[meteorite-list] Did meteorite slam Oakland? Field Report

From: maria nelson <dragonsoup_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:33 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-DAV373wyv9kI3W00018dea_at_hotmail.com>

Hi All,

Armed with my digital camera, four of my five meteorites, and chips of a
rare-earth magnet, I went out to Davisburg today to scope out the "impact
crater". While I wasn't quite sure what I'd do when I got there (I'm really
new at this), it became instantly clear when I approached the TV news van
parked in the lot.

During the interview (on camera) I was informed that the crater was created
by the exhaust pipe of a fire truck. It was pretty comical but the reporter
did let me show all of the meteorites I brought (some had Mike Farmer's card
still in the bag). Even though they didn't air that part, they did air a
cool part of the interview. I was asked if the lengthy drive was worth it
and I responded: "Yes, it was worth it. If this had been a meteorite we'd be
holding space rocks right now!"

Anyway, my first field expedition and report is now complete and I used up
about 15 seconds of my remaining 8 minutes of fame on a very worthy cause.

Space Rocks Rule,
Maria ;)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Maria Nelson" <dragonsoup_at_msn.com>
To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 10:19 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Did meteorite slam Oakland?


> URL: http://www.detnews.com/2003/metro/0308/12/c01-242704.htm
>
> Did meteorite slam Oakland?
>
> By Tom Greenwood / The Detroit News
>
> DAVISBURG -- Live long and prosper -- and duck!
>
> The Road Commission for Oakland County may have had a close encounter of
the
> shooting-star kind when what appears to be a meteorite hit one of its
> maintenance facilities over the weekend.
>
> "It happened sometime on Sunday when the yard was locked up and no one was
> working," road commission spokesman Craig Bryson said. "Two workers came
in
> Monday morning and found an impact crater outside the main garage near the
> employee parking lot. When they told me about it, I thought they were
> kidding. What's next? We've hired Bigfoot as a snowplow driver?"
>
> Bryson said the object left a 12-inch-by-18-inch-by-3-inch crater in the
> lot, which may not seem impressive until one learns that the crater is in
6
> inches of asphalt.
>
> "The edges of the crater are seared black, and there's a fan-shaped debris
> field spread out all around the site," Bryson said. "One of our employees
is
> an amateur astronomer, and he said it looks like every impact crater he's
> ever seen."
>
> There is a good chance it was a meteorite, said David Batch, director of
the
> Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.
>
> "It's possible, although the description of the crater having charred
edges
> bothers me a bit," Batch said. "It could have been debris falling from a
> plane, although there's been no reports of anything like that. Fireworks
are
> a possibility, but it would have to be a very strong explosion to have
made
> that big a hole in asphalt. The best thing to do is to have the site
> examined and have the debris analyzed."
>
> Meteorites usually fall into one of three compositional categories:
> nickel/iron, stone and stone mixed with iron, Batch said. They enter the
> upper atmosphere at 40 miles per second but are greatly slowed by
friction.
>
> "If this was a meteorite, it was probably about the size of a fist or
> larger," Batch said.
>
> Workers have marked off the crater with orange cones.
>
> "We're going to have our amateur astronomer contact some scientists and
have
> them take a look," Bryson said. "But what the heck? What else could it
be?"
>
> You can reach Tom Greenwood at commuter_at_detnews.com or (313) 222-2023.
>
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Received on Wed 13 Aug 2003 12:28:44 AM PDT