[meteorite-list] Meteorite display at the LANHM

From: Michael Mulgrew <mikestang_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:33:33 -0700
Message-ID: <CAMseTy36hAEKJ69vLHUf==rjte2doaLrtpNN7-JSCcH9pyE86g_at_mail.gmail.com>

Dr. Anthony Kampf, Ms. Alyssa Morgan, Ms. Mary Stambaugh, and list:

Today after work I spent the afternoon at the Los Angeles Natural
History Museum in the Hall of Minerals. There were some breathtaking
displays and I heard more than one "ooh" and "ahh" during the day,
several from my own mouth (the gold nugget display blew my mind!).
But let me tell you all that I was extremely disappointed by the
meteorite display.? There are several mistakes and misrepresentations
that jumped right out at me, but the lay-public is never going to know
that they have unintentionally been given the wrong information. I
respectfully submit the following list of things I noticed and
remembered from earlier today:

- There are only 11 meteorites in the entire museum: 2 achondrites
(only 1 of the specimens is labeled as such), 4 irons (the Canyon
Diablo is not lit and I could barely see it, there is a large-ish
Campo del Cielo (?) that is part of the dinosaur extinction exhibit in
a separate hall and is only referred to as "a meteorite"), 1
pallasite, 1 carbonaceous chondrite, and 3 ordinary chondrites.? In my
opinion this is not a diverse enough sample set to represent
meteorites properly in a world-class museum setting. For example,
only the 'E' in HED is represented.

- There is no classification given beyond "Iron - Octahedrite" or
"Stone - Ordinary Chondrite", etc.?? I know that Gao-Guenie is an H5,
high-iron meteorite, but shouldn't anyone else who sees this display?
Which reminds me...

- The Gao-Guenie specimen is mistakenly named only "Gao".? Gao is a
doubtful meteorite according to the MetBul.

- Kamacite and taenite are referred to as "high iron" and "high
nickle", respectively. Kamacite would be more properly represented as
"low nickle"; they are both iron alloys.

- The mass (or weight) of the specimen is not always given.

- With no mention of meteorite recovery or how they are found that I
saw, the meteorwrong exhibit seems awkward and out of place.? But
thankfully...

- The meteorwrong exhibit is so dark I couldn't see anything in it.

- The 13g slice of Los Angeles is beautiful, and it was great to see
Mr. Verish's face smiling back at me from within the display, but the
card mistakenly says that it's "officially named the 'Los Angeles
Meteorite'".? More accurately, it is the meteorite that is officially
named "Los Angeles".

- The description card for "Los Angeles Meteorite" says, "The smaller
of the two pieces of the Los Angeles Meteorite weighed 234 grams."
The card does not tell you the weight of the larger piece, which is
probably the one people would want to know about.? And the smaller
piece actually weighed 245.4g (MetBul).

- The classification for "Los Angeles Meteorite" is given as,
"Classification: Stony, SNC, Shergottite"? SNC has not been a
classification for a number of years.? It should say 'achondrite'
there instead.

- The display card for the one carbonaceous chondrite, a wonderfully
fusion crusted Allende, doesn't even mention anything about amino
acids, "the building blocks of life", in meteorites.? That's something
I think the general public would find very interesting, even if they
didn't know anything else about meteorites.

- The card for Millbillillie refers to achondrites as "volcanic
rocks".? I believe this should state they are igneous rocks. The
difference is very distinct.

- The museum staff I spoke with were very friendly. Understandingly,
no one I spoke with knew much about meteorites. One museum employee
kept calling them meteors, though.

To me this list is embarrassing for the natural history museum of the
second largest city in this country, and reflects poorly on all
southern California meteorite enthusiasts, if not the meteorite
community en masse. I hope these issues can be addressed. It would
be my privilege to help in anyway possible, please let me know if
there is anything I can do.

Respectfully,

-Michael in so. Cal.
"Everywhere I go, I see the same rocks."
Received on Sat 22 Oct 2011 02:33:33 AM PDT