[meteorite-list] 93 Kilo Druid Meteorite

From: dorifry <dorifry_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:42:02 -0500
Message-ID: <1E3514A21DA449D597F5A95457BC6EB6_at_DoriPC>

Apparently, Professor Colin Pillinger referenced the larger "Lake House"
meteorite in his talk.

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/5066146/Main/5064095


Hi all,

The 'Lake House' meteorite is referenced in Professor Colin Pillingers talk
at the Royal society recently. I include below my recent post to the met
list about this:



Please see the link below to a webcast of Professor Colin Pillingers
lecture to the Royal Society recently.

(http://royalsociety.org/events/2012/stones-from-the-sky/)

Professor Pillinger was the recipient of the Michael Faraday prize in
recognition of his excellence in communicating science. The lecture is
called 'Stones from the sky - A heaven sent opportunity to talk about
science' For those who dont know about Professor Pillinger, here is a
lowdown:

'Colin Pillinger is Professor of Planetary Sciences at the Open
University. His research interests include designing unique
instruments to analyse extraterrestrial samples. During his forty year
career he has made more than a thousand contributions to scientific
literature, and also found time to be one of Britain's foremost
science communicators, contributing dozens of popular articles in
newspapers and magazines as well as giving hundreds of public
lectures. After analysing a number of meteorites from Mars and finding
tantalising evidence of the existence of life there, he conceived the
Beagle 2 mission to land on the Red Planet to confirm his discoveries.
Throughout the project he filled over thirty notebooks recording the
daily happenings which form the basis of his autobiographical account
of the mission - "My life on Mars". '

Colin Pillinger is friends with Derek and Katrina Gray, the owners of
the Wold Cottage and has a particular interest in the Wold Cottage
meteorite and in Sir Edward Topham who was the owner of the land at
the time the meteorite fell. The webcast is an hour long but its worth
watching, a really good intro to the history of the study of
meteorites from a definite personality in the field.

Cheers


Martin

---------------------
Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum


----- Original Message -----
From: "Galactic Stone & Ironworks" <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
To: "dorifry" <dorifry at embarqmail.com>
Cc: "meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 1:20 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] 93 Kilo Druid Meteorite


> Hi Phil and List,
>
> The smaller Danebury stone is in the Met Bulletin. The larger stone
> is not. I'm curious if the institution holding the larger stone has
> any plans to get it classified and approved by NonCom?
>
> Second question - did the Druids have any idea this stone was from the
> sky? Or did they just find a heavy rock and keep it?
>
> Best regards,
>
> MikeG
> --
> *************************************************
> Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Meteorites & Amber
>
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>
> On 2/11/12, dorifry <dorifry at embarqmail.com> wrote:
>> And they found a smaller one in a grain pit!:
>>
>> http://news.discovery.com/space/druids-meteorite-stonehenge-ice-age-120209.html
>>
>>
>> Large Meteorite Likely Found in Druid Burial Site
>> Britain's largest space rock -- excavated 200 years ago by an
>> archaeological
>> dig -- was preserved by the Ice Age.
>>
>> Thu Feb 9, 2012 04:01 PM ET
>> Content provided by Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience
>>
>> THE GIST
>> a.. In a new exhibition, the 205 pound meteorite is on display, along
>> with
>> its mysterious story.
>> b.. The space rock was likely found by druids to build a burial chamber
>> and later unearthed by archaeologists near Stonehenge.
>> c.. Scientists believe that the meteorite was preserved by the onset of
>> the Ice Age.
>>
>> enlarge
>> The 205 pound meteorite likely crashed to Earth 30,000 years ago -- it
>> was
>> then preserved by the freezing conditions of the Ice Age. Click to
>> enlarge
>> this image.
>> Credit: Open University
>>
>>
>> With a weight that rivals a baby elephant, a meteorite that fell from
>> space
>> some 30,000 years ago is likely Britain's largest space rock. And after
>> much
>> sleuthing, researchers think they know where it came from and how it
>> survived so long without weathering away.
>>
>> The giant rock, spanning about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) across and weighing
>> 205
>> pounds (93 kilograms), was likely discovered by an archaeologist about
>> 200
>> years ago at a burial site created by the Druids (an ancient Celtic
>> priesthood) near Stonehenge, according to said Colin Pillinger, a
>> professor
>> of planetary sciences at the Open University.
>>
>> ANALYSIS: Forget Space Beer, Order Meteorite Wine Instead
>>
>> Pillinger curated the exhibition "Objects in Space," which opened Feb. 9
>> and
>> is the first time the public will get a chance to see the meteorite. The
>> exhibition will explore not only the mystery that surrounds the origins
>> of
>> the giant meteorite, but also the history and our fascination with space
>> rocks.
>>
>> As for how the meteorite survived its long stint on Earth, researchers
>> point
>> to the ice age.
>>
>> "The only meteorites that we know about that have survived these long
>> ages
>> are the ones that were collected in Antarctica," said Pillinger, adding
>> that
>> more recently, some ancient meteorites have been collected in the Sahara
>> Desert. This rock came from neither the Sahara Desert nor Antarctica, but
>> rather the Lake House in Wiltshire.
>>
>> "Britain was under an ice age for 20,000 years," Pillinger told
>> LiveScience,
>> explaining the climate would have protected the rock from weathering.
>>
>> At some point, the Druids likely picked up the meteorite when scouting
>> for
>> rocks to build burial chambers. "They were keen on building burial sites
>> for
>> [the dead] in much the same way the Egyptians built the pyramids,"
>> Pillinger
>> said.
>>
>> SCIENCE CHANNEL: Meteorite Men Videos
>>
>> Then, years later, an archaeologist with ties to other, famous
>> archaeologists, likely found the rock while excavating the Druids' burial
>> sites, he said. The archaeologist then brought the rock back to his house
>> in
>> Wiltshire, where its more recent residents took notice and alerted
>> researchers.
>>
>> "The men whose house this was found at spent a lot of time opening these
>> burial sites 200 years ago for purposes of excavating them," Pillinger
>> said.
>> "Our hypothesis is that the stone probably came out of one of those
>> burial
>> chambers."
>>
>>
>> WATCH VIDEOS: FROM METEORS TO ASTEROIDSThe meteorite is called a
>> chondrite,
>> a group that includes primitive meteorites that scientists think were
>> remnants shed from the original building blocks of planets. Most
>> meteorites
>> found on Earth fit into this group.
>>
>> ANALYSIS: Farmer Finds Rare Meteorite
>>
>> Other objects on display include a much smaller meteorite, weighing about
>> an
>> ounce (32 grams), and excavated from a grain pit where ancient peoples of
>> the Iron Age stored their crops. It was discovered in the 1970s at
>> Danebury
>> Hill Fort in Hampshire, though it wasn't until the 1980s when scientists
>> analyzed metal in the walnut-size object did they realize its
>> extraterrestrial origin.
>>
>> The exhibition will also include a Damien Hirst "spot painting," which
>> features the famous Beagle 2 spacecraft as its center spot. In addition,
>> part of Newton's apple tree will be on display.
>>
>> The story of how researchers are uncovering the origins of these
>> impressive
>> specimens will astonish and delight visitors to this remarkable
>> exhibition,
>> which also contains letters and books charting the history of scientific
>> interest in meteorites.
>>
>> The Royal Society's London headquarters will house the exhibit through
>> March
>> 30.
>>
>> ---------------------
>>
>> Phil Whitmer
>>
>> Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum
>>
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Received on Sat 11 Feb 2012 01:42:02 PM PST