[meteorite-list] Intergalactic False Alarm: Novato Meteorite is Just a Rock

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:29:44 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <1351146584.14507.YahooMailClassic_at_web39303.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Met with Petrus Jenniskens tonight in Novato at the at the original find site in order to re-examine the "N01" stone (which had been returned to the finders). This was my first opportunity to examine this stone. I had my small microscope with me and I took some snap-shots down the eye-piece (see below).

I will not comment on these images, preferring instead to honor Peter's request to "keep tuned" and allow him to make the first (second?third?) announcement. But I do want to thank the Rivera Family for inviting Peter and myself for dinner tonight. The food and wine were delicious, and the conversation was enthusiastic and jubilant (and not just because the Giants won game 1 of the World Series). A photo of Luis Rivera appears on the front page of today's local newspaper (Novato Advance):

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Meteorite-Discovered-in-Novato-Yard-175158691.html

http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2012/n1/novato1-60.jpg
http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2012/n1/novato1-63.jpg
http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2012/n1/novato1-68.jpg
http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2012/n1/novato1-72.jpg

Images courtesy of Bob Verish.

--- On Wed, 10/24/12, karmaka <karmaka-meteorites at t-online.de> wrote:

> From: karmaka <karmaka-meteorites at t-online.de>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Intergalactic False Alarm: Novato Meteorite is Just a Rock
> To: "JoshuaTreeMuseum" <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com>, meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 10:14 PM
> Hold on and keep tuned !
>
> " 2012, October 23 - There are more developments today. An
> apology? may have been too hssty. We are waiting for
> confirmation of the new? insight. Keep tuned."
> http://cams.seti.org/
>
> Let's quote Phil:
>
> "This is turning into a mystery wrapped inside an enigma."
> ;-)
>
> Martin
>
>
>
> Von: "JoshuaTreeMuseum" <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com>
> An: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Betreff: [meteorite-list] Intergalactic False Alarm: Novato
> Meteorite is Just a Rock
> Datum: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:39:12 +0200
>
> Shawn,
>
> I agree, the second rock doesn't look like a meteorite
> either. Has it been
> examined by an expert?
>
> Phil Whitmer
> Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum
>
>
> Hello Listers
>
> Just found this, might be interesting for others that are
> hunting for
> meteorites in Novato area.
>
> "After a fireball streaked across the Bay Area sky last
> Wednesday evening,
> scientists and locals alike have been on the hunt for
> pieces of the meteor
> that is believed to have made landfall in the Bay Area.
> On Tuesday the meteor astronomer with the SETI Institute
> who reported over
> the weekend that the first piece of the meteor was found
> after it hit the
> roof of a Novato home clarified that the suspected
> meteorite discovered
> there is actually a natural rock.
> Dr. Peter Jenniskens with the SETI Institute said on his
> NASA Ames Research
> Center webpage the house of administrative nurse at the
> University of
> California at San Francisco Lisa Webber was hit by
> something during the
> fireball's descent last Wednesday evening, but the
> meteorite remains
> elusive.
> After an examination using a petrographic microscope
> Monday, Jenniskens was
> able to conclude the rock was not a meteorite.
> He wrote Tuesday, "I sincerely thought it was, based on
> what appeared to me
> was remnant fusion crust. On closer inspection, that crust
> was a product of
> weathering of a natural rock, not from the heat of entry."
> The 2-inch rock is 63 grams, dense and responds to a
> magnet, according to
> information from the SETI Institute, a nonprofit scientific
> and education
> organization that has projects sponsored by NASA and other
> foundations and
> research groups...."
>
> source:
> http://millvalley.patch.com/articles/intergalactic-false-alarm-novato-meteorite-is-just-a-rock
>
> The sample that was first found looks like the second
> sample that was found.
>
> Shawn Alan
> IMCA 1633
>
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Received on Thu 25 Oct 2012 02:29:44 AM PDT