[meteorite-list] WI meteorite

From: Chris Pagel <catdoc_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:45:53 -0500
Message-ID: <AANLkTil8XRrtywPnVsVr0GCT1uhBNsoUwcyiQsEJ9orq_at_mail.gmail.com>

Thanks to the folks that took the time to answer my questions. I'll summarize:

-No one has timed the flash-flash and the spread of the two main
debris fields to calculate the speed at detonation. I'm sure it's the
usual speed range, I haven't heard of a meteorite gently lilting down
like a feather, lol.

-No estimate of how big the fragments were inside the glowing balls of
ablation gases I saw. I guess is comes down to whether the gathered
fragments are from the flash-flash detonation or if that is all there
is left after ablation. I haven't heard about 10-kilo fragments being
found down in Illinois or Yellowstone State Park.

-Degradation in the ground: I'm sure pieces will come up over the
years, probably with plow/disc marks on them. It will be interesting
to see how quickly they corrode. Once they're not that lovely "BBQ
black" it's going to take good detectors or rare earth magnets to find
them, if ever.

-Rust on the end cut: may go deeper than I expect, or may be
surface-only. I think I will try a very light dry sanding with 1200
grit sandpaper on a sheet of glass to see if it's shallow.

-Storage: some use dessicants, some don't. WI is a humid state, so
I'll go with dessicants (that don't touch the meteorite).

Thanks to Derek Bowers for showing me that the metal detector I was
using was worthless. I was at the Iowa-Grant school on my own in the
rain when he found that 69gm split-sphere buried in the grass between
the football field and high school driveway. (Don't know nothing about
it being a "hammer," I'm just a newb, what do I know.) He let me sweep
over it to no effect, and that made me use my eyes instead, which led
to my (eventual) little find. That man is a speed-walking,
meteorite-finding machine! I think I heard at least 5 choruses of
hooting and hollering among his group of searchers on the grounds,
which was exhilarating and demoralizing at the same time,lol.

Mystifying to me that no one found any fragments on the roof of either
Iowa-Grant school. Fragments big and small were found all OVER that
place that day. The science teachers ignored my emails, but the
superintendent said "they" checked the roof. (Ah, the ever-mysterious
Dr. They S. Diddit, PhD, from the Diddit Institute of Doing Things I
presume?)

Good hunting.
-Chris
Received on Fri 18 Jun 2010 01:45:53 PM PDT