[meteorite-list] image 79 Jason Utas' Iron Photos. Spacers?

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 13:36:18 -0700
Message-ID: <AANLkTinfCvmVOpPHQjxa12YVx5Zxhwi8z4wcVx7Ns6p0_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hello Elton,
We purchased this meteorite a number of years ago; the slices were
listed individually on ebay as pieces of a newly found individual of
Tafrawet (NWA 860).

We have an endcut of Tafrawet; it looks nothing like it externally or
internally.

We promptly bought all of the slices remaining (two or three had
already sold), and gave a slice to UCLA. Their analysis confirmed
that it was a new iron, and we're currently working on finishing the
writeup for its submission - as a new IAB, NWA 3200. It should be
noted that John and Dawn Birdsell also have a somewhat smaller mass of
this iron.

With regards to the spacers - Peter contacted...I think it was Greg
Hupe, but I can't access the records at the moment...to ask him about
the thickness of the saw-blade that he used to cut the iron.

Peter then found some foam posterboard that was the correct thickness,
and traced the outlines of each of the facing slices on each side of
the board. He would then cut out the spacer to the appropriate size
using the larger outline on each spacer, and trim it down at an angle
to the drawn outline on the opposite side (the outline of the smaller
slice). The cutting and trimming was all done by scalpel. When he
finished, we put it all together and took some pictures to give an
idea of what the iron would have looked like when it was whole, and
it's now sitting in an airtight jar back at home.

As I've said before, we collect meteorites with the general goal of
preserving them; while I can't express how much I understand the value
of the information that they contain, I also can't help but despair
when aesthetically stunning meteorites are cut and no record is kept
of what it once looked like. Tafrawet is a perfect example of this;
have a look at some photos of this stunning, fresh iron:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameteoritefinder/2426681717/sizes/l/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameteoritefinder/2426679709/sizes/l/in/photostream/

So far as we know, this was a fresh, oriented iron meteorite with a
great shape - and no photos of it exist.
The same goes for one of the first large (~20kg individual) of Ziz.
Ziz was perhaps a greater loss; the four largest individuals of that
fall physically fit together as pairs into two lager masses. We
assume that the remaining ~20kg individual of Ziz would have tied
those together. And not only was that iron cut, but no photos of that
meteorite are known to exist as well.
There are many other examples...

So, we put this one together, as best we could, and took some photos.
It was actually a pretty interesting iron shaped like an oblate sphere
that displayed an unusual form of weathering; the underside was eaten
away by corrosion, and the top exhibited pitting similar to that seen
on Chilean irons.

And now it is a slightly better-documented iron meteorite...

Regards,
Jason

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 11:12 AM, MEM <mstreman53 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> Dear Jason,
>
> Regarding Image number 79 of your Picasa Iron photo page:
>
> <http://picasaweb.google.com/MeteoriteKid/Irons#5417262630959925810>
>
>
> This shows what looks like gray spacers/cushions between each layer of the sliced iron. ?They appear to be roughly equivalent in thickness and contour of each sawcut. ?I am curious as to how you made the inserts or are these also slices with some coating that gives them contrast?
>
> Interesting technique regardless and I am sure labor intensive.
>
> Regards,
> Elton
>
>
Received on Wed 09 Jun 2010 04:36:18 PM PDT


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