Shooting Star

050 Audi Magazine _ Meteorite hunting 051 Shooting star Writer JOHN SILCOX Photographer GREG PAJO 052 Audi Magazine _ Meteorite hunting 053 ‘Meteorites are the only extraterrestrial objects that have ever landed on Earth, and are the closest we will get to being able to study other planets until we actually get there ourselves’ Fig. 01 Fig. 02 From the stars Classic iron meteorite With no light pollution, a clear Iron meteorites are fragments night sky above the Colorado from the cores of long-vanished Desert in Arizona reveals the planets or large asteroids that depths of the Milky Way. have fallen to Earth. They are Meteorites travel many millions of among the densest materials to miles before colliding with Earth be found on Earth 054 Audi Magazine _ Meteorite hunting 055 There are few places on Earth that feel bigger than the vast 130,000 square-mile expanse of the Colorado Plateau in southern USA. As we drive through this desert landscape in an Audi Q2, we are swallowed up: the horizon rolls on as far as the eye can see, and everything we come across seems unnaturally oversized. Even the road signs are massive and, turning off the historic Route 66 near Winslow, Arizona, we follow a giant one pointing towards Meteor Crater. This mile-wide hole is our first destination on a One of the most recognisable faces at the show mission to learn more about meteorites, and how belongs to Geoff Notkin, a meteorite hunter who COMET they could help mankind unlock the mysteries of has been coming here for more than 20 years. the universe – explain where we come from, and He is the owner of a locally based meteorite sales where we are going. It’s also a great opportunity company called Aerolite, which has set up one of ASTEROID to see if Audi’s diminutive SUV can prove its the biggest stalls at the 22nd Street Show, one of worth on a wide variety of terrain, making the the city’s busiest trade halls. When we get near, most of its raised ride height and quattro we have to contend with the bustling crowds METEOR all-wheel-drive technology. attracted by the large and rare meteorites on Meteor Crater was created some 50,000 years display. They are also drawn to Geoff himself, ago after a meteorite collided with Earth. It is who is a bit of a celebrity in his own right after FIREBALL calculated to have been approximately 150 feet in starring in a TV show called Meteorite Men. diameter, weighing several hundred thousand ‘Meteorite-hunting has taken me on adventures METEORITE pounds and containing sufficient iron-nickel to all around the world,’ he explains. ‘These bolides produce about 42,000 new cars. At the time of [very bright meteors] can fall with equal probability EARTH impact it was travelling at 26,000mph, and the anywhere on Earth, so a hunt could just as easily collision rocked the American south-west with a lead you to Tucson as it could Timbuktu. Some force equivalent to more than 20 million tonnes landscapes are much better for spotting meteorites OUTER SPACE of TNT going off. than others, though. The best places are dry with The main meteorite has never been retrieved, little or no vegetation, such as hot or cold deserts, Comet as it started disintegrating upon entering the where the meteorites stand out from the rest of the A mass of ice, rock and dust atmosphere and then exploded on impact. But backdrop quite vividly. That’s why Arizona has drifting in space which develops thousands of fragments of various sizes have been many prime hunting spots.’ a tail as it gets closer to the sun found nearby, including the Holsinger meteorite, In such a landscape, Geoff would usually head Asteroid which weighs more than half a tonne and is on out on a hunt armed with special metal detectors. A body – made of rock, metal or display in the visitor centre. The crater is a popular He scours the ground looking for meteorite other elements – that orbits the destination for space enthusiasts, and it attracts fragments, which can be detected due to their sun. Many are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and more than 200,000 visitors each year. It’s the magnetic properties. Then, he explains, there Jupiter). Their width ranges from are two other kinds of meteorite hunt: historic best-preserved crater of its kind in the world, and a few feet to hundreds of miles is similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs and fireball. – which landed a few thousand miles south, just Historic hunts are his favourite, and lead him Meteor off the coast of Mexico. to reinvestigate locations where meteorites have An asteroid or other object that burns up completely on entering been found in the past. Often he will study Earth’s atmosphere. They arrive After a few hours of comfortable highway archives looking for old references of meteorite as a single entity (shooting star) cruising, our next stop-off is the Tucson Gem, finds, and then use modern technology to pick up or in a cluster (meteor shower) Mineral & Fossil Show. For a few weeks each any pieces that were missed when the areas were spring, this small southern city is overrun by tens first searched. A fireball hunt is the opposite, and Fireball A large, bright meteor that of thousands of geology enthusiasts from all involves tracking down a freshly fallen meteorite. burns as it travels through around the world, who come to trade, collect and It requires travelling to locations where there have Earth’s atmosphere, producing a discover. More than 5000 stalls spring up in been recent sightings of meteorites in the sky, and streak of light that is sometimes various locations around the city, bristling with then deploying a wide variety of detectors. visible in daylight rare minerals, gems and even dinosaur fossils. It’s ‘Following fireballs can be quite a rush,’ he says. Meteorite one of the biggest events of the year for meteorite ‘If [the sighting] is well covered by the media then A meteor fragment that lands on dealers, who come to meet up with enthusiasts you will get quite a lot of competition from other Earth, having survived its journey and share their latest finds. hunters. These events are quite rare, and there >> through tbe atmosphere 056 Audi Magazine _ Meteor hunting 057 Fig. 03 Fig. 04 Meenakshi Wadhwa Meteor Crater, Arizona Meenakshi is a professor The mile-wide impact zone of geological sciences at the of a large meteorite strike School of Earth and Space that occurred 50,000 years Exploration and director ago. Its scale is hard to gauge, of the Center for Meteorite but there are single-storey Studies, both at Arizona buildings at the bottom of State University. Working at the crater that are nearly a state-of-the-art facility in invisible to someone standing Phoenix, she helps curate one right at its edge of the largest collections of meteorites in the world 058 Audi Magazine _ Meteor hunting 059 Fig. 05 Fig. 06 Fig. 07 Audi Q2 Widmanstätten pattern Christian Meza Meteorites contain Christian works for Aerolite, Audi’s smallest SUV stands fascinating structures and a meteorite hunting and out at sunset against the patterns. Some iron-nickel trading company based in darkening horizon of the examples have a cross- Tucson, Arizona. He’s Arizona desert. The low hatched structure that holding part of a pallasite – light helps accentuate the indicates extremely slow a rare type of meteorite made Q2’s unique styling – its cooling, which is consistent up of large olivine crystals. sculpted bonnet and sinuous, with its formation inside Large specimens like this can coupé-like roof – while the an asteroid sell for thousands of dollars LED headlights fitted to our model provided powerful illumination along the desert’s twisting roads 060 Audi Magazine _ Meteor hunting 061 are only a handful of notable events a year but it’s ‘Of course we like to head off on our own field worth getting to the site first.’ Geoff explains that trips, but that’s not always possible. Quite often a large meteorite fragment can sell for tens of we won’t even hear of a meteorite discovery until thousands of dollars to private collectors. Size a trader brings us a specimen, which they have isn’t the only determining factor when it comes to acquired from somebody in a remote part of the value, though, as the rarity of the meteorite’s world. We have a symbiotic relationship with the composition also plays a role. ‘There’s also an commercial meteorite trade.’ analogy with the fine-art world, as the provenance We meet Meenakshi at her custom-built of a piece can make it more valuable – it adds laboratory in Phoenix, which is a few hours’ drive intrigue and wonder,’ he adds. away. The sun is beating down, so we’re making full use of the dual-zone electronic climate control It’s not only collectors and enthusiasts who are fitted to our Q2. interested in meteorites: the scientific community This facility houses one of the finest collections is also very involved. Some of the world’s leading in the world, with more than 40,000 individual universities and museums of natural history have segments of 2000 different meteorites. Founded extensive meteorite collections that are the in 1961, it looks more like a museum of modern focus of scientific research projects. Remarkably, art than a research lab.

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