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On the Surface of a Frozen Michigan Pond

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  • On the Surface of a Frozen Michigan Pond

    Yep, they've been found

    See the Michigan Fireball thread for details of the celestial event and arrival

    Robert Ward, meteorite hunter extraordinaire.

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    https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ke/1044529001/

    http://www.mlive.com/weather/index.s...ecomes_me.html

    Robert Ward, with another find on a Michigan pond...

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    Last edited by CMD; 01-20-2018, 12:14 AM.
    Rhode Island

  • #2
    Nice find! Durn it looks cold there! Brrrrrr
    Child of the tides

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    • #3
      The TV show meteorite men is what triggered my fascination with metal detecting Charlie.
      These fragments could only be found by eye though, it is very fortuitous that landfall was on snowy ground.
      Bruce
      In life there are losers and finders. Which one are you?

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      • CMD
        CMD commented
        Editing a comment
        I did not realize that, Bruce. That's a cool way to have gotten into your hobby. BTW, the Tagish Lake meteorite fell in Canada and was recovered off the ice on a frozen Tagish Lake by a guy who did not know meteorites, but he knew enough to preserve them in his freezer for science to study, and it turned out to be an extremely rare type possibly cometary in origin.

    • #4
      Well Charlie, I was waiting for something more to come from that Michigan fireball. Figured there'd be something left behind somewhere.
      Pickett/Fentress County, Tn - Any day on this side of the grass is a good day. -Chuck-

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      • CMD
        CMD commented
        Editing a comment
        My own state of RI has never had a recorded fall or find. I wish I had a chance to get as lucky some day as those guys in Michigan did this week.

    • #5
      I imagine it takes some good math and video evidence to triangulate the fall area, of course these pro meteor pickers probably have it down. But very interesting and good to see they wasted no time with getting to the right spot. I'm guessing any fragments on ice will soon be underwater and lost forever. Thanks for sharing Charlie!
      Josh (Ky/Tn collector)

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      • #6
        WOW Talk about fast recovery.
        Michigan Yooper
        If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything

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        • CMD
          CMD commented
          Editing a comment
          Those snow flurries after the fall made time of the essence, for sure, Ron!

      • #7
        As Ward said in the video, there have been snow flurries, so any remaining stones are not likely to be right on top anymore. But, these guys, as well as intrepid locals, will be all over the strewn field come Spring. More stones from this fall will almost surely be found. That's almost always the case. The ones that fell on the lake, no, probably not. Though you never know. The main mass from the awesome Chelyabinsk fall in Russia crashed through the ice of a lake and was brought up within a few days of the fall.

        No telling what the largest piece will eventually be, but once all the snow has melted, there will be more stones to be found. You just have to know the parameters of the strewn field, get landowner permission, and know how to spot them. Rest assured meteorite hunters will be all over that area in the Spring, and I'm sure locals will try and take advantage of living in the area, or nearby, to see if they can get lucky. Darryl Pitt of New York, who organizes major meteorite auctions, has offered $20,000 for the first specimen weighing 1 kilo, or about 2.2 lbs.

        The stones found in the Spring will not be as fresh looking. The fusion crust will start to turn brown from oxidation, but there will still be nice specimens to find.
        Rhode Island

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        • #8
          Never found a space rock. Way cool recovery man...
          The chase is better than the catch...
          I'm Frank and I'm from the flatlands of N'Eastern Illinois...

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          • #9
            Very interesting Charlie
            South Dakota

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            • #10
              This is how you get every local looking come Spring:

              Latest news and articles about movies, TV shows, music, celebrity interviews, and updates from the entertainment industry.
              Rhode Island

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              • #11
                I have no idea how big a space rock is that is a kilo but I'm guessing that would be a good size. Not talking huge but certainly no pebble.
                And how many slices could you get out of it at how much per slice?
                Searching the fields of NW Indiana and SW Michigan

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                • #12
                  Originally posted by gregszybala View Post
                  I have no idea how big a space rock is that is a kilo but I'm guessing that would be a good size. Not talking huge but certainly no pebble.
                  And how many slices could you get out of it at how much per slice?
                  I believe Ward was guessing it was an L(low iron) Chondrite. I have one that is a few grans over one kilo, and will photograph it come daylight to give you a good idea as to size. L Chondrites are common, and ordinarily would not command high prices based just on the classification itself. But it does remain to be classified, so that is still an unknown. But witnessed falls always sell higher when first found. But we don't know how much will eventually be found. The less found, the higher the price per gram. It's just a supply-demand issue at that point. But many factors affect the price of meteorites. A beautiful oriented specimen from a low total known weight of a witnessed fall commands a premium. I'm not sure how many slices, since a slice can be any weight after all. The shape of the stone will determine what the slices will look like. A kilo is 1000 grams, so that's a lot of one gram slices, but it would not likely be divided in that manner, unless there are many, many stones associated with this fall. It was a sizable object, but nothing like the Chelyabinsk fall in Russia. There is always cutting loss as well. Can't really answer the question on price or how many slices. It's too early to know how much will turn up anyway.

                  Pitt is basically offering $20/gm. You can easily make a good profit just marking it up without slicing it at all. Especially if the total known weight(TKW) turns out to be on the low end.
                  Rhode Island

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                  • #13
                    Greg, assuming the Michigan fall is an L Chondrite, here is a 1008 gm. specimen of Northwest Africa 791(NWA 791), an L Chondrite collected in the Algeria/Morocco border region. So it's just 8 grams over 1 kilo, or 2.2 lbs. So this gives you a good idea of the size of a one kilo specimen of the type that fell in Michigan.

                    BTW, the "rusty" areas here are parts of the stone that was buried in desert pavement when it was found. The black areas are fusion crust displaying desert varnish; that part of the crust shows the effect of being polished by wind blown desert sands. But the entire stone shows close to 100% fusion crust.

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                    Rhode Island

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                    • #14
                      Thanks Charlie, didn't think it would be too small a good sized chunk..
                      The second photo correct me if I'm way off here but you can almost imagine that traveling through the atmosphere flaming.
                      Searching the fields of NW Indiana and SW Michigan

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                      • #15
                        Originally posted by gregszybala View Post
                        Thanks Charlie, didn't think it would be too small a good sized chunk..
                        The second photo correct me if I'm way off here but you can almost imagine that traveling through the atmosphere flaming.
                        Good call, Greg. You nailed it. Those are called flow lines. They are a little worn from sand blasting, but still visible. Collectors love flow lines. I know I sure do. They often appear on oriented meteorites, meaning meteorites that did not tumble too much in free fall, so the flow lines form on the side that was pointed downward during the fall through the atmosphere.

                        I can show you some nice examples. Ta-Daa, lol.

                        Here's a Sikhote-Alin iron meteorite, that fell as a great shower in 1947 in southeastern Russia. In this first photo, we're looking straight down on the surface that was pointing down as it fell. The flow lines are flowing outward from the center toward the edge of the meteorite:

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                        When the flow lines flow over an edge, it's known as a "lip-over", as seen in the next two photos. This is really a great specimen where displaying flow lines is concerned.

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                        Here's a stone that fell in Australia in 1960. Australian meteorites often have cool names. This one is part of the shower known as the Millbillillie meteorite.
                        Fantastic flow lines. This is a type known as a Eucrite, which are known for having a glossy fusion crust. The red staining is not oxidation, but the red clay of the Australian outback...

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                        Last edited by CMD; 01-23-2018, 04:46 PM.
                        Rhode Island

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