[meteorite-list] Man Hooked On Meteorites

From: Graham Christensen <majorvoltage_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:50:26 2004
Message-ID: <F25B01rxalSd2LVtV5g0000892c_at_hotmail.com>

>Now, Johnson can't get enough of meteorites; he's hooked on them.

I think we all know what that feels like, I sure do. :) Bye the way, for all
interested in knowing, I have 36 meteorites now! I had 5 at the beginning of
January, of this year. Thanks again to all of you who have helped me get my
collection started and answered my many questions. This is really a
fascinating hobby and I am glad I am a part of it.

************************************************************
Graham Christensen
majorvoltage_at_hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/aerolitehunter


>From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
>To: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List)
>Subject: [meteorite-list] Man Hooked On Meteorites
>Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 21:47:28 -0700 (PDT)
>
>
>
>http://augustachronicle.com/stories/041402/tec_UK2508-1.shtml
>
>Man hooked on visitors from outer space
>
>Associated Press
>April 14, 2002
>
>COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - About 10 years ago, Larry Johnson was conducting
>a
>whale-watching tour on a small island off Baja California when he caught a
>glimpse of a rock that looked, well, different.
>
>It was a different color, much darker than other rocks he'd seen. And it
>had
>odd grooves in it. He picked it up, placed it in his pocket and brought it
>back to his home in Monument, where he stashed it away and promptly forgot
>about it.
>
>Then, last year, he came across the rock while he was doing some spring
>cleaning. He looked at it again. Touched it. Marveled over how unusual it
>was.
>
>On the advice of a friend, he sent it off to a lab at the University of
>California at Los Angeles. It turns out Johnson had rock-solid instincts:
>He'd stumbled across a meteorite, a visitor from outer space, more commonly
>known as a shooting star.
>
>Now, Johnson can't get enough of meteorites; he's hooked on them. His
>upstairs office at his house in Monument, Colo., is filled with them, and
>he
>carries some of them wherever he goes.
>
>At last count, he had close to a dozen kinds.
>
>"It's amazing," says Johnson, 63. "What you're holding in your hand there
>is
>more than 4 billion years old. It's about as old as the sun. When you just
>stop to think about it for a second, it's incredible."
>
>Many of the meteorites he has amassed have come from collectors; he's
>picked
>up others at the annual Tucson Gem Show held every February in Arizona.
>
>If he can sell some of them, he does.
>
>If he can trade some of them, so be it.
>
>But Johnson insists he's not in it for the money - though some meteorites
>can fetch as much as $1,000 a gram, depending on where they came from.
>
>No, Johnson just likes to collect them. In fact, as you read this, he's
>searching for more meteorites off the coast of Baja California, sailing
>from
>island to island.
>
>His method is relatively simple: He uses a cane with a magnet attached to
>the end of it. If it's a meteorite, it's going to attract the magnet,
>because just about all meteorites are made of either iron, stony iron or
>nickel-iron.
>
>For someone who loves meteorites, there are few better places to live than
>Colorado. The Centennial State ranks fourth in the overall number of
>meteorites - 81 - found in the United States since the late 1800s, when
>they
>were first documented. Only Texas, Kansas and New Mexico have recorded more
>finds, according to Matt Morgan, a geologist for Colorado's Geological
>Survey and author of "The Handbook of Colorado Meteorites."
>
>"Look up on any clear evening and you may be lucky enough to see a shooting
>star blaze across the sky," says Morgan.
>
>Most meteorites hail from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter,
>Morgan
>says. The top three locations where meteorites are most likely to be found,
>according to Morgan, are North Africa (especially the Sahara Desert),
>Antarctica and Australia.
>
>Wherever they fall, meteors have long fascinated humans and sparked
>creative
>tales about their origins. Thousands of years ago, people saw meteors fall
>from the sky and believed they were the work of the gods. Ancient Romans
>worshipped them as "stones from heaven," according to Hugh Carman, in his
>book, "Collecting Meteorites."
>
>Still, as late as the 17th century, scientists generally pooh-poohed the
>idea of rocks falling from the sky, until April 26, 1803, when a meteor
>shower occurred in broad daylight in France.
>
>Today, scientists estimate that 500 meteorites of all shapes and sizes fall
>to Earth each year.
>
>Then, it's up to the Meteoritical Society, an international organization of
>scientists, to classify and name meteorites.
>
>Usually, they're named after the town that's closest to where they were
>found.
>
>For example, Johnson's meteorite is officially called Isla del Espiritu
>Santo, after the island where he found his first - but certainly not his
>last - meteorite.
>
>Carol Johnson, his wife, said it's no surprise that he would immerse
>himself
>in this new hobby, because he's had a lifelong fascination with the
>outdoors
>and geology.
>
>"He's always been a field explorer," she says. "All his life, he's been
>looking at the outdoors, looking at native plants and trees, studying
>them."
>
>So the meteorites are just the latest fascination - with the potential for
>a
>big payoff.
>
>"There was a guy in Tucson who found a meteorite big enough that it paid
>off
>his house, his car, his mortgage, his loans, and we wouldn't mind finding a
>meteorite like that, too," says Johnson, who still owns and operates New
>Perspectives, a business that specializes in tours of Baja California.
>
>But until Johnson catches the big one, he'll settle for the smaller ones
>and
>continue to share his newfound passion with anyone who's interested. "I'll
>help them out. It's a fascinating hobby to have."
>
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Received on Sun 14 Apr 2002 01:50:25 AM PDT