[meteorite-list] Exotic Meteorites

From: SMTP <abelcompany_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:18:41 -0700
Message-ID: <A9ADA4B0-CBEB-4AC3-96B9-EF005C91B6D5_at_cox.net>

List:

In that I am a naive but inquiring "buff" with a growing interest and collection, I keep asking myself if there are totally foreign chunks of material that may fall and be dismissed as terra firman...

What piqued my curiosity was my discovery of an oblated-looking, black specimen of the same heft as a similar piece of jasper. It feels hard as a stone but I can scratch grooves in it and found that it began to smoke over a match.

My suspicion is a tar-like petroleum artifact. With the remoteness of the area, I am loathe to believe it to be a construction spill, but I admit an earthly origin is the strongest contender...it does look so very "dropped from the sky" in it's shape and displays the organic, swept features so common in meteorites.

Given that I've hunted down a keeper daub of tar, I am still left with the notion of meteoric chemicals, maybe even petrol in some native form? Aren't there frozen methane and a plethora of planetary exotics being bashed off or solar-winded off planets and moons?

Say, gold? Would a golden meteorite survive our atmosphere where a more volatile, high-speed tar ball might not? And if meteorites are cold to the touch when freshly fallen, might not the odd exotic survive the hot portion of entry, especially if the speeds of the earth and the meteor somewhat matched and there was little more than gravity to pull the piece to the ground?

Cheers!

Jonathan
Received on Tue 13 Nov 2012 02:18:41 PM PST