[meteorite-list] Cannon Falls Man Discovers Meteorite, Again

From: Graham Ensor <graham.ensor_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2011 01:01:15 +0000
Message-ID: <CAJkn+kYi8UaLdKDjQnbSob4KD-bkqQCH6OEbDXXMg0AutZALVw_at_mail.gmail.com>

Great story...thanks for sharing that.

Graham

On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 4:55 PM, dorifry <dorifry at embarqmail.com> wrote:
> ? ? CF man discovers meteorite, again
>
>
>
> ? ? by Ken Haggerty
>
>
>
> ? ? Skunk Hollow resident Larry Plucker is a fairly down-to-earth guy,
> except for maybe once every fifty years or so when he has what could be
> called cosmic experiences.
>
> ? ? Plucker, who runs an appliance repair business, grew up on a farm near
> Emery, South Dakota. When he was just a kid, back in 1962, he pulled a
> somewhat different looking rock out of a rock pile on the farm.
>
> ? ? The curious young kid did some encyclopedia research and suspected he
> had discovered a meteorite. He saw an article on meteorites in the farming
> magazine "The Furrow" and, as suggested in the article, sent a sample of the
> rock to the American Meteorite Laboratory in Denver, where it was confirmed
> a meteorite.
>
> ? ? The Lab, which was aggressively researching meteorites as the U.S. was
> in the early years of the space program, bought his 36 pound rock for nearly
> $200.
>
> ? ? (A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that
> survives impact with the Earth's surface. When a meteoroid enters the
> atmosphere, the body heats up and emits light, thus forming a fireball, also
> known as a meteor or shooting/falling star. There are about 40,000
> documented meteorite finds in the world.)
>
> ? ? Fast forward almost half a century. It's late-October, 2011, when
> Plucker, his wife and son are on vacation in Washington, D.C. doing all the
> touristy monument and museum visits.
>
> ? ? During a stop at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Plucker was
> walking through an exhibit on various geological finds when he said to his
> wife "I wonder whatever happened to the meteorite I found." Plucker said
> they turned a corner and moments later he noticed a glassed-in display of
> meteorites, including one named "Emery" that was discovered in South Dakota,
> 1962.
>
> ? ? The meteorite he had found as a kid was on display at the Smithsonian!
> It turns out his meteorite is a type called a mesosiderite, and is a mix of
> stone, iron and nickel and is one of the more rare meteorites. Plucker says
> only about one percent of the found meteorites are of this type.
>
> ? ? Plucker grabbed a few pictures of his second chance occurrence with this
> cosmic rock for posterity and smiled about the probability and odds of
> finding that meteorite not once, but twice.
>
> ? ? Since he was a kid, Plucker has kept a sliver of the meteorite, which he
> carries with him in his wallet for good luck. As Plucker jokes, "You know
> what they say: 'Catch a falling star and put in your pocket!'"
>
>
>
> http://www.cannonfalls.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=21039
>
> ? ? Phil Whitmer
> ? ? Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum
>
> ______________________________________________
> Visit the Archives at
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Fri 02 Dec 2011 08:01:15 PM PST