[meteorite-list] Buzzard Coulee soon to slip the surly bonds of Canada and touch the collections of some of us?

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:43:16 -0500
Message-ID: <d16n65thfntpkanih5j2rmpb60bj5e4i11_at_4ax.com>

http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Meteorite+chunks+provide+clues+researchers/1828421/story.html

They've been counted, catalogued and fit together like pieces of a giant jigsaw
puzzle.

Now, a portion of the hundreds of fragments from the 10-tonne Buzzard Coulee
meteorite that lit up the skies above Alberta and Saskatchewan last fall are
being returned to the landowners who lent them for scientific research.

Some of the fragments will remain at a University of Calgary lab, while others
will be returned over the weekend to three landowners who'd found the chunks on
their land, said U of C planetary scientist Alan Hildebrand.

"We'll keep some of them as part of our research collection and various sorts of
research will be done on them," he said.

Already, scientists have gleaned new knowledge in several areas, including the
size of the meteorite that entered the atmosphere and the length of time since
it blasted off the parent asteroid, said Hildebrand.

The asteroid produced a huge fireball visible over prairie skies when it hurtled
through the atmosphere on Nov. 20, 2008.

It landed in an area of southwestern Saskatchewan. Searchers and landowners
found as many as 700 fragments that were taken to the U of C for research.

Since then, researchers have been closely studying the specimens, "pairing" the
fragments where possible. Fitting two adjacent pieces together provides clues
about how the pieces broke up in the atmosphere, Hildebrand said.

"For us the exciting thing right now is just finding these pairs. We've found
several in the last couple days," Hildebrand said.

"That's the fun thing right now."

jkomarnicki at theherald.canwest.com
Received on Sat 25 Jul 2009 07:43:16 PM PDT