[meteorite-list] Memorial Stone to Mark Spot Where High Possil Meteorite Landed in Scotland

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun May 22 22:44:39 2005
Message-ID: <200505230244.j4N2i3d13299_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=556632005

Memorial stone to mark spot where meteorite landed
The Scotsman
JIM MCBETH
May 21, 2005

THE meteorite that fell to earth on Glasgow and unlocked five-
billion-year-old secrets of the solar system, has been commemorated at
last on the spot where it landed.

A commemorative stone was unveiled yesterday on Possil Marsh as part of
the 200th anniversary of a phenomenon which is, with typical Glasgow
humour, known as the "space oddity".

The rock is five billion years old, as old as our solar system, and the
High Possil meteorite was one of three at the time - the others fell on
Yorkshire and France - which revolutionised scientific thought.

The composition of the High Possil meteorite revealed how the early
solar system was made up and proved that meteorites did fall from above.

Until the 19th century, it was believed that they were already present
and merely thrown up by freakish weather.

However, on this occasion, there were witnesses who could testify that
it did fall out of the sky.

Scotland's first recorded meteorite stunned not just the scientists but
the workers at High Possil quarry who were also terrified by its
arrival. Three workmen were alarmed by a "singular noise".

At first, it sounded like the report of a cannon, but evolved into a
violently whizzing noise before the rock landed "with very great force
on the surface of the earth".

The men, along with two boys and a dog, ran for their lives "in a great
fright", one of them screaming it was a "judgment coming upon us".

When they recovered, the elder boy examined the site and described "such
a reek" when he found pieces of stone that were 18 inches across.

Two parts of the meteorite were kept by Robert Crawford, the land owner,
and they were pored over by Glasgow University professors.

Following Crawford's death, the pieces were inherited by his sister who,
in 1810, presented them to the meteorite collection in the Hunterian
museum of Glasgow University, where they remain on display.

Dr John Faithful, the curator, said: "This meteorite was the first ever
recovered in Scotland, and one of the very first scientifically verified
falls anywhere.

"This important scientific event has at last a fitting memorial."

The meteorite is one of the very oldest things on earth, the same age as
the formation of the solar system, according to Dr Faithful.

He added: "This was one of the very first meteorites that was known to
be a meteorite. After the one in Yorkshire, one guy got obsessed with
the idea, but people thought he was mad.

"But after the ones in France and High Possil, it became accepted."

Along with the falls in Yorkshire and France, the High Possil meteorite
marked the beginning of the modern science of meteorites, which now
provides us with our detailed knowledge of the solar system.

There are meteorite monuments around the world, but Glasgow's is the
first in Scotland and only the second in Britain.

Although extra-terrestrial in origin, the High Possil meteorite is
mostly made up of minerals which also occur on earth.

The major constituents are similar to those of basalt - orthopyroxene,
olivine, plagioclase feldspar and diopside. About 9 per cent of the
meteorite consists of nickel-iron alloys, with traces of other minerals
such as troilite, whitlockite, chromite and copper
Received on Sun 22 May 2005 10:44:01 PM PDT