[meteorite-list] Meteorite Find Would Be Out Of This World

From: Matt <Matt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:49 2004
Message-ID: <005901c1a365$19b548e0$8fbf7fa5_at_D7220234W2K>

What a goof...500k? What planet is he from?
Title should read "Meteorite Finder IS Out Of This World"

Matt
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 9:47 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Find Would Be Out Of This World


>
>
> http://www.ohio.com/dist/ns/010884.htm
>
> Meteorite find would be out of this world
>
> Medina County man hunting for sky rocks worth a small
> fortune
>
> BY BOB DOWNING
> Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio)
> January 22, 2002
>
> CHIPPEWA LAKE: A Medina County man is pursuing a pot of gold.
>
> Rich Nowak, 33, of Chippewa Lake, is not chasing rainbows, but he is busy
> tracking down two meteorites in northern Indiana.
>
> He has what he considers a solid lead on a large and potentially valuable
> meteorite near Plymouth, Ind., about 30 miles south of South Bend.
>
> But he's not saying much more about that rock from space, at least not
yet.
>
> The amateur meteorite hunter signed an agreement in late December with an
> Indiana family to search a 70-acre tract on their farm near Plymouth for a
> second meteorite that dates to 1872.
>
> That pear-shaped meteorite is 3 feet by 4 feet and could weigh up to 1,000
> pounds, according to historic accounts. It could be worth $300,000 to
> $500,000, with museums and private collectors willing to pay that kind of
> money for them, he said.
>
> Nowak, who makes air purification equipment for a living, and Helen
> Schneider's family would equally split the proceeds from the sale of that
> meteorite, a chunk from an asteroid that fell to Earth.
>
> He and a few friends have been searching the farm on weekends and at
> other times.
>
> He twice failed to find the 1872 meteorite by using a metal detector. Now
he
> hopes to use infrared photography to find the now-buried meteorite when
the
> weather warms.
>
> He was drawn to Plymouth after reading an article on the 1872 meteorite in
> the American Journal of Science that was published in 1895. His efforts
have
> attracted widespread attention in Indiana, with news reports appearing in
> papers in Plymouth, South Bend and Indianapolis.
>
> Meteorites are now Nowak's passion, but he was first drawn to them only
two
> years ago after seeing one tumble from the sky.
>
> He has founded what he calls the International Meteorite Society, and he
> has bought meteorites online. But he has yet to discover a meteorite.
>
> Only 11 meteorites have been recovered in Ohio, so Nowak, who declined to
> be photographed, said he intends to focus his meteorite hunting in Ohio,
> Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan.
>
> It is a hobby now, but Nowak admits he would like to turn his meteorite
> hunting into a full-time occupation.
>
> Finding a large meteorite would be ``like winning the lottery,'' said
Nowak,
> who attended Highland and Medina high schools and Cuyahoga Community
> College.
>
> ``It's a golden opportunity,'' he said. ``It could be lucrative, although
it hasn't
> been lucrative yet. . . . But meteorites are worth more than diamonds and
> gold. And there's very little competition because most people are clueless
> about meteorites.''
>
> Meteorites are not that rare -- two or three a day crash to Earth -- but
> identifying them from less valuable earthly rocks is difficult, said
Gerald
> Newsome, a professor of astronomy at Ohio State University.
>
> Meteorites tend to be iron-nickel or stony specimens. The metallic
meteorites
> are less common and more apt to end up in museums, he said. The stony
> ones are more common, harder to find and more likely to crumble, he said.
>
> But meteorites can fetch substantial amounts of money from museums and
> collectors, depending on their size and condition, he said.
>
> ``There's always a chance of a payoff,'' he said of the chances of finding
a
> valuable meteorite, ``but it's a long shot.''
>
> Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or
> bdowning_at_thebeaconjournal.com
>
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Received on Tue 22 Jan 2002 11:51:55 AM PST