[meteorite-list] New Meteorite Identified in Canada

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:25:24 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200612200025.QAA25684_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/12/19/2877901.html

Meteorite identified
By SHAWN LOGAN
The Calgary Sun
December 19, 2006

The discovery of an unusual rock a quarter-century ago has been
identified as the 69th meteorite find in Canada by U of C researchers.

The extra-terrestrial find was recovered by Vancouver resident Rolf
Eipper in the 1980s when he found the rock after stepping out of his
vehicle on a gravel road near Whistler, B.C.

The palm-sized, 100-gram specimen sat in Eipper's house for decades
until July, when the University of Calgary's Prairie Meteorite Search
announced another find by a Kelowna woman turned out to be a red herring
after further tests determined it didn't come from space.

But Dr. Alan Hildebrand, a university geology professor who also heads
up the meteorite research team, said media reports about the aborted
discovery led to Eipper to make inquiries about his find.

"I am acutely chagrined that we made and announced this
misidentification but am consoling myself that the resulting publicity
led to Rolf Eipper bringing his meteorite forward for identification and
study," Hildebrand said.

Researchers cut a small piece from the rock for study at the U of C and
determined it was a weathered iron meteorite.

The find is the 10th discovery for the Prairie Meteorite Search, which
now accounts for around 15% of all the meteorites ever found in Canada.

Researchers are encouraging anyone with a rock they think may be a
meteorite to have it identified.

"We have looked at the rocks of more than 4,000 people since we started
in 2000 and we will happily look at the rocks of thousands more," he said.
Received on Tue 19 Dec 2006 07:25:24 PM PST