[meteorite-list] MASSIVE fireball in Sweden this morning.

From: Bob Loeffler <bobl_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:09:13 -0700
Message-ID: <20090118180901.7C5791055E_at_mailwash5.pair.com>

Hi Martin,

Is there a meteorite society/club in Denmark? If there is, maybe its
members can "pool" their money together to pay for a roof over Agpalilik.
The bad economy might not allow for this right now, but maybe in a couple
years. If we had a large meteorite sitting outside without a roof here in
the US, one or more clubs/societies would've quickly donated money and labor
to build a roof over it. But maybe rules and laws prohibit that in other
countries?

> Not worth looking for.

Even if a meteorite hunter won't get any monetary reward (or even the
meteorite) from finding it, that is no reason not to look for it. As long
as it doesn't cost more money than he/she can spend, the thrill of the hunt
is exciting. Two weekends ago I looked for evidence of meteorites from the
Penrose, Colorado fireball. I drove down to Penrose from Superior (near
Boulder, Colorado) and went to two different places. The first place that I
went to was west of the town. I was able to walk around there because there
weren't a lot of houses. I only saw sandstone, so any meteorites would've
been obvious. :-) I then drove around half of the streets in town and
looked for evidence (dark rocks on the sides of the roads) but I didn't see
any. I spent about 6 hours on this trip (it was a Saturday) and spent about
$100 (mostly on fuel for my Jeep). Even though I didn't find anything, it
was still exciting and I said to myself "It was a fun, small vacation, so it
was worth the $100 that I spent on it". I didn't get a reward (money or
meteorites), but I did see scenery that I had not seen for a few years.

Maybe there is a meteorite lover near the location where the Sweden fireball
was last assumed to be above land (assuming it fell into the Baltic Sea).
If that person is very close to that location, it won't cost him/her a lot
of money to look around for a few hours and maybe ask a few local residents
if they saw or heard anything. I think it's worth a try if it doesn't cost
too much.

Regards,

Bob L.


-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Martin
Altmann
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 5:17 AM
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] MASSIVE fireball in Sweden this morning.

Hi Mike,

The second word of your introduction I second.

> Europeans, get to work on this!

Not worth looking for.

Denmark:

"under s.36b of the Museum Law Act (1989)finds are "geological objects of
unique scientific value" and must be delivered to a state museum. Under
s.36b(3) the museum pays the finder a fee based on the market value adjusted
for the speed and care taken by the finder and carrying out this obligation.
Greenland, as part of Denmark has a similar rule..."

(Schmitt et al. MAPS 37,2002).

The funds of the Copenhagen museum for meteorite acquisitions are since
years ZERO.
They even have no funds to curate their meteorites there lege artis.
Agpalilik - the recovery was the highlight in the annals of this
institution,
is kept open air in the court of the museum and suffered already heavy
damage by humidity.
In 50 years they haven't managed yet to built a little roof for a few
hundred bucks to protect this iron from rain.

Under these circumstances, a finder can't expect to be compensated in a
timely and adequate manner.

Btw. a market value can't be determined, because Danish meteorites can't be
traded because of this law. (There were some brains involved in making that
law.....)

(At least Denmark seems not to have added meteorites to their national
UNESCO cultural heritage lists.
Canada and Australia did so.
All specimens of Cape York in the institutional collections in Canada and
Australia, which don't have export papers, showing that they were once
allowed to be removed from the country of find Greenland,
have to be returned to the Danish state. Great that USA didn't make that
mistake, to see Peary's mountain of iron rusting next to Agpalilik in the
museum's court would break the hearts of all meteoriticists).

Btw. the interpretation of the UNESCO convention of 1970 like Australia and
Canada followed, is the exact opposite of that what the UNESCO working group
on meteorites, consisting of the curators of London, New York, Paris and
Budapest, and members of the UNESCO legal department recommended in their
premilary work for the convention, starting in 1964 (concealed by Schmitt et
al. in their article).


Under these circumstances, noone will search for a meteorite on Danish
territory.

Hopefully it felt in Sweden.

Best
Martin
Received on Sun 18 Jan 2009 01:09:13 PM PST