[meteorite-list] Rare space rock goes unnoticed for 140 years - space - 13 December 2013 - New Scientist

From: Marco Langbroek <marco.langbroek_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2013 21:47:28 +0100
Message-ID: <52ACC3E0.8060607_at_online.nl>

Anne Black schreef op 14-12-2013 20:40:
> Thank you Marco, but one question.
>
> I notice on the old label the word "Orgeuil". Could this mean that whoever wrote
> that label suspeected the stone to be a meteorite, and compared it to the
> Orgueil meteorite?
> (sorry I cannot read your explanation in Dutch).

Hi Anne,

Yes, that is exactly what the label implies. It refers to a page with a picture
and description of Orgeuil, in a 1883 publication on meteorites in a Dutch
popular scientific periodical that was widely read by Dutch physics teachers.

The other, loose card with all the details that is in the box too (the half
circular card) also is titled "Meteoorsteen", which means "meteor stone".

So during the decade after the fall someone (and we think we know which two
persons wrote the card respectively the separate label) did think it was
probably a meteorite and that it looked a bit like Orgeuil (which is however a
CI, not a CM). What puzzles us is that the stone was apparently never analyzed
even though these two people realized it could be a meteorite. Instead, it has
been gathering dust in its little box as part of a forgotten school curiosa
collection for a century, before passing into private hands (when the school was
closed down and part of the inventory was taken home by a teacher) and after a
while finally came to our attention last year.

cheers,

- Marco

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Dr Marco Langbroek

Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences
VU University Amsterdam
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Received on Sat 14 Dec 2013 03:47:28 PM PST