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Featured Monthly Articles

Accretion Desk by Martin Horejsi

Jim’s Fragments by Jim Tobin

Meteorite Market Trends by Michael Blood

Bob’s Findings by Robert Verish

IMCA Insights by The IMCA Team

Micro Visions by John Kashuba

Galactic Lore by Mike Gilmer

Meteorite Calendar by Anne Black

Meteorite of the Month by Michael Johnson

Tektite of the Month by Editor

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Witnessed Fall: Tadjera, Algeria by Martin Horejsi

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A June 1867 Witnessed Fall: Tadjera, Algeria The Tadjerites: Black as Coal . Hard as Rock. Ordinary as a .

One hundred forty-three years ago this month, “A luminous body was seen to descent towards the , and when arrived at a certain height to burst into fragments.” The report published August 5th, 1867 continues, “The flash of light was followed by rumbling noises, which ended in three loud reports, and were attended by a fall of aerolites.”

The fall, having landed on the Plain of Tadjera, Amer Guebala, near Setif, Algeria, was therefore named Tadjera.

Algeria is a large place. Covering a portion of the globe roughly three and a half times the size of Texas, Algeria claims only seven whose falls were witnessed. Interestingly, four of the seven falls occurred during the 25 year period between 1865 and 1890 with two more falls in the 1940s, and the most recent landing in 1989.

In specific, the Tadjera meteorite fell at about 10:30 P.M. on June 9, 1867 about 15 kilometers southeast of the town of Setif in eastern Algeria.

Two stones from the Tadjera fall were recovered, totaling about 8 kilograms. Most of the material went to the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris because Algeria was under the rule of France at that time, but, according to the late , “the meteorite is represented by small pieces in a number of collections.”

I am honored that one of those collections is mine.

Just a whole lot of nothing?

If black is the absence of color, then Tadjera is almost a negative meteorite. Even in this color inverted image, not much happening. No wonder Meunier considered Tadjera for a new class of meteorite.

For a hot desert fall, Tadjera sure got around quickly. The famous meteorite scientist Gabriel- Auguste Daubrée (1814–1896) examined Tadjera in 1868. And three years later Stanislas Meunier used the chemical analysis tools of his day and assigned the Tadjera to a distinct type of chondrite that he named the “Tadjerite.”

Although chemical tests were done, the “classification” of Tadjerite was due mostly the physical characteristics of light reflectance (low) and the degree to which Tadjera resists breakage (high). A pot calling the kettle black?

Covering a black meteorite with black crust hardly jolts the excite-O- meter, but it is an interesting situation when you cannot see a clean dividing line between crust and matrix.

Often, the deep contrast between the exterior and interior of a suspected meteorite is considered an important indication of authenticity. However, in this case the crust is almost indistinguishable from the matrix.

So specifically, according to Meunier, Tadjerites are identified by their black color and their hardness.

The Tadjerite class had only one member until the Farmington meteorite fell in Kansas in 1890.

However, the chemical connection between the two would have to wait another three quarters of a century.

And when that analysis was done, yet a third meteorite joined the Tadjerite clique, and that was Bath, South Dakota, a 1892 fall.

Interestingly, when the late Dr. Mason was studying Bath in 1966, it piqued his interest and he went back to the lab to study Tadjera since the initial analysis of the stone was somewhat primitive given the standards of the day.

Two Tadjerites: Tadjera on the left and Farmington on the right. I have to agree that there are many visual similarities. Both are fresh witnessed falls of L5 , but a tipping point was reached when enough similar chondrites entered our collections to show us that in essence, the “Tadjerites” are just one end of the continuum of chondrite appearances.

According to Mason, “The black color, the highly indurated condition, the disseminated , and the disordered pyroxene all suggest that the Tadjera meteorite was subjected to intense shock some time during its extraterrestrial history.”

This is all very interesting given that Farmington has attracted attention because of its short cosmic-ray exposure and a prime suspect in a gang-related drive-by shooting on the Moon in June of 1975.

Oberst (1989), suspecting that Farmington “may have been a member of a large swarm which was detected by the Apollo seismic network” described the circumstantial evidence in the case as, “The association implies that the of the Farmington meteorite was in an Earth-crossing orbit at the time the swarm was formed. This supports the idea that at least some meteorites are derived from the observable population of Earth-crossing .”

The three fall dates of potential Tadjerites, 1867, 1890 and 1892 are an curious cluster. Given the proximity in time and space of the Tadjera, Farmington, and Bath falls as well as their similar chemical tattoos and other gang colors, it is likely that they shared the same ‘hood’ prior to tagging the Moon. A rich collection history is always a bonus. In the case of this particular specimen of Tadjera, it entered the Schwade Collection 23 years ago being purchased from David New in January of 1987.

The painted specimen number, S253, is from the James Schwade Collection. The number 253 likely represents the two-hundred fifty third meteorite in Dr. Schwade’s collection. So it is easy to see that he was well on his way to building a world-class collection long before the explosion popularity of meteorite collecting in the mid to late 1990s.

Tadjera is one of those specimens that entered my collection more through convenience than desire.

Yes, I did choose the specimen from a list, and yes, it was because of the historic fall date and low TKW of this fall, and yes, the fact that the name Tadjera was one I had not come across before (which is always exciting), but the coincidence that I acquired it just as the proliferation of hot desert material was at a crescendo and that this stone claimed Algeria as home did give me pause.

However, in hindsight I have grown comfortable with the knowledge that I can love a hot desert chondrite as much as anyone else.

It’s just that my love is for is a 143 year-old hot desert witnessed fall that for a brief time, was its very own meteorite class.. Until next time….

The Accretion Desk welcomes all comments and f eedback. [email protected]

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Meteorite Collecting Broadening the Experience by Jim Tobin

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I mentioned recently that my collecting habits have changed toward falls. Well, I was adding a couple of new specimens to my database and decided to see how many falls I actually had. Boy was I surprised when I found that I had jumped all the way to nearly 30% falls in my collection. It has not been that long ago that I was probably near 10-15%.

I do like the stories and added information that accompanies falls. It really brings me closer to the event. Now with all the modern technology involved that closeness is likely to just increase for the next generation of collectors. It is becoming common place to include along with the newspaper reports the doppler radar data and video of the fall as part of the specimen‘s presence in collections. Many specimens now come with gps information on where it was exactly found in the . I love that. It is like a time warp for me. Instead of recording gps when I find a specimen after thousands of years of terrestrial hiding I get gps on a space rock only days after landing. Knowing who found it and exactly where is another way I get more connected to the whole experience.

But, I think it is pretty unlikely that I am going to begin collecting just falls. I am motivated by too many influences in collecting to limit myself to only falls. I am amazed at times by the weirdness of some of the reasons I buy meteorites. One of the last I got was solely because of where it was found. If you started out as an archeologist like I did with a fascination for ancient Egypt also. Then you have to have a meteorite from Luxor. So when Isna come up for sell recently I zipped off a message that I was interested and added it to the collection. I was intrigued by the photo on the internet and actually surprised that of the several pieces offered that it was one of the couple remaining. There was a very nice crisp showing in the photo and it was one of the larger pieces. So at least one individual had passed this specimen by to get the other they wanted. I would love to know what motivated their selection. Isna Find 1970 Chondrite Carbonaceous On the Nile River near Luxor 23 kg

I have lately been thinking about some gaps that I have in my collection. I never began with the intent of having a type collection. I have friends who were only interested in getting one of every classification. Since it was not my goal even after 40 years there are a few classifications I have never gotten around to. Luckily, with all the NWA material some of these were found too. So I think just to fill the gaps I will be looking for this handful of rare classifications soon.

Paul and I had sort of hoped to get out for a short vacation in the next month or so. But, it is looking more and more like that will not happen until later in the year. Too bad. I have plenty of meteorite stuff to do though. I will stay busy and happy with cutting and photography and organizing. I really do need to go hunting and spend some time with my telescope again. It has actually been years since I had my scope out to the desert. We seem to always use Paul’s. I think California is due for a big meteorite event. A great fall that will be reason enough to take some vacation time to go hunting close to home. It never hurts to dream. A fall in my very own town would be wonderful. I could rent out rooms to hunters with meals and beer included and take payment in meteorites. Sorry about that. . .just joking.

Going to go out to my garage in a minute and change the blade on my saw so I can do some cutting. I think the current blade has been on there for about a year. It is not dead yet but I want to do quite a bit of work and would rather do it in the least amount of time. So a new sharp blade is the way to go.

I am up scaling up paper making to a larger size sheet. I have been making my meteorite colored paper in a 9 inch x 12 inch sheet. But, I am going up to a 14 x 20 or maybe even larger size. That will let me do a much greater number of printed and unprinted art projects. I have plenty of meteorite powder to use as a coloring agent and I am making more all the time. I am also making some paper without meteorite dust added. This I am using as backing paper for photograph mounting. I have more fun making paper than almost anything else I have done lately. It takes less time then my leaded glass art or writing books. And the specialty paper has really added that little something extra to my collection specimen cards. It runs through my home inkjet printer three specimen cards per strip with no trouble. I just cut them out with my old darkroom paper cutter. Some sheets have small stains where tiny bits of meteorite have rusted . Really neat stuff.

Well, until next month have fun with your meteorites, and try thinking outside the box about other ways that you can enhance the overall experience you have with these unique treasures from space.

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Meteorite Market Trends by Michael Blood

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This Month’s Meteorite Market Trends

by Michael Blood

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Images of my Wisconsin Trip to Hunt for Meteorites by Robert Verish

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Search f or Chondrites – f rom the April 14th f ireball and f all of meteorites in Grant and Iowa County in Wisconsin.

Holding my “Wisconsin” f ind f or the f irst time.

View is of the f ind location looking in the direction of the property owners f arm, which is also looking “up the trend” of the strewn f ield.

Well, the title says it all. This month’s installment of Bob’s Findings will be just a “photo album” of images that I took during my mid-May stay in Wisconsin where I hunted for those chondritic stones that fell from the April 14th 2010 Fireball. And as of the writing of this article, the classification and the approved name for this meteorite have, yet, to be announced by the Nomenclature Committee of the . [See "UPDATE" below] There has been a lot of speculation as to what will be the approved name for this . If I were to speculate, I would say that the Nomenclature Committee may be delaying their announcement because they may be in the middle of developing a new process or set of guidelines for the naming and classification of falls. In fact, what may be percieved as a “delay” may only be the result of some recent past falls having been very quickly classified and named. Possibly, in an attempt to avoid any future criticism, the Committee may be taking a slower approach in determining a classification and determining a proper name, given that falls, such as this one, can produce strewn fields that can cover an area that would include several counties, or even several states. The Committee may simply be waiting to see what will eventually be the full extent of this Wisconsin strewn field. [UPDATE: A name for the "Wisconsin Meteorite" has been approved by the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society: Mifflin (L5 S1 W0) as per 2010-09-09 Met. Bulletin Database] And to that end, trying to extend the limits of this strewn field, was what prompted me to go to Wisconsin. Even though I would arrive in Wisconsin a full month after the fall, and after many dozens of meteorite hunters had already come and gone, I was greatly encouraged by the results of Rob Matson’s ongoing study of the NOAA-NWS Doppler radar weather data that there was a very good chance that more meteorites could be found by expanding the search area. In fact, while I was in Wisconsin, it was announced that Michael Cottingham’s 105 gram find had the effect of extending the known strewn field 3.25 miles farther down-trend to the southeast.

Upon my arrival in Wisconsin, I first went to the area that is between Mineral Point and Darlington, and immediately started my search in an area that was actually in Lafayette County! Also during that first week, I tried to extend the NW end of the known strewn field by searching areas that were west of Montfort and had the same Zip Code as Clifton, WI.

After about a weeks time into my searching, I noticed that the farmers were starting to cut their “grass” (alfalfa fields). This had the effect of exposing new surfaces in fields that had not been hunted, yet. Now the new push was to find these fields and get permission from the farmers to hunt on their property. While searching in these fields it was educational to see how labor-intensive was the farmers work of cutting and “baling hay”. Depending upon which method of “baling” was used, the process could take over a week for each field to be cut, raked, chopped/bailed, and fertilized. This could result in the farmer having to drive their tractors and equipment during this “baling process” a total of 3 or 4 times over every square meter of their hay fields. Even in fields that weren’t getting plowed, the chance that a meteorite stone would get driven-over and pushed into the ground was very high.

This style of making bales of hay results in too much waste and the alfalfa leaf litter ends up covering too much of the ground. It was easier searching the ground right after the grass was cut and put into narrow rows, but before it was allowed to dry, prior to being rolled into these bales. Of course, these rows of cut grass would cover a portion of the field, but a good 2/3rd could still be effectively searched. Another farm cutting another field of “grass”. This cut grass was made into rectangular bales. This method of baling grass leaves little litter behind on the ground, effectively leaving the ground more bare and easier to search.

The Linden Post Office. This one is located closest to the main mass (as of this writing). The Livingston Post Office. This one is located closest to the location where the first stone from this fall was recovered.

There is no post office in the town of Mifflin, but this village is located closest to the middle of the strewn field (as of this writing). [The NomCom opted to name this meteorite fall after this village.] The northwest end of the strewn field is close to the town of Montfort.

Less than an hour before I made my find, I took these two images (of what I calculated to be) on the trend line, with this image being a view up-trend in the strewn field, and the next image being a view down-trend. Now, compare this image with my in-situ image at the beginning of this article. And now, compare the next two images… And this is a view in the opposite direction, down the trend line. Now, compare this image with my in-situ image below.

An in-situ image of my , looking down the trend line. It appears that this find was made right on the trend line. Apparently my trend-calculations were accurate. This image is actually an in-situ image of my find.

I took this image while the meteorite lies still untouched on the ground. This shot was taken at the very same spot where I first spied the meteorite. The purpose of this is to show exactly what I saw – the exact angle of lighting, the amount of vegetation on the ground, the color and shading of the stone, and the distance I was from the stone at the time the find was made. Don’t be disappointed if you can’t spot the meteorite from this distance. Get a little closer by going to the next image.

Now that we are closer to the stone, it is a little more visible.

But I have to confess that even at this distance I still hadn’t positively identified what I had found. The reason being, is that just prior to seeing this “object” I had just picked-up from the ground a piece of black tire-tread. It wasn’t completely black, because it had some soil caked on it when it was recently run-over by the tractor that was cutting the grass. Because of its size and shape (and because there were other pieces lying about), I could tell it was a piece of tire-tread even before I picked it up. I picked it up because I wanted to use it as a marker at the end of the row to denote this row as one that had already been searched. In fact, I was still holding this piece of tread when I spotted the object (meteorite) in this image. Yet, still closer!

Even at this distance, I was telling myself, “Don’t get excited. It’s just another piece of rubber. It’s just another heart-breaker!” which is what we call a small piece of rubber that looks great at first, until the magnet stick bounces off of it, and again our heart is broken. Besides, it should be a dark, flat-black color and not this dingy gray. But then I started to take notice of its shape, even though it was obscured by several blades of grass.

After I held-down the blades of grass with my hand, I finally realized that what I was looking at all this time was an actual meteorite.

But I was very puzzled by why it wasn’t more black and why it was covered with mud-spots and water-marks. So, I didn’t start celebrating, just yet, and instead, got up and walked around so that the sunlight would be coming over my shoulder, got back down on my knees and examined it with a hand-lens – without picking it up (see next image). And this is what I saw. Confirmed! It is a meteorite.

And clearly, it could be seen that this stone had been driven-over by a tractor (at least once)! Which might explain the camouflaged pattern of marks and mud-spots. The tire-track could still be easily seen in the pushed-down grass, where it traveled right over this stone. But whether this action pushed the stone down into the mud, or whether the stone stuck into the soil on impact, is still a matter of opinion. But there definitely was a subsequent action, because the stone was found partly pulled-out of the ground and pushed-over onto its side. The depression that was made in the once wet soil still could be clearly seen, now that the stone was hinged back over onto its side.

In this image I’ve rotated the find ~90 degrees in order to show the bottom-side (“B”-side) of the meteorite. This view shows a broken surface that clearly displays the brecciated fabric of this chondrite. Also visible directly below the meteorite, is the depression in the ground, probably made when the tractor ran over this stone!

Because I was pre-occupied with wondering why the exterior was so dingy-looking, as well as wondering how many times it was driven-over, and where were the other pieces to this fragment, I never really, properly celebrated the fact that after all of this time searching I finally found one! I found a “Wisconsin Fall” meteorite!

I had been hunting for more than two weeks, and on the last day before I was to depart for home, I finally found one.

Then a thought came to me. I remembered that a week earlier (and more than a week into my search effort), while walking all day down one corn row after another, I fantasized what I would do if I were to eventually find a Wisconsin meteorite. I imagined myself whooping it up so loud that every farmer and cow in the township would have to look in the direction of my boisterous celebration to wonder what happened. But now a week later, there I stood, emotionless, and looking down at my find and thinking to myself, “That wasn’t so hard. Why did it take me so long?”

In retrospect, I suppose that I would have been more jubulient if making this find would have resulted in extending the strewn field or resulted in opening-up a new cluster of finds. But when I looked around, I could see that my find wasn’t very far from where other earlier finds had been made, as well as, my find was right on the consensus trend-line and right in the middle of the strewn field. So, I guess that’s the reason I acted unemotional; I guess I save my celebrations for my “cold finds”.

Still, I felt deservedly satisfied with my find. And since then, I know that very few [Mifflin] Wisconsin meteorite finds have been made. And with time, there will be even fewer found.

Greg Stanley and I presenting the find to the landowner.

Farmer Randy was very pleased that I had made a find on his property and thanked me for coming back to show him the meteorite. He mentioned in passing that not all of the prior meteorite hunters had come back to show him the meteorites that they had found on his property. That put me in an uncomfortable position, but he quickly changed the subject by asking me if I would be interested in buying his half of the find. I quickly said, “Yes!” Farmer Wade points to where he found his meteorite after he heard it hit his “shed”.

Another farmer that I met that afternoon was Farmer Wade. This is the gentleman that is documented as having witnessed the fall and heard stones falling and hitting his “shed”. It was the serendipitous meeting of Wade and meteorite hunter Terry Boudreaux that “started the ball rolling” in what would become a historic and massive recovery effort of the [Mifflin] Wisconsin meteorite fall. Greg and I had a great time sharing a beer with Wade as he recounted his story about the meteorite fall and recovery on his property.

End of the day “tailgate party”!

After the sun had set, Farmer Wade and Greg and I went over to a neighboring farm where Dana and Keith Jenkerson were staying so that we could see the find that Keith had made earlier that same day. Wade had brought along some cans of beer, and we proceded to have an impromptu “tailgate party”, where we showed each other the meteorites that we had found. And this is how we spent our last night in Wisconsin. The next day, Greg and I would return home to Southern California.

I would like to conclude this article by “reprinting” my earlier “Trip Report”.

What follows is from the Archives of the Meteorite-List and is a reprint of my post reporting on my May 2010 trip to Wisconsin:

"Wisconsin Meteorite Trip Report"

Hello List, This post reports on my Wisconsin Meteorite search efforts from earlier this month. The focus of this effort was an attempt to extend the “known” strewn field in both directions – east and west, using images of NOAA-NWS Doppler radar weather data that were generated by Rob Matson. Some of these images can be viewed on my webpage, here: http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2010/may10.htm

My May 2010 Article.

These same images and data were supplied by Rob to Sonny Clary, as well, and as it turns out, even though we were hunting independently, we were conducting our searches at the same time and in the same general area, but on neighboring farms. Sonny returned home before I departed the strewn field and has already posted his very well-written “trip report”. Since many of my observations only serve to corroborate what Sonny has already reported, my report will be shorter. So for reference, here is a link to Sonny’s previous “trip report”: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2010-May/064913.html

Sonny Clary’s Trip Report post to the Met-List.

Started my search in Lafayette County in a township known as Willow Springs by contacting eyewitnesses and farmers in order to obtain permission to walk their property. This part of my job was made easier (inadvertently) by Sonny, who preceded me by a day and had already explained to the property owners our mission. Continued to cross paths with Sonny until we accidentally met near the courthouse in Darlington. We talked briefly, exchanging field notes and discussing hunting strategy. I had no Wisconsin finds to show him, but I did get to closely examine Brix’s find from his earlier trip. All that I had to show for my efforts, up to this point, was a sack-full of morels: http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2010/wi/dsc01268morrel.jpg

Morchella esculenta – Common Yellow Morel

It was at this point that I decided it was time to pay a visit to the other end of the strewn field. I attempted to extend the “known” strewn field (at that time) to the west of Highway 80 in an area known as the “Amish Farm”. These folk were quite friendly and very inquisitive about meteorites and meteors, as were all of the other farmers that I met. They helped me get in contact with the neighboring farmers. One farm had a particularly strong Doppler radar reflection centered over it in a satellite image. Although I hiked a lot of this area, there were many fields that were too lush with vegetation or were recently planted.

Encouraged by the announcement of the location for Michael Cottingham’s 105 gram find, I now focused my search in areas to the east of Hwy 151, and with the hope that there would be a continued repeat in the pattern that I noticed in the clusters of finds from “up trend” in the strewn field. So, I selected areas to search that were 3 miles farther down the trend of the flight path, and that were located under strong Doppler radar reflections as depicted in Rob Matson’s satellite images.

In this area, there were fields of alfalfa, grass, and rye starting to get cut, and I felt encouraged that, if given more time, a meteorite find could have been eventually made. But on this leg of my trip, I again made no finds and I failed to extend the strewn field.

Now, I had to return to the airport at Madison to pick-up my met-hunting partner, Greg Stanley. So, the next morning with a fresh pair of eyes and legs we started our search anew. Greg’s plan was to start in the middle of the strewn field and work outwards. Prior to Greg’s arrival, I had already selected farms that were in the process of cutting-chopping-bailing grass and obtained prior-approval to hunt those fields from the farmers.

Long-story-short, I finally made a find! It is a 31 gram fragment with 3 sides of fusion-crust, 2 sides of fresh-broken surface, and 1 side that has faint evidence of a short-duration, secondary f-c melting event. It was found in a freshly cut hay field right in the middle of the strewn field and right on the generally-accepted trend line. And, of course, I waited until my last day (before Greg and I were to depart for home) to make our one and only find from this fall. My track-record for being a first-rate procrastinator remains unblemished. http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2010/wi/dsc01425find-b.jpg

My find was driven-over by tractors at least once, probably twice! Before departing, I invited Keith Jenkerson (who, along with Dana, were staying at a neighboring farm) to use his metal-detector and try his luck at finding the missing pieces to my fragment at the find location. He was unable to detect any of the missing pieces, but for his effort he was rewarded – he made his 2nd WI find [~15g] while walking back to meet Dana. http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2010/wi/dsc01453jenkerson2.jpg

Keith Jenkerson 2nd WI find.

Later that last night, Greg and I gave farmer Wade a ride back to his farm and shared some beers with him at his “ground zero” shed. Then we all went over to the neighboring farm where Keith and Dana were staying, where we celebrated our good luck that day, and celebrated our good luck at making friends with such great people and in being able to share with them their new strewn field.

Departure the next day was bittersweet. It would be good to get back home. But it seemed like such a waste to leave, particularly after obtaining all that hard-learned expertise, and after meeting all those farmers, and making new friends, and especially while there were new hay fields being cut!

It won’t take very long for all that vegetation to grow back. The crops will quickly grow to maturity, and all the while the farmers will be continually busy driving their tractors in those fields.

On Wisconsin! Bob V.

Wisconsin Hunt – May 2010 – Here is a link to my other images from this trip!

References:

Bob’s Findings:

May 2010 Article – in Meteorite-Times.Com -

“What Made the Recovery of Meteorites from the 4/14/2010 Fall in Wisconsin such a Rapid and Timely Success? ” –

I feel that it was the high-quality of the NWS Doppler-radar with its very distinctive trace of the fireball (which was readily available to the general public) that was the impetus to getting the meteorite hunters so quickly into the [strewn] field.

Discover Magazine:

Huge fireball over Wisconsin! | Bad Astronomy | – Apr 14, 2010 … Rob Matson Says: April 16th, 2010 at 12:25 am … The story doesn’t say where the find was made, but my educated guess (based on Doppler radar imagery) is that it was recovered …

Shawn Alan:

Meteorite Fall Wisconsin – in MeteoritesRock.com -

The interesting facts, video news reports, newspaper etc.

Bob’s Findings:

March 2009 Article – in Meteorite-Times.Com –

“What Made the Recovery of Meteorites at West, TX such a Success?” – Comparison of some recent events.

NEXRAD:

Next-Generation Radar – in Wikipedia - is a network of 159 high-resolution Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the United States Department of Commerce. FBWG:

Fireball Working Group – The purpose of this group is to exchange data regarding fireball events and to provide a venue for experts and novices to assist field investigators in collecting and analyzing reports from whatever traditional or non-traditional sources there maybe.

Google Search Results for:

Mifflin Wisconsin Meteorite Fall – Wisconsin News -

Midwest meteor named Mifflin after Wis. township…

Photo Album of My Trip to Wisconsin:

An early morning flight out of San Diego to Wisconsin had a flight path over Needles, CA and Laughlin, NV. In the early morning sunlight Ivanpah Dry Lake is barely visible.

A little later the flight path went over Kingman, AZ. In the distance can be seen Red (Dry) Lake. The Grand Canyon in early morning sunlight.

Mineral Point, WI in the early evening rain. Lafayette County, Wisconsin in the early morning rain.

Fungus growing on a tree in Lafayette County, Wisconsin. A “blonde” morel growing under that same tree in Lafayette County, Wisconsin.

Morchella esculenta – Common Yellow Morel (but a very large one). The “Wind Farm” near Montfort in Iowa County, Wisconsin.

Lush growth in a corn-stubble field in Grant County, Wisconsin.

A mushroom growing on corn-stubble on a farm in Grant County, Wisconsin. Low-angle evening sunlight illuminates a field on a farm in Grant County, Wisconsin.

No-till planting of seeds Perfect daylight to search a pasture on a farm near Linden in Iowa County, Wisconsin.

The farmer’s dog accompanied me the entire day as I hiked all of the pasteur lands. Unfortunately, the dog wasn’t pointing at a meteorite. A must stop for custard in Dodgeville, WI.

This small cheese company in Linden, WI makes a lot of cheese for the Olive Garden Restaurant. The Happy Hour Bar & Grill has great midday sandwiches.

This was a favorite lunchtime gathering spot for meteorite hunters in Livingston, WI.

Check-out the check-out-counter at the Livingston Mobil gas station. Anybody know what was the winning slogan?

Main Street in Livingston, Wisconsin.

Road sign just east of Livingston on Rt. X? This is how “rye grass” is grown and cut in Iowa County, WI. This field may look easy to hunt, but the stubble is too tall and it hides small objects very well. Trust me.

Greg Stanley, at the end of a very long day of .

Greg’s turn to take my picture. Dana and Keith Jenkerson, just before Keith found his 2nd stone.

Keith’s 2nd find. Meteorite [was] On Display at the Popcorn Factory in Montfort, WI.

Temporay Display at the Popcorn Factory. Nice find for a 5 year old!

Sunset brings a great end to a wonderful trip.

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IMCA Insights – June 2010 by IMCA TEAM

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IMCA Insights – June 2010 A Meteorite Homecoming by Martin Gof f

The story of the and the role it occupies in the history of cannot be overestimated. This historic meteorite was one of a few famous falls on a timeline from Barbotan in 1790 culminating in L’Aigle in 1803 that led to the general acceptance that stones do indeed fall from the sky and not only that, but that they come from space. Before moving on to the recent “meteorite homecoming” concerning the Wold Cottage meteorite I thought that I would refresh people’s memory on this historic fall.

Monument marking the exact location of the Wold Cottage fall with The Wold Cottage visible in the middle right. Photo by Martin Goff.

On 13 December 1795, a 25 kg stone fell in a field by the Wold Cottage in the village of Wold Newton, East Yorkshire. It was a mild and overcast Sunday when, at about 3:00 in the afternoon, several people in the area heard something whizz through the air followed by a series of explosions described as like gunfire at sea (Marvin 1996). A seventeen-year-old ploughman called John Shipley saw a black stone emerge from the clouds and fall to the ground about 30 feet from where he was standing. He rushed to the spot and found a large stone that lay in a pit in the soil and had impacted into the underlying limestone. He described it as warm and smoking and smelling of sulphur. He was assisted by two other workers in extracting the stone from the impact pit (Burke 1986).

Major Edward Topham owned the Wold Cottage and the land surrounding it and was also the employer of John Shipley. Topham was not actually present when the meteorite fell as he was away in London. He returned home soon after the event and wrote a letter detailing the fall and accounts taken from his workers to a Mr. James Boaden, managing editor of the Oracle newspaper in London. This letter was published in the 12 February edition of the paper. Topham was also a local Magistrate, and in this role he obtained sworn statements from the three eyewitnesses and interviewed numerous other persons who had heard sounds in the area at the time. Topham wrote: “All these witnesses who saw it fall, agree perfectly in their account of the manner of its fall, and that they saw a dark body passing through the air, and ultimately strike the ground: and though, from their situations and characters in life, they could have no possible object in detailing a false account of this transaction, I felt so compelled to give this matter every degree of authenticity that, as a magistrate, I took their account upon oath immediately on my return into the country. I saw no reason to doubt any of their evidence after the most minute investigation of it.”

Topham later arranged to exhibit the stone in Piccadilly, London, across from the well-known Gloucester Coffee House. Anyone who was prepared to pay the entrance fee of 1 shilling was able to see the stone itself and also the original testimonies of Topham and his workers. They also received a leaflet as part of the entry fee with an engraving of the stone and a written account of the story (Pillinger and Pillinger 1996). Someone who definitely paid their 1 shilling was an Edward King, Fellow of the Royal Society and one time President of the Antiquarian Society. King published a paper whereby he made comparisons between the Siena stone and that of the Wold Cottage stone, noting similarities in substance and of the metallic grains. King has not been widely acknowledged with making these observations which were made prior to Edward Howard’s later chemical analyses (Pillinger and Pillinger 1996).

Martin Goff presenting the framed specimen of Wold Cottage to Derek Gray with the monument in the background. Photo courtesy of Simon Kench (PPA Ltd).

It was also while the meteorite was being exhibited in London that Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, saw the stone, noticed the similarity to his specimen from the Siena fall, and acquired a sample. Exactly how this sample was obtained by Banks we do not know, but it was possibly from Topham himself. This sample of Wold Cottage and also samples of Siena, among other meteorites, found their way from Banks to Edward Howard. Howard was a young, gifted, and open-minded British chemist. He separated the samples into magnetic grains of metal, reddish iron sulphides, “curious globules,” and fine-grained matrix material. When examining and comparing these components, he found striking similarities in their mineralogy, texture, and chemical composition. He said, “These stones, although they have not the smallest analogy with any of the mineral substances already known, either of a volcanic or any other nature, have a very peculiar and striking analogy with each other.” He went on to confirm the presence of in the metallic grains in the stone meteorites and also in so called “native ” he examined (Marvin 2001). These stones and irons that were of differing types, had fallen in different countries, and at different times all had one thing in common—the presence of nickel.

In 1799 Topham erected a brick monument on his land marking the site of the fall with an engraved tablet, which reads:

Here On this spot, December 13, 1795 Fell f rom the atmosphere An extraordinary stone. In breadth twenty-eight inches In length thirty-six inches, And Whose weight was f if ty-six pounds. This column In memory of it Was erected by Edward Topham 1799

A close up view of the specimen donated by Dave Gheesling. Photo courtesy of Simon Kench (PPA Ltd).

The Wold Cottage meteorite eventually ended up being sold for a nominal sum of 10 guineas to James Sowerby in 1804. Sowerby had established a museum next to his house in London and via numerous letters between himself and Topham acquired the meteorite for display there. Sowerby was obviously very proud of this particular addition to his museum as it was included in the background of a portrait of him painted by Thomas Heaphy in 1918. The Wold Cottage mass was later purchased by the (now the Natural History Museum, NHM) in 1835 and still resides there today. The NHM is soon going to be having a brand new purpose-designed meteorite gallery and hopefully the Wold Cottage main mass will have a prominent place.

So the Wold Cottage meteorite played a number of vital roles in changing public and scientific opinion from the disbelief that rocks fall from the sky to acceptance that they do and not only that, but they come from space.

Number one: It was one of a number of meteorites that fell in the years between 1790 and 1803 that made it harder to ignore that stones did actually fall from the sky and were not terrestrial objects somehow falling back to Earth.

Number two: Chemical analyses showed the presence of nickel which linked it to other stones and irons. These analyses also paved the way for other meteorites to be tested to add to the growing amount of data on the subject.

Number three: Topham’s position as a Magistrate undoubtedly enhanced the perceived validity of the eyewitness testimonies taken by him. His reputation as a seeker of the truth to the point of obsessiveness carried a lot of weight at the time with the public at large (Pillinger and Pillinger 1996). This and his notoriety as a public figure brought visitors flocking to see the Wold Cottage meteorite on display. If Major Edward Topham had not been the recipient of the meteorite fall on his land and had not publicized the event as he did, then I doubt that the Wold Cottage meteorite would be as important or as well remembered a milestone in meteoritics as it is today.

The sign of the Falling Stone pub. Photo by Martin Goff.

In July 2009 my family and I had the pleasure of spending a week at The Wold Cottage. We had wanted to have a holiday in the area for a while and decided that in summer 2009 it was about time we did so. As we have a young daughter, we wanted self-catering accommodation so I started the search for cottages available in the area. Being a meteorite obsessive (according to my wife, but I do fully agree!), I obviously looked at The Wold Cottage and found out that as well as bed and breakfast accommodation they also offered two self-catering cottages. Well, that was it! No more information was needed and the holiday was booked. After seeing a specimen of Wold Cottage in my display cabinet, my wife put two and two together and realized my motivation for picking this particular location. Her worries about my enthusiasm for meteorites affecting my judgement on the quality of the accommodation were to be totally overridden when we actually arrived. What a fantastic place. The long driveway has lovely views over the surrounding hills and fields and as you round the last bend the red brick of the historic Wold Cottage comes into view. The self-catering cottages are built from a converted barn and are set slightly away from the actual Wold Cottage. They stand in their own enclosed garden area with a patio and barbecue area for guests’ use. A more idyllic location you would struggle to find, made all the better from my point of view with tantalizing glimpses of a nearby field where the brick monument marking the 1795 fall is situated. As we were shown round our cottage by Katrina Gray (who is the lucky owner along with her husband Derek), we were met by the smell of freshly baked bread. There was also a bottle of the locally brewed Falling Stone bitter, which I can attest to being delicious (I made sure that I brought a case home with me). This beer was brewed to commemorate the 1795 fall and has a photo of the monument taken by Derek on the label. The local pub, also called The Falling Stone, is situated in the nearby village of Thwing. They of course serve Falling Stone bitter here and I can also recommend their food. All in all there was nothing to fault about our stay and a great deal to praise, with many little touches that made all the difference. Derek and Katrina were warm and welcoming hosts, there when needed, but left us to our own devices for the rest of the time, which in my eyes is the mark of a good host.

When Derek and Katrina found out about my interest in meteorites, they showed me some of the Edward Topham memorabilia in the main house and also some historical photos of the meteorite itself that are on display. In 1999 they even had the main mass of the Wold Cottage meteorite brought back from the NHM by Dr. Monica Grady to celebrate the bicentenary of the erection of the monument by Major Edward Topham. They had to have a police officer on guard duty during its temporary stay, not withstanding the fact that Dr. Grady had carried the meteorite in a rucksack all the way through London by herself! (Gray, personal communication).

The Falling Stone pub. Photo by Martin Goff.

It was during this tour of the Topham memorabilia that I was astounded to discover that they did not actually have a specimen of the Wold Cottage meteorite at all. I really was dumbfounded as more than anywhere else, I thought that this would be the one place where a specimen should be on display. I promised Derek and Katrina that I would keep an eye out for them, but not to get their hopes too high as specimens of Wold Cottage rarely appear on the market. I duly let them know about the specimens on offer in Rob Elliott’s auction, but they were unfortunately out of their price range. What they sought was a specimen of a few grams that could be framed and displayed along with the other memorabilia. I subsequently noticed a 1.44 g fusion crusted slice offered for trade only by Dave Gheesling on his website (www.fallingrocks.com). I contacted Dave and told him the story of Derek and Katrina and asked whether he would be prepared on this occasion to sell the specimen rather than trade it. He agreed with me that it was a travesty that they did not have a specimen on display and made the very generous gesture of offering it to them for nothing. All he wanted in return was a photo of Derek and Katrina standing next to the specimen on display in their home. Well, to say that they were delighted was a gross understatement. This was something that they had been trying to achieve for years and now finally they would be able to display a piece of Wold Cottage in the actual Wold Cottage that gives the meteorite its name. Martin Goff presenting the framed specimen of Wold Cottage to Derek and Katrina Gray with Nicola Markham from Visit Hull and East Yorkshire. Photo courtesy of Sean Spencer (Hull news and pictures).

As I had acted as a conduit for this event, I thought that the least I could do was to get the specimen properly framed along with a photo of the monument to make a suitable display for hanging on the wall. During my visit in the summer I had taken numerous photos, one of which I was quite pleased with, taken on a gloriously sunny day with The Wold Cottage in the background. I decided that this would look just right and set about organizing the framing. Due to work commitments, this took longer than expected but once finished I contacted Derek and Katrina to arrange to present the framing to them. By this time the story of a piece of Wold Cottage coming home had attracted quite a bit of publicity and I had been contacted by numerous reporters and been interviewed by BBC Humberside radio. BBC Humberside had also arranged for a live radio interview with me early on the morning when I was due to leave for the presentation. So on 16 April 2010, after a night of no sleep looking after a poorly two-year-old daughter, I was interviewed live on Andy Comfort’s Breakfast Show (so anyone who has listened to the piece online, please forgive any inaccuracies; I was not feeling 100% there). I then drove up to The Wold Cottage for the presentation and was faced with quite a few photographers and also a BBC TV and radio crew. It was quite a media circus and Derek, Katrina, and I were kept very busy all day—although I have to say that it was all good fun and I did really enjoy myself. I was happy and honored to be able to make the presentation and to play a small part in this story. It was only a shame that Dave could not be there to present the specimen personally. Derek and Katrina were overjoyed about everything. “To have a piece of the Wold Cottage meteorite back home is going to be amazing.”

The framed Wold Cottage specimen now hangs proudly in the dining room among all the other meteorite and Topham memorabilia, a fitting home for it and a true meteorite homecoming! Martin Goff and Derek Gray sitting in front of the Wold Cottage monument. Photo courtesy of Simon Kench (PPA Ltd).

Martin Goff is 34 years old living in Lancashire, United Kingdom. He is married to Nicky with a 2-1/2 year old daughter Phoebe. He works as a Crime Scene Investigator for Greater Manchester Police. He bought his first meteorite (a small ) in 2007 and is now a full-fledged meteorite obsessive! He is half French and aside from his general meteorite collection has set himself the task of building a sub-collection of every French and UK meteorite with specimens of 1 gram plus. Impossible to achieve, but great fun trying!

References:

Burke, J G. 1986. Cosmic Debris—Meteorites in History. University of California Press.

Gray, D and Gray, K. 2009. Personal communication.

Marvin, U. B. 1996. Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni (1756–1827) and the origins of modern meteorite research. Meteoritics and 31:545–588.

Marvin, U. B. 2001. Stones which fell from the sky. In Meteorites—Their Impact on Science and History, Zanda. B and Rotaru. M. Eds. Cambridge University Press pp 16–29.

Pillinger, C. T. and Pillinger, J. M. 1996. The Wold Cottage meteorite: Not just any . Meteoritics and Planetary Science 31:589–605. – This article will also be published in a future issue of Meteorite Magazine –

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Low Magnification by John Kashuba

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Chuck,

When you’re shopping for a new ‘scope or looking to upgrade the one you have I suggest you try to include glass that will let you take low magnification pictures too. When I’m looking at slices or thin sections I move them around to get an impression of the overall piece. You can’t share that impression with folks with a single picture at medium magnification so a larger field of view is a real help. The “regular” magnification I shoot at gets me a field about 3mm wide. That works OK for fine grained or chondrites with small features like CO3s. But with an or a CV3 you can easily have a single chondrule hogging the field. The trouble is that low magnification lenses cost a lot.

I had a workaround that I thought of as my own little secret ‘til I was found out by Larry Chitwood. Larry, a geologist and clever guy, co-authored “Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites” with Richard Norton. I had emailed him a few pictures and he called asking about one in particular. He had opened the picture with photo editing software and for some reason had radically jazzed up some settings. I don’t know what they were – contrast, color saturation or maybe others. He spied signs of a three by three pattern and asked what’s up with that? “Did you put a bunch of pictures together to make this one?” Bingo. I’d been found out. A poor man’s low power lens is paste. Electronic paste of course.

And with it you can make pictures of as they sit assembled instead of as individuals or an overview of a slide. Examples? Of course.

John

You can see how the brightly colored sit in the lighter finer grained pigeonite in this Martian shergottite. There’s a reason they call them megacrysts. Some of the dark patches are that is in optical extinction and some are melt pockets. This overall view of a sample shows large grains and a continuum of smaller and smaller fragments.

It would be hard for a close-up of this to show the range of grain sizes along with those dark areas.

Howardites are from the plowed surface of Vesta so you expect to see a variety of things. This sample has a small patch of needlelike crystals on a dark background midway along the diagonal edge. There’s the dark clast, of course, and a couple lighter ones more toward the right.

D’Orbigny, an , is spectacular in regular views with its bright colors and skeletal crystals. Here, at low magnification, we see that those pictures are not just isolated glamour shots. The whole thing sparkles. And check out the vesicle!

Olivine grains in the are pretty large so I had to fit several pictures together to get this stained glass view. Ah! Back to chondrites. Korra Korrabes is brecciated but you have to get a wide enough view to see the light clast, the H3 groundmass and a couple chondrules for scale.

Same story here. This H5 thin section has “rivers of melt”. It helps the story to show both river banks plus chondrules on the shore for scale. Chondrule low magnification library. Saratov L4

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Meteorite Calendar – June 2010 by Anne Black

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A 51 gram Hammer Stone by Michael Johnson

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A 51 gram Hammer stone from the the April 14, 2010 Wisconsin fireball. This one struck the Bailey Barn. Note white paint from the barn roof. Now in the Michael Blood collection. © Michael Blood

The Michael Johnson Collection of Aesthetic Rocks from Outer Space Images, text are Copyright © 2010 ROCKSFROMSPACE.org No reproduction without written permission. Web design by Michael Johnson of rocksfromspace.org

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Viet Nam Indochinite Tektite by Editor

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132 gram specimen from The Darryl Futrell Collection of

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Big Kahuna Meteorites Advertise Here Advertise Here Once a few decades ago this opening was a framed window in the wall of H. H. Nininger's Home and Museum building. From this window he must have many times pondered the mysteries of Meteor Crater seen in the distance.

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