[meteorite-list] The age of Mifflin. ?470 million years? Really?

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:24:33 -0500
Message-ID: <5234C0CC57B14648AF291D7286147749_at_ATARIENGINE2>

It's the usual reporter scramble that results
when a scientist tries to explain something
more complicated than Brittany Spears or
Charlie Sheen to a reporter.

Mifflin's an L chondrite. John Valley and
Noriko Kita have done a lot of work on the fossil
L chondrites of the Ordovician period, which
fell at rates 100 times greater than today's fall
rates, apparently after the breakup of the L
chondrite parent body sometime shortly before
470 million years ago.

They must have tried to explain all this to the
reporter instead being smart and saying "Yeah,
it's a rock from outer space and it's really old,
old as the solar system itself" and just letting
it go at that.

Sorta like what you would say to a five-year-old.
Always a good idea to talk to reporters like they
were five-year-olds. Don't try to make them
handle too much.

So, all of that got mushed together into this:
"Scientists believe [it] was originally part of an
asteroid fragment that separated 470 million
years ago between Mars and Jupiter." (From
the other local TV station.)

Remember... Five-year-olds.


Sterling K. Webb
-------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Kerchner" <skyrockmeteorites at yahoo.com>
To: "meteorite list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 11:16 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] The age of Mifflin. ?470 million years?
Really?


> Hello all,
> It the 470 million year age for the Mifflin meteorite correct? if
> so, isn't that very young for a meteorite? I have been under the
> impression that the average age of a meteorite was 4.57 Billion years
> old I know that's an average, but isn't 470 million way too young?
> Theres no way that it is so young, is there?
> I read that in a couple articles online today. below is a link to one
> of them.
> http://www.wisn.com/r/27539805/detail.html?source=htv
>
>
> Best Wishes,
> Joe Kerchner
> http://illinoismeteorites.com
>
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Received on Fri 15 Apr 2011 01:24:33 AM PDT