[meteorite-list] Meteorite from Jupiter-- uh, I mean TO Jupiter

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Jun 21 02:00:21 2006
Message-ID: <svnh92hvdb1hp8hda9k75pdrnnn6tntkv8_at_4ax.com>

There's a photo on the page, but it is poorly focused.


http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_4788540,00.html

Jupiter resident looking to prove chunk of stone a meteorite

By MICHELLE SHELDONE
michelle.sheldone_at_scripps.com
June 21, 2006
Bob Walshon got "stoned."
And he hopes experts can identify the rock he says fell from the heavens and
struck his shoulder.


Advertisement
"I came for the fishing," quipped the 51-year-old Jupiter health care consultant
Monday, recalling why he had moved to the area. "I thought I'd be getting hit by
a bunch of dolphin."
But Walshon's neighbor, Mike Pollutro, is so certain the rock is a meteorite
that he's e-mailed specialists to confirm it.

"I've looked at thousands and thousands, and I've never seen one that comes
close to what Bob has," said Pollutro, a World Airways pilot and meteorite
collector.

The rock socked Walshon six years ago as he was checking out weeds in front of
his home in Holly Cove subdivision, in north Jupiter.

He spun around and yelled, "Who did that?" Walshon recalled.

But no one was there.

The green and gold flecked charcoal-colored stone was too hot to handle, he
said. So he let it cool, then stored it in a drawer.

This past Memorial Day, Walshon spotted Pollutro, 44, polishing a 172-pound
meteorite he purchased on e-bay. Pollutro told Walshon that Spaniards in 1570s
Argentina discovered his rock in an area known as Campo del Cielo ("field of the
heaven or sky.")

Meteorites are fragments of planetary bodies that travel 4.5 billion years
before colliding with Earth, according to David A. Kring, associate professor of
Cosmochemistry and Planetary Geology in the University of Arizona's Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory. They come from asteroids, though some are confirmed to
have lunar origins. Researchers suspect others might be from Mars, Kring writes.

People worldwide each year find what they believe to be meteorites, according to
Kring.

The spacey stones are comprised of different minerals, and Walshon's local find
made a metal detector twitter. Pollutro, meanwhile, "beamed the story to a bunch
of people" and is hoping researchers can help determine the rock's origins.

Area residents bring about one each year to the West Palm Beach-based South
Florida Science Museum for testing, spokeswoman Elizabeth Dashiell said. "I'm
sure (some meteorites in this area) have been confirmed," Dashiell said. "But I
personally have no experience."

Meteorites typically are named based on the latitude-longitude locations where
they're found, Pollutro said.

So that no one assumes Walshon's local discovery rained from the planet of the
same name, Pollutro pointedly refers to it as the "Jupiter, Fla." meteorite.

ABOUT METEORITES

? Despite myths, meteorites do not glow and are generally no more radioactive
than pea rock or coral.

? Meteorites are either stony and slightly heavier than typical rocks of the
same size, or they are metallic and much heavier.

? Those that are metallic ring like a bell when struck with a metallic object.

? Recently-fallen meteorites feature glassy, smooth coatings.

? Those that are older and weathered appear blanketed in dark brown.

? Most, but not all, are magnetic.

Source: Meteoritical Society
Received on Wed 21 Jun 2006 02:02:53 AM PDT