texas meteorite finds
> To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org, Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 3:36 AM
> 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 12:49:40 PM PST