[meteorite-list] very small possible

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 22:02:49 -0400
Message-ID: <AANLkTikz5=iwotAdstxkRAm+B+U4GbOMSYaqKwyTSAif_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Michael,

Weird things happen with man-made materials. For example a wood
chipper with a bad repair weld could break off a piece of weld-slag
during operation and hurl a small aerodynamic piece for a city block.
Or it could have fallen off a passing airplane. Small bits like that
tend to wash up on the beach from time to time - pieces of slag or
metal that break off from ships, off-shore industry facilities, etc.
>From the photos, it looks like a tiny stony meteorite. But I would
wager if you sand a "window" into the interior, it would be shiny and
metallic. If so, it's likely a slag of some kind, because it doesn't
have the appearance of an iron meteorite. My step daughter found
something that looked similar in patina, but it was larger. I
windowed it and it was a solid metal welding slag with vesicles
inside.

It could also be coincidence that something appeared to fall (but did
not) and the little mystery objects were already in the spot where you
found them. It's more likely that something strange and coincidental
happened involving a manmade material, than it is to be a witnessed
fall of a micro-meteorite.

If you want to be more sure, try giving it a streak test or nickel
test - instructions on both are available through Google or this
group. I'm out of time and have to run......

Best regards and good luck,

MikeG

PS - no matter what it turns out to be, keep it, because you were
meant to find it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites

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On 10/12/10, JoshuaTreeMuseum <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Michael:
>
> Great story! It's just extremely highly unlikely that a person interested
> in finding meteorites will ever see one fall right in front of him,
> especially a mini, and then recover it. What with the lack of a fireball,
> sonic boom, electrophonic sound waves and all the other attendant features
> of a meteorite fall, it seems even more unlikely, maybe even impossible.
> I've gotten several emails and heard several stories at the museum from
> people seeing tiny meteorites fall in front of them, hitting them, their
> cars, houses or whatever. I never know what to make of it.
>
> Phil Whitmer
>
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--

Received on Tue 12 Oct 2010 10:02:49 PM PDT