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

From: magellon <magellon_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:33 2004
Message-ID: <3F3A2B86.D2E8B7C_at_earthlink.net>

Maria,
Thanks so much for the follow-up.
The Press is quick to publish anyone's 'meteorite' story,
but rarely follows up when it is often discovered to be a wrong.
(No reflection on Ron Baalke, who does an excellent job on keeping us
informed)
I hope the trip wasn't too exhausting :>)
Best,
ken newton


maria nelson wrote:
>
> 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.
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
> > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > Meteorite-list mailing list
> > Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> > http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
> >
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Wed 13 Aug 2003 08:13:58 AM PDT