[meteorite-list] Secret Find/Fall Coordinates andLegitimacy-Someone help me understand this.

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:28:03 -0600
Message-ID: <ED375177F17D4D16B2F4CBD70B5CF82C_at_bellatrix>

>If one doesn't have the coordinates of one or more
>stones of an interesting or important stone,
>one doesn't know, where to look for more.

Of course. And I recognize the importance of that to meteorite collectors,
hunters, and dealers. But as a scientist, I mainly want a few grams
accessible for analysis. The rest simply doesn't matter- scientifically.

>And with the coordinates of the fragments, you can
>map the strewnfield, determine the strewn-ellipse
>and from there you can deduct the trajectory of
>the meteorid and fragmentation events.

I have serious doubts that this is practical. The paper is interesting, but
I question its conclusions. A strewn field is not very closely related to a
meteor trajectory in most cases. This paper presents a model with no
observational confirmation. And it utilizes a strewn field that stretches
over kilometers. It is rare enough for coordinates to be withheld, and even
rarer, I expect, when dozens of meteorites are recovered over large fields.

To put it more empirically, I have been reading MAPS and other journals with
meteoritical papers for years. I've seen hundreds or thousands of articles
comparing meteorite mineralogy, formation theory, asteroid association, etc,
but not more than a dozen or so papers detailing the orbit, flight
characteristics, and strewn field of meteorites- despite the fact that most
meteorites have well described coordinates and many have well mapped strewn
fields. I honestly don't see the very small number of undisclosed locations
having any significant impact on the science of meteoritics at all.

Of course, I'm not arguing against disclosing locations, only that failing
to disclose the location should not prevent a meteorite from being named and
classified. That would be far more damaging to science.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Altmann" <altmann at meteorite-martin.de>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Secret Find/Fall Coordinates
andLegitimacy-Someone help me understand this.


>I recognize that there are rare cases where knowing the exact coordinates
>of a meteorite are essential

I would say rather the opposite - as we all know, many if not most
meteorites break up before they hit the ground.

If one doesn't have the coordinates of one or more stones of an interesting
or important stone, one doesn't know, where to look for more.
If you look e.g. into the pairing groups of the lunar and Martian meteorites
with known coordinates, like e.g. those from Libya or Oman, you'll see that
there are often several years, where additional pieces were found (also from
different people).

And with the coordinates of the fragments, you can map the strewnfield,
determine the strewn-ellipse and from there you can deduct the trajectory of
the meteorid and fragmentation events. (but not with meteortites found on
the icefields, cause they were transported).

Like e.g. the Verdandsky did with SaU 001
http://www.meteorites.ru/menu/publication-e/omandojd-e.pdf
or the Oman-Suisse-team is doing with other finds in Oman.

And for those researchers interested in weathering processes of meteorites,
it is important to know the geological formation, the soil ect. of the find
site.

Best!
Martin
Received on Tue 27 Oct 2009 10:28:03 PM PDT