[meteorite-list] 2nd Report from Strewnfield in Edgewood Texas

From: Marc Fries <mfries8_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 21:00:42 -0800
Message-ID: <BLU0-SMTP4700A535E662A971089B7E2F17A0_at_phx.gbl>

This works, though its not as satisfying as finding a rock. I have a
rather large collection of spherules from my visit to the Jacksonville,
IL event but haven't had time to work on them yet. I collected them by
wrapping my magnet in duct tape sticky side out, then peeling off the
tape at the end of the day and saving it. A trip to my microscope
revealed dozens, perhaps hundreds of spherical metallic objects ranging
from mm's in size to sub-mm. To be fair, they could be slag, but I do
think it would be fun to get a Meteoritical Society database entry for a
meteorite based on ablation spherules alone... hehehe

Cheers,
Marc Fries


On 2/7/12 9:25 AM, Steve Dunklee wrote:
> Might looking for ablation material with magnets be the best way to narrow down the fall area? The microscopic dust may be pushed by the wind, but it should be easier to find than the big stuff.
> cheers
> Steve Dunklee
>
>
> --- On Tue, 2/7/12, Marc Fries<mfries8 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Marc Fries<mfries8 at hotmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] 2nd Report from Strewnfield in Edgewood Texas
>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> Date: Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 5:16 PM
>> Rather quietly and "behind the
>> scenes", there has been a lot of work
>> developing the use of weather radar to detect meteorites, by
>> Rob Matson,
>> Jake Schaefer, myself, my brother, and others. It's
>> been a tall
>> learning curve but I think we've made a lot of
>> progress. In my opinion,
>> the biggest "unknown" left at this point is to figure out
>> what size of
>> meteorites and/or other debris actually show up best in
>> radar data. The
>> radar reflections we see are not only reflections off of
>> solid objects
>> but also from atmospheric turbulence. And we also have to
>> unravel the
>> knot of reflections in the Mie scattering regime, where the
>> reflected
>> signal strength varies widely - and nonlinearly - with the
>> size of the
>> reflector. The upshot is that we are still working on
>> sorting out what
>> radar reflection equates to what size of meteorite. If we
>> see a radar
>> reflection, is it from search-worthy stones or just a cloud
>> of ~1g
>> rocks, or even ablation spherules? A good part of that is
>> just a matter
>> of timing, but not all of it. Lorton, for example,
>> produced a strong
>> radar signature in TDWR radar data but nothing was found
>> beyond the
>> original doctors'-office-smasher, suggesting that we were
>> looking at a
>> swarm of tiny rocks....? The same is true for the
>> Jacksonville, IL event.
>>
>> This DFW fireball appears to come from a well-consolidated
>> object that
>> survived a long "burn" time with little in the way of
>> fragmentation.
>> West, TX, by comparison, fragmented extensively and produced
>> a
>> beautiful, easy to follow set of radar signatures. My take
>> on the DFW
>> fireball is that we're looking for a small number of large
>> rocks that
>> reached the ground quickly, producing a short-lived radar
>> signature that
>> requires some degree of luck to figure out. ...or are
>> we looking at 1g
>> stones that no one is going to find? Just having that
>> answer in hand
>> will tell us a lot about where to look.
>>
>> Still working on it...
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Marc Fries
>>
>> On 2/7/12 8:46 AM, Steve Dunklee wrote:
>>> The radar data is not off. It is just not understood by
>> most people how the parabola of a fall can cause the actual
>> landing area to be up to 12 miles away from the radar data.
>> If you stick a french curve in an apple to represent the
>> west to east fall. the termination point is north to
>> northwest of the radar data.
>>> Cheers
>>> Steve Dunklee
>>>
>>> --- On Tue, 2/7/12, Jim Wooddell<nf114ec at npgcable.com>
>> wrote:
>>>> From: Jim Wooddell<nf114ec at npgcable.com>
>>>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] 2nd Report from
>> Strewnfield in Edgewood Texas
>>>> To: "Dennis Miller"<astroroks at hotmail.com>,
>> mccartney at blackbearddata.com,
>> meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>>>> Date: Tuesday, February 7, 2012, 4:29 PM
>>>> Hi All!
>>>>
>>>> I thought it was determined the Radar data was
>> off???
>>>> And, it really is not a strewn filed until one is
>> actually
>>>> found!
>>>>
>>>> Cheers!
>>>>
>>>> Jim
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Jim Wooddell
>>>> http://k7wfr.us
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Dennis Miller"<astroroks at hotmail.com>
>>>> To:<mccartney at blackbearddata.com>;
>>>> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2012 8:55 AM
>>>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] 2nd Report from
>> Strewnfield in
>>>> Edgewood Texas
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Nice! I am so glad you didn't set the public
>> price too
>>>> high, like
>>>>> Thousands
>>>>>
>>>>> for Ash Creek. :-) I do hope you are successful
>> in your
>>>> hunt. Keep us
>>>>> posted.
>>>>>
>>>>> Missed you in Tucson! Again, Good Luck!
>>>>>
>>>>> Dennis Miller
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> From: mccartney at blackbearddata.com
>>>>>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>>>>>> Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2012 22:17:55 -0700
>>>>>> Subject: [meteorite-list] 2nd Report from
>>>> Strewnfield in Edgewood Texas
>>>>>> Nothing has been found where the radar data
>> said it
>>>> might be. Torvald
>>>>>> and Donavan have left the zone replaced by
>> Stephen
>>>> Thompson out of
>>>>>> Fredricksburg TX who is an expert on Sonic
>> Boom
>>>> characteristics.
>>>>>> I've been lucky enough to get some media
>> attention
>>>> to try to motivate
>>>>>> the public to assist here is today's
>> interview on
>>>> TV. This is the 5 TV
>>>>>> interview I've given since arriving.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://dfw.cbslocal.com/video/6713580-meteor-hunters-scouring-north-texas/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We spent the day interviewing more
>> witnesses&
>>>> compiling and extending
>>>>>> the range of sonic boom farther to the east
>> to
>>>> include Wills Point, and
>>>>>> southern Lake Tawakanii.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We'll do some field samplings tomorrow east
>> of 19.
>>>>>> Also as a warning. I've heard from a local
>> that the
>>>> landowner who owns
>>>>>> the land in the north where the upper radar
>> blip
>>>> is, has gotten very
>>>>>> hostile to all outsiders. The local warned
>> me to
>>>> tell everyone to stay
>>>>>> off that property. He thinks the landowner
>> may
>>>> shoot to wound or maim.
>>>>>> So I'd like everyone to take that threat to
>> heart.
>>>>>> At this point, we have two new important
>>>> observations and think the
>>>>>> strewnfield to be east of 19 now.
>>>>>> At this point, there have been no Z
>> sightings, but
>>>> the Black Panther
>>>>>> remains a constant threat. 5 dogs were
>> killed.
>>>> Also, the park rangers
>>>>>> at the state park warned us that a mountain
>> lion
>>>> has been spotted in the
>>>>>> area.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Some sonic boom activity has been traced
>> back to
>>>> some individual using
>>>>>> some kind of reactive explosive that
>> detonates when
>>>> shot by a bullet.
>>>>>> The local police has informed us this has
>> been a
>>>> bit of a problem for
>>>>>> weeks. Consequently, it really screws up
>> our
>>>> acoustical survey.
>>>>>> and a mention and big hand to Dirk Ross,
>> David
>>>> Gonzales, and Marc Fries
>>>>>> for giving us back support.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -mccartney taylor& stephen
>> thompson
>>>>>> (meteorite hunter) (offical panther bait)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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Received on Wed 08 Feb 2012 12:00:42 AM PST