Meteorite Times Magazine by The Meteorite Exchange, Inc.

Meteorite-Times Magazine Contents by Editor Like

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

Terms Of Use Mat erials cont ained in and linked t o f rom t his websit e do not necessarily ref lect t he views or opinions of T he Met eorit e Exchange, Inc., nor t hose of any person connect ed t herewit h. In no event shall T he Met eorit e Exchange, Inc. be responsible f or, nor liable f or, exposure t o any such mat erial in any f orm by any person or persons, whet her writ t en, graphic, audio or ot herwise, present ed on t his or by any ot her websit e, web page or ot her cyber locat ion linked t o f rom t his websit e. T he Met eorit e Exchange, Inc. does not endorse, edit nor hold any copyright int erest in any mat erial f ound on any websit e, web page or ot her cyber locat ion linked t o f rom t his websit e. T he Met eorit e Exchange, Inc. shall not be held liable f or any misinf ormat ion by any aut hor, dealer and or seller. In no event will T he Met eorit e Exchange, Inc. be liable f or any damages, including any loss of prof it s, lost savings, or any ot her commercial damage, including but not limit ed t o special, consequent ial, or ot her damages arising out of t his service. © Copyright 2002–2010 T he Met eorit e Exchange, Inc. All right s reserved. No reproduct ion of copyright ed mat erial is allowed by any means wit hout prior writ t en permission of t he copyright owner.

Meteorite-Times Magazine Witnessed Fall: Vernon County, Wisconsin, USA by Martin Horejsi Like

An March 1865 Witnessed Fall: Vernon County, Wisconsin, USA

Foreshadowed the Death of a President

Posing wit h an f aux ant ique scale cube, Vernon Count y rest s pat ient ly as it has in collect ions f or almost 150 years. It is writ t en t hat it s f all at t ract ed lit t le at t ent ion, but t oday met eorit e collect ors worldwide covet such hist oric wit nessed f alls of small T KWs. For t he f ledgling Unit ed St at es, t he year 1865 is t he dividing line bet ween t he Civil War and Reconst ruct ion, and during t hat year only a single met eorit e was wit nessed t o f all wit hin t he young borders of t he US. T he met eorit e f ell just 20 days bef ore t he assassinat ion of President Abraham Lincoln. Coincidence or f at e? Does a f oreshadowing seem a st ret ch? Well, some Chinese t hink t hat Communist Part y Chairman Deng Xiao Pengâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deat h on February 19t h was f oreshadowed by t he February 15 f all of t he Juancheng met eorit es. T hen why not Vernon Count y and Abraham Lincoln?

Vernon Count y is classif ied as a veined H6 chondrit e. About 1500 grams of Vernon Count y was recovered in t he f orm of t wo st ones; one weighing 800g and t he ot her 700g. Sadly t he 800g st one was lost wit hin a f ew years of it s f all. T he dist ribut ion of Vernon Count y according t o t he Cat alogue of Met eorit es is as f ollows: 123g in t he Harvard Collect ion 65g in t he Paris Museum of Nat ural Hist ory 37g in Nat ural Hist ory Museum in London 28g in t he Vienna Museum 22g in t he Field Museum in Chicago 18g in Universit y Geological Museum in Copenhagen 8g in t he Mt N in Berlin 7g in t he Smit hsonian Museum of Nat ural Hist ory 2g in t he collect ion of t he Max Planck Inst it ut e 2g in t he American Museum of Nat ural Hist ory in New York 1.5g in t he Collect ion of t he Universit y of New Mexico My specimen f it s nicely bet ween Berlin and Copenhagen. T he f ollowing excerpt is f rom t he 1884 book Original Researches in Mineralogy and Chemistry by John Lawrence Smit h and Joseph Benson Marvin.

T his f east f or t he eyes has an ext ra helping of crust along it s t wo original edges. Smit h and Marvin described Vernon Count y as being covered wit h â&#x20AC;&#x153;a t hick, black, dull crust .â&#x20AC;? T hey get no argument f rom me.

Anot her small pat ch of crust spilled over ont o t his f ace cont rast ing colorf ully wit h t he iron oxide t hat H6 specimens are f amous f or.

T he lone cut f ace on my specimen show classic H6 t ext ure. Much met al is visible, and alt hough expressed as a rust y orange on broken f aces, shows a shiny st eely whit e when sliced. While t he connect ion t o President Lincoln is a st ret ch, it does place t he f all of Vernon Count y int o a f amiliar t ime f rame in American hist ory. Lucky f or t he Vernon Count y met eorit e t hat just 17 years earlier Wisconsin became a st at e. Ot herwise t his orphaned t reasure might have joined it s long lost sibling. Unt il next t imeâ&#x20AC;Ś T he Accretion Desk welcomes all comments and f eedback. accretiondesk@gmail.com Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine You Can Never Go Back by Jim Tobin Like

Times change and t hey say t hat you can never go back t o t he way it was in t he past . T hat is cert ainly t rue about met eorit e collect ing. T here are a f ew of us out in t he world t hat remember having t o be on wait ing list s wit h dealers. We would t ell t hem what we want ed and hope in t he next f ew mont hs or years t hat a piece of t he met eorit e would t urn up f or sell. It may be t hat met hod t hat led me away f rom t ype collect ing t o a more unf ocused st yle of collect ing. T here was a t ime in t he recent past when t here was just one diogenit e and it was $25 a gram. T hat was a lot of money f or a st one but , at least you could f ill t hat cat egory. However, if you want ed a howardit e you were pret t y much out of luck. T here was one but you could not have any of it . Today, if you have t he money and t he t ime I would guess t hat you could click a mouse and nearly f ill a t ype collect ion. I suppose t hat makes t his t he best of t imes f or met eorit e collect ing. T hough it has creat ed a dif f erent at mosphere f or bot h t he dealers and collect ors. T he quest ion t hat is const ant ly asked now is â&#x20AC;&#x153;how much does t he piece cost ?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Cost was always a concern of course. But , t oday t he economics of met eorit e collect ing have shif t ed a lit t le. T here are lot s of dealers, many selling t he same mat erial wit h prices of t en all over t he place. And you can have any classif icat ion of met eorit e you want . Lunars were unheard of only a f ew years ago now you can choose bet ween many dif f erent classif icat ion of met eorit es f rom t he Moon. Mart ians t he same t hing many available even a chassignit e. Somet hing t hat is really dif f erent f rom t he past is t he unclassif ied met eorit es we all have in our collect ions. T here was no such t hing as an unclassif ied met eorit e. In f act it was not a met eorit e of f icially unt il it was classif ied. Now and f orever more t here will be t housands of unclassif ied st ones f loat ing around collect ions of met eorit es.

Box of f resh crust ed unclassif ied met eorit es bought in Tucson 2010 So here is t he t opic of my art icle t his mont h. What makes a part icular met eorit e specimen wort h t he price t hat is asked? What f act ors make a collect or decide what price t hey will pay? My f irst t hought is Name Recognit ion. T here are some met eorit es t hat I just want t o have in my collect ion. T hey are hist oric f alls f rom t he very early years of met eorit e st udy and t hey rarely come up f or sell. Per gram price can f ade int o t he background a lit t le as we just suck it up and buy

t he price. So is an L6 f rom t he 1700’s wort h t hat much more t han a f resh f all L6 f rom t he last f ive years? It s all in t he name. And wit h t hat goes t he need t o prove t hat it really is what it s being sold as. Provenance, t he hist ory of t he piece you are buying can add t o t he value. Get t ing all t he old collect ion cards wit h t he specimen when you buy it , is cert ainly very cool. T he cards t hemselves are act ually collect ed on t heir on right .

Wold Cot t age slice wit h copy of Brit ish Museum specimen card. Not e t hat t he act ual piece t his was cut f rom and t he name of t he person it was bought f rom are shown Next t hought t hat I have is Availabilit y. What if t here is only one st one which f ell. And what if it was not very big. Let s suppose t hat it t oo is just a “common” classif icat ion. Why do we t hink t hat it is necessarily much more valuable t han a rarer more int erest ing t ype. I t hink it is part ly condit ioning. In every t hing t hat is collect ed t here is t he assumpt ion made t hat t he more layers of rarit y somet hing has t he more valuable it will be. So somet hing like 1909 VDB pennies are valuable not just t hat t hey are old, but t hey are scarce, and a f ine grade is even more valuable because it is even rarer. In met eorit es we have mult iple layers of value t oo it seems. A summary might read t his way. One small st one, f ell long ago. It has all be in a privat e collect ion f or decades. Nobody has ever had any except t he original couple pieces t hat went t o museums. Now a slice has been cut f rom t he main mass. It has been made int o an unknown number of smaller part slices. How much can t he owner of f er a met eorit e like t his f or t o t he collect ors of t he world? T he Circumst ances of Arrival. Here we have many f act ors t hat seem t o play int o t he event ual cost of a specimen. Was it seen and f ound right away? Some people only collect f alls. Some only hist orical f alls f rom t he long past . Who f ound it ? T here are import ant names in t he world of met eorit es and owning specimens once t ouched by t hese individuals has mot ivat ed int erest ed collect ors t o pay much higher prices t hen f or run of t he mill pieces of t he same met eorit e. I have seen space pot at o blobs of Canyon Diablo go f or more t hen beaut if ully sculpt ured pieces. Why? Just because t hey were f ound or owned by a cert ain person. I am a sucker f or t hese and might buy t hem myself if I had t he money. Who can underst and t he f orces at work in t his. What if a met eorit e hit s a car, or a mail box, or a house, or a cow? Is it really much more valuable? Or it t he cult ural, psychological, st at ist ical f act ors we place on it t hat raises t he cost ?. And is it OK? Is t hat part of t he f un of collect ing? To let t he met eorit es get under your skin so much t hat such f act ors add value. I t hink so. I have met eorit es t hat are special f or crazy reasons. Maybe it is who I was wit h when I f ound it or bought it . I would never sell t hem under any circumst ance. Maybe it is one I had t o wait mont hs t o get . We do seem t o add value t o t hings based on many f act ors beyond just weight and t ype. Today, you have t o add f act ors like it was caught on video t ape f lying t hrough

t he air, or seen on radar, or snif f ed out by a doggie. And t he list of reasons f or making t hem more valuable goes on and on. T he Act ual Cost s. Af t er having discussed a lit t le of t he et hereal in t he last sect ion let ’s get right down t o t he t rue economics t hat det ermine price. I guess t hat brings up an issue right of f . Price does not really have anyt hing but a remot e relat ionship t o value in met eorit es. It does however est ablish t he bot t om line below which a f inder is working in t he negat ive. We are dealing wit h a hobby and an obsession somet imes and price and value separat e under t hose circumst ances. A f inder may be willing t o sell a st one f or any amount since t hey are hunt ing f or f un. But , t here are real cost s t hat are involved f or t he prof essional. T hey do ef f ect t he price and t o some ext ent t he value of met eorit es. For dealers selling met eorit es is a career and occupat ion. T hey are in it f or t he money t hey can make. Like most of us t hey need t o pay t heir bills and f eed t heir f amily f rom t he money earned t hrough t heir work. Selling met eorit es is t heir work. I never haggle wit h dealers f or pieces in my collect ion. I may t ry t o get a bet t er deal if it is somet hing we are going t o sell. T hat ’s business. But , if t hey have t o t ravel across t he world and rent t ransport at ion and obt ain guides, pay f or lodging and f ood, in order t o recover met eorit es, all t hat expense only logically becomes incorporat ed int o t he price t hey must sell t he met eorit es f or. So OK it is only an L6, but if you want it you have t o pay t he price. What if it is a Ureilit e and it was t racked f rom space t o t he ground. And it f ell f ar away on t he ot her side of t he world. You’re gonna have t o pay. But , you can massage away some of t he pain of t he price wit h all t he cult ural and psychological st uf f . For example, you can say t o yourself . “It is the only time that an asteroid was found in space and its trajectory to the ground was predicted. It was seen by pilots of a passenger jetliner right when it was supposed to be seen. And it turns out to be a fascinating type of meteorite and not much will ever be available to collectors. If I don’t buy it now my chance may pass or the price may be even higher later.” T hat kind of int ernal t alk can help but let s be honest “you want it , you know you want it . . .” (Apologies t o Mel Brooks) I doubt t hat we will ever be able t o really def ine t he variables of met eorit e pricing. T here are t oo many f act ors and many are just plain t oo int angible. But , a bot t om line can sort of be set f or some. Many t imes I just look at a specimen and say boy t hat is a nice shaped, most ly crust ed st one and I would like t o get it if I can. So I ask, “How much is t his one.” I get an answer and make a decision. Somet imes it s yes and somet imes it s no. On ot her occasions I see a specimen on my want list and it is a whole new set of f act ors t hat det ermine t he purchase. Ain’t met eorit es f un. I got t o go t o t he garage and clean and cut a bunch t oday. I wonder what f act ors will weave t oget her t o det ermine t he price t hey will sell f or. One t hing I know is t hat met eorit e collect ing will never again be as it was only a f ew years ago. Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine Meteorite Market Trends by Michael Blood Like

3 likes. Sign Up to see what your friends like.

This Monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Meteorite Market Trends

by Michael Blood Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine Evidence of Life Found in Another Martian Meteorite! by Robert Verish Like

Anot her Mars rock, t he Los Angeles met eorit e, has f ossil evidence t hat suggest s lif e once exist ed on Mars.

Researchers using Raman Spect rographic equipment (like t he set up above) have f ound “disordered graphit e ” and “met alloporphyrin ” in t he Los Angeles Mart ian met eorit e (diabasic shergot t it e). T he f act t hat t hese compounds have a biot ic origin is not quest ioned. Alt hough t hese t wo compounds have been dismissed as being t errest rial cont aminant s, it begs t he quest ion, “Where are all t he ot her compounds t hat would accompany t his t ype of t errest rial cont aminat ion?” Given t he absence of addit ional evidence f or recent t errest rial cont aminat ion, it is my cont ent ion t hat “disordered graphit e and “met alloporphyrin” are act ually f ossil residue, having a biological origin which predat es t he impact t hat launched t he host rock f rom t he surf ace of planet Mars. Researchers at NASA in Houst on announced in t wo separat e press releases, one in November 2009, and t hen t wo mont hs lat er, in January 2010, t hat t hey have f ound convincing f ossil evidence in t hree mart ian met eorit es t hat lif e once exist ed on Mars. T his evidence has conf irmed t he researchers earlier f indings about t he mart ian met eorit e Allen Hills 84001 f rom over a decade ago. T he ot her t wo mart ian met eorit es are Nakhla, which f ell in Egypt in 1911 and since has been in a Brit ish collect ion, and an Ant arct ic f ind by t he Japanese called Yamat o 000593 (anot her nakhlit e). Designat ed Yamat o 593, it cont ains signs of f ossil lif e similar t o t hat seen in AH84001 and Nakhla met eorit es. Bot h t he Nakhla and Yamat o lif e f orms dat e t o only about 1.4 billion years old, if it can be proved more def init ively. NASA present ed t heir f indings in great er dept h bef ore t he American Geophysical Union Meet ing (January 2010) in San Francisco. At t he meet ing, John McKay, t he principal invest igat or f or t he original f indings regarding AH84001 present ed in 1996, declared t hat bef ore t he end of 2010

“def init ive proof ” will be announced. He st at ed t hat recent advancement s in inst rument at ion have result ed in breakt hroughs in our abilit y t o ident if y “biomorphs”. T he “biomorph” f eat ures discovered in t he Yamat o 593 met eorit e look ident ical t o t hose f ound inside t he Allen Hills and Nakhla met eorit es, according t o McKay. Because of t hese recent f indings, t here has been a shif t in t he “Mars lif e st rat egy”: NASA’s original st rat egy was t o “f ollow t he wat er”, t hen t he st rat egy shif t ed t o “f ollow t he carbon.” T he st rat egy now, however, simply reads “f ind direct evidence f or seeking out lif e”. T hat role will f irst f all t o t he Mars Science Laborat ory rover undergoing f inal assembly f or launch in Sept ember 2011. It is my purpose in t his art icle t o bring at t ent ion t o anot her Mars rock met eorit e, t he Los Angeles met eorit e (a diabasic shergot t it e), and t o suggest t hat it , t oo, should be re-examined based upon f indings t hat were originally report ed nearly t en years ago. Given t he “recent advancement s in inst rument at ion”, t his re-examinat ion of t he Los Angeles mart ian met eorit e is warrant ed. In f act , bef ore t he next NASA science plat f orm is launched t o Mars in order t o “search f or any and all signs of lif e”, it would be prudent t o re-examine as many mart ian met eorit es as is possible.

Typical arrangement of Carbon molecules when in t he f orm of Graphit e About 10 years ago t here was an examinat ion of t he Los Angeles shergot t it e (LA) by a group of researchers, led by Alian Wang, ut ilizing st at e-of -t he-art (f or t hat t ime) Raman spect roscopic inst rument s. T he sample of LA t hat was used in t his survey was obt ained f rom UCLA. T his means t hat t he sample came f rom t he t ype specimen t hat t his aut hor submit t ed t o UCLA in 1999. Having personally cut t his t ype specimen on my own rock-saw, I can at t est t o t he f act t hat t his was f ar f rom a “clean room” operat ion. T he result s of t his “survey” were published in 2001 under t he t it le: Preliminary Raman spect roscopic survey on a mart ian met eorit e – Los Angeles in Lunar and Planet ary Science XXXII (2001) – 1427.pdf Alt hough t he t it le called t his a “Preliminary survey”, it was st ill a very t horough examinat ion t hat ident if ied all of t he mineral const it uent s, as well as, cont aminant s, presumably all t errest rial. What I f ound int riguing was t he emphasis placed on describing t wo of t hese “cont aminant s”: 1) t he disordered graphit e – which was always associat ed wit h t he masses of secondary hemat it e. and 2) t he met alloporphyrin – which were individual grains t hat looked like minut e, ruby-colored cryst als. Since t hese compounds are known t o have biologic origins, it is underst andable t hat some space

in t he paper be t aken t o describe t heir occurrence. But t heir prominence in t he abst ract , part icularly t he images of t he ruby-colored met alloporphyrin grains, has led me t o t hink t hat t he signif icance of t heir presence in t his met eorit e was being int ent ionally underst at ed, in order t o allow t he reader t o draw t heir own conclusion. In order f or me t o draw my own conclusion, I need answers t o cert ain quest ions. For inst ance, if t he Raman spect roscope was so sensit ive as t o det ect and properly ident if y minut e masses of carbon compounds t hat are, at best , ephemeral vest iges of once living organisms, t hen why didn’t t he spect roscope det ect a long list of hydrocarbon compounds, such as prot eins, lipids, cell-walls, et c., in ot her words, t he remains of t he purport ed t errest rial organisms t hat “produced t hese t wo cont aminant s”? How long does it t ake t o f orm disordered graphit e f rom once living organisms? Among all of t he Mart ian met eorit es, t he Los Angeles st ones are one of t he f reshest , having one of t he lowest t errest rial residence t imes (~5k-9k years). Is t his long enough f or a t errest rial organism t o decompose int o “disordered graphit e”? In t he absence of ot her hydrocarbons, wouldn’t t he sole-presence of minut e, cryst alline grains of met alloporphyrin be exact ly t he kind of vest igial subst ance f rom once living organisms t hat could survive in t he vacuum of space over long geologic t ime? For now, unt il a re-examinat ion of t he Los Angeles met eorit e wit h t he newly advanced inst rument at ion can prove ot herwise, I can only conclude t hat LA is t oo f resh, t oo prist ine (lacks a wide variet y of cont aminant s f rom t errest rial organisms) and t oo rich in t he exact carbon compounds t hat you would expect t o survive t he t ransit t hrough space f rom Mars t o Eart h.

Ordered Graphit e – t ypical “narrow” response wit h Raman spect rograph

Disordered Graphit e – t ypical “wide” response wit h Raman spect rograph Over t he int ervening decade since t he above “preliminary survey” was published, NASA has never cont act ed me (t he main mass holder of Los Angeles) f or addit ional samples f or a more t horough examinat ion wit h t he advanced analyt ical inst rument at ion t hey have developed. I f ind t his curious, because t heir of t -st at ed st rat egy was t o “Follow t he Carbon”! In f act , as recent ly as January 2010 at t he AGU Meet ing in San Francisco, John McKay was quick t o congrat ulat e t hemselves (NASA) f or having f ollowed t hrough on t his st rat egy, because when it came t o “f ollowing t he carbon”, t here was (and I quot e) “a lot of carbon in Nakhla!” But in my view, NASA has f allen well short of t heir goal t o f ollow t he carbon t o Mars, when t hey f ailed t o f ollow t he carbon t rail just t his short dist ance t o Los Angeles.

Diabasic Shergot t it e – Available f or Re-examinat ion REFERENCES: Preliminary Raman spect roscopic survey on a mart ian met eorit e – Los Angeles in Lunar and Planet ary Science XXXII (2001) – 1427.pdf by Alian Wang, Karla E. Kuebler, John Freeman, Bradley L. Jollif f , Dept . Eart h & Planet ary Sciences, Washingt on Universit y, St . Louis, MO, 63130 (alianw@levee.wust l.edu)

Google docs – Preliminary Raman spect roscopic survey on a mart ian met eorit e – Los Angeles, by Alian Wang, Karla E. Kuebler, John Freeman, Bradley L. Jollif f , Dept . Eart h & Planet ary Sciences, Washingt on Universit y, St . Louis, MO, 63130 (alianw@levee.wust l.edu) (If t he previous Ref erence has expired, t ry t his more permanent link.)

Met alloporphyrin : Def init ion f rom Answers.com met alloporphyrin ( m?’t alo’pörf ?r?n ) ( biochemist ry ) A compound, such as heme, consist ing of a porphyrin combined wit h a met al such as iron, copper…

Disordered graphit e - Graphit e surf ace disorder det ect ion using in sit u Raman microscopy – BY Laurence J. Hardwick, Hilmi Buqa and Pet r Novák in: Solid St at e Ionics – Volume 177, Issues 26-32, 31 Oct ober 2006, Pages 2801-2806 Fig. 4. In sit u Raman spect ra series of disordered graphit e of t he f our point s f rom open circuit pot ent ial (3000 mV) t o 550 mV (t op) and f rom 500 mV t o 220 mV (bot t om). Spect ra are shif t ed arbit rarily up t he int ensit y axis. T he arrows on t he lef t -hand side of each quad indicat e t he direct ion of t he scan. Alian Wang – Mission t o Mars – Alian also uses Raman spect roscopy f or anot her passion of hers: t he st udy of Mart ian met eorit es… … Images of t race f ossils in Mart ian met eorit es: – NASA Johnson Space Cent er websit e – New St udy Adds t o Finding of Ancient Lif e Signs in Mars Met eorit e – 12.08.09

SPACEFLIGHT NOW - T hree Mart ian met eorit es t riple evidence f or Mars lif e â&#x20AC;&#x201C; BY CRAIG COVAULT Post ed: January 9, 2010

SPACEFLIGHT NOW – Mart ian met eorit e surrenders new secret s of possible lif e – BY CRAIG COVAULT Post ed: November 24, 2009 Technology Review – Delt a V – Wednesday, December 02, 2009 – Fresh Evidence of Ancient Lif e on Mars? A new st udy says it ’s t he best explanat ion f or mat erials f ound in a met eorit e, but not everyone agrees. Lif e on Mars NewsWire: Recent Art icles – News t hat scient ist s had f ound evidence of lif e in a Mars met erorit e had leaked out , … Lif e on Mars: New Evidence f rom Mart ian Met eorit es – in Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7441, 744102 In summary, t he original hypot hesis t hat f eat ures in ALH84001 may be t he result of early microbial lif e on Mars remains robust and is f urt her st rengt hened by t he presence of abundant biomorphs in ot her Mart ian met eorit es. T hese biomorphs, while not complet ely def init ive f or microbial lif e, are clearly associat ed wit h Mart ian aqueous alt erat ion (crack-f illing iddingsit e) and are nearly ident ical t o t errest rial biomorphs known t o be f ormed by microbial act ivit y. New Mart ian dat a since our original paper have signif icant ly support ed t he habit abilit y of Mars and t he possibilit y of lif e t here. T hese dat a include t he presence of an early magnet ic dynamo det ect ed by by t he discovery of st rongly magnet ized crust al rocks, t he presence of abundant early surf ace wat er and recent near-surf ace wat er, t he presence of early clay minerals and carbonat es, and t he presence of met hane plumes in t he at mosphere which may have a biological origin. Combining all of t he new dat a f rom t he Mars missions wit h our new dat a on biomorphs, t he case f or lif e on Mars appears t o be much st ronger. My previous art icles can be f ound *HERE* For f or more inf ormat ion, please cont act me by email:

Bolide*chaser Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine IMCA Insights – March 2010 by IMCA TEAM Like

Meteorites 101 at a Deaf School by Pete Shugar

Background on Learning the Art of Sign Language It was sevent h grade. Her locker was just f ive away f rom mine. She was shy. I never saw her wit h anyone else. I f inally screwed up t he ment al courage and t aped a not e t o her locker, asking f or a dat e. Imagine my surprise when she gave me a not e saying yes. I had suggest ed a ice cream sundae at t he local Woolwort h. When she arrived, I f ound out t he reason she didn’t have many f riends. It was because she was deaf . She t hen t aught me t he manual alphabet .

Phot o court esy of Pet e Shugar T hus began my love af f air wit h sign language. Over t he years, I did very lit t le t o advance t hat beginning. About 15 years ago I chanced upon anot her set t ing t hat required signing. I t ook a f ew f ree courses f rom t he school syst em and have cont inued t o work on it ever since. Ten years ago I f ound t hat my hearing was get t ing progressively worse. I worked f ast er t o learn more signs. Early last year all hearing in t he lef t ear was gone. T he right ear was almost gone as well. I didn’t have t oo much t rouble t alking t o someone f ace t o f ace as I could read lips, but I was very nervous as t his was t he f irst t ime I had t o sign t o an audience, not count ing my ef f ort s at my home church.

Phot o court esy of Pet e Shugar T he Met eorit e Teasers I work f or t he school syst em here in Amarillo as a monit or on t he bus t o keep t he kids f rom killing t he bus, t he driver, or t hemselves. I almost always put one or t wo met eorit es in my pocket t o show t he kids on my bus. I’ve even done t his at church or at any ot her gat hering of kids or adult s. Many is t he parent t hat asks quest ions and want t o learn somet hing about our visit ors f rom space. One day I had t o drive a SUV as t he sub driver on a rout e. It was t o f ill in on t he rout e t hat serves t he deaf school here in Amarillo. I always carry a f ew met eorit es wit h me as t here is always someone t hat has never seen a met eorit e or is a science buf f t hat might like t o see and hold one. I soon discovered t he pleasure of wat ching t he “Look of Wonder” t hat spreads across t heir f ace when t hey t ouch a met eorit e. Alt hough almost all of my met eorit es are micros, I do have a f ew larger specimens as well as lunar and Mart ian micros in my collect ion. T he boys and girls really f reak out when t old t hat t hey have just t ouched a piece of t he Moon or Mars.

Phot o court esy of Pet e Shugar As usual, I had specimems wit h me t hat day and let a deaf girl t ouch several. She was very excit ed and her lit t le f ingers just f lew f ar f ast er t han I could read t hem as she t old me of what it meant t o be able t o see and t ouch somet hing t hat had been in space, but now it was in her hand. She was so t hrilled t o hold t hem. I promised t o let her t ouch a lunar at a lat er t ime. T he t eacher saw t he ef f ect t his had on “Karen Jo”* and asked me if I could come t o t he school and do a present at ion.

She saw t hat I signed and promised t hat I would have someone t o help me if I got st uck f or a word. I t old her, “Yes, I would be glad t o do t he present at ion”.

Phot o court esy of Pet e Shugar Preparat ion Seeing as I only had 3 weeks t o get my act t oget her, I asked t he Met eorit eCent ral mailing list f or some cheap met eorit es t hat I could af f ord. To my surprise, t here was an out pouring of of f ers f or f ree samples. As t hese poured in, I became very proud of t he members of t his list and f elt t hat I would do all t hat I could t o honor each and everyone who helped make t hat present at ion t he best t hat I ever did. One of f er asked how many t here would be in t he class. I est imat ed 30 t o 35. What I didn’t know was t hat t here was 2 classes, each wit h 30 t o 35 kids. Well, when all t he of f ers had arrived, I count ed out all of t he met eorit es. T here were enough NWA 869′s f or one class and enough NWA 4293′s f or t he second class. T hen t here were all t he large unclassif ied NWA’s which became t he f ocus of t he science t eachers’ gif t s. T here st ill remain t he many smaller unclassif ied NWA’s t hat will f ind a home in a lat er present at ion. One bat ch of met eorit es did not arrive t ill t he evening af t er t he present at ion. When I opened it up, t here were 5 perf ect small Campos made int o individuals wit h a loop f or a necklace which made perf ect gif t s f or t he t eachers. I went back t he next day and lef t one f or t he principal, as well as f or t he t eacher who invit ed me.

Phot o court esy of Pet e Shugar

T he IMCA “Met eorit es 101″ PowerPoint present at ion was a big help, but I had t o t rim it down because of t ime limit s. Some of it was just t oo t echnical f or t he lower grade levels. I dug int o t he hist ory of all t he met eorit es t hat I would present t o f ind cool f act s and t idbit s t hat made t he met eorit es come alive, inst ead of just being a lump of rock and/or met al. I made sure not t o t ake t oo many wit h me as t here is such a t hing as overload. Too many also makes it hard t o keep up wit h what is being passed around. T he last t hing you need is t o lose one of your more valuable met eorit es. T he Moment of Trut h Arrives I f irst t old of my awakening t o met eorit es and what I collect ed and why. I showed several must read books and t old of t he work of H.H. Nininger as t he f at her of Met eorit ics. T he children were very at t ent ive and all asked good quest ions t hat showed a grasp of t he science of met eorit ics. I was asked how t he met eoroid could be dislodged f rom t he ast eroid belt . What made all t he met eoroids and ast eroids in t he f irst place? How do we know t hat t his met eorit e is f rom 4 Vest a? T hese quest ions and many more were asked and answered.

Phot o court esy of Pet e Shugar “Vaca Muert a” was cool, I just passed Valera around wit h no explainat ion. T he boys t hought it was cool, but t he girls just squeeled “Eewweee” when t old t hat Valera was t he “bullet ” t hat killed a cow. Of course, t he quest ion “Has a met eorit e ever killed a person?” came next . I showed t he very micro-micro of Sylacauga. “It s so small”, t hey said. I t old of how hard it was t o obt ain it . Every met eorit e brought more quest ions. T he met eorit es caused several t o want t o st udy and learn more about t hem. One t hought it would make a very int erest ing science f air project . At t he conclusion of t he present at ion I had one of t he t eachers pass out t o each member of t he class a met eorit e. I want ed a t eacher t o not look at each one, but t o simply reach int o t he box and pass one out . I was worried t hat t here would be much made of t he “I got one bigger t han you” syndrome. T hese f ourt h and f if t h grade boys and girls had a wonderf ul t ime. I was elat ed at t he recept ion I received. I became t he man of t he hour in t he eyes of kids as well as t he t eachers. It ’s good t o be a good role model f or t hem. T he t eachers were very happy t o have my resources t here f or t hem t o use. T hey were also surprised t o receive some very cool looking unclassif ied NWA’s f or lat er use in t he classroom.

Phot o court esy of Pet e Shugar Conclusions and Lessons Learned I f ully believe t hat t he giveaways were what made such a big impact upon t he overall success of any ef f ort t o reach t he st udent s. You just need t o be willing t o spend a lit t le t ime wit h t hem. T he payof f is unreal. My only regret was t hat I could have used at least 30 more minut es per class t o cover more f ully all t hat needed t o be covered. *Not her real name. – T his art icle will also be published in a f ut ure issue of Met eorit e Magazine – • IMCA Home Page • IMCA Code of Ethics • IMCA Member List • Join IMCA • IMCA Meteorite Inf o Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine NWA 869 Inclusions by John Kashuba Like

Hey Chuck, Please look f or f ine grained inclusions, t oo, when you’re slicing t hose NWA 869s. T hey look like lit t le gray pat ches of unmixed Port land cement . Folks have been calling t hem achondrit ic inclusions but t hat might not be what t hey are. T here’s a recurring rumor t hat somet hing’s going t o be published about t hem but I haven’t seen it yet . NWA 869 is get t ing more st udy. I underst and it s classif icat ion has been amped up t o L3-6 chondrit ic breccia. It is a coarse breccia wit h chunks of up t o 5.5 cm. Nobel gas measurement s show t hat some port ions of t he mix had been on t he surf ace of t he parent body so it is a regolit h breccia – t hink “ast eroid soil”. Plowed soil. T he light colored, rat her well met amorphosed part s might be f rom deep down. Clast s as primit ive as t ype 3 have seen lit t le heat . T here are shock darkened and shock melt ed bit s and t he rare f oreign carbonaceous f ragment . Most ly it is it s grey green self . Impact s plowed it up and impact s compact ed – lit hif ied – it . Scient ist s f igure t he met eoroid t hat was blast ed of f t he parent body was maybe 4 t o 5 met ers in diamet er bef ore at mospheric ent ry. Even wit h ablat ion loss of 90 t o 95% about 7 t ons dropped on t he Sahara Desert . T his was 4.4±0.7 kyr ago – af t er t he mammot hs but well bef ore iPhones. [Met zler et al. (2008) LPS and Welt en et al. (2010) LPS] Slices wit h f ine grained inclusions shouldn’t go t o t he kids. We’ll keep t hem. T hey’ll be good t rading mat erial if t hat paper ever comes out . I’ve got some pict ures. - John

A breccia f or sure. T he long diagonal of t he squarish whit e clast is 5 cm. T he slice is 19 cm long.

T his inch long slice has a nice f ine grained inclusion. Looks like cement , doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it ?

T his is one of t he t hin sect ions made f rom t hat slice. T he f ine grained inclusion st ands out pret t y well here.

Up close t o it now. T he f ine grained port ion is on t he lef t and t he regular lit hology is on t he right . PPL FOV 5.2 mm.

Same view. XPL

Same slice, dif f erent t hin sect ion. Is t hat a carbonaceous clast t here on t he right edge?

Maybe it is. Same clast , dif f erent t hin sect ion. XPL FOV 2 mm.

Dif f erent NWA 869 t hin sect ion. T hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pat ch sit t ing a lit t le above cent er wit h dark mat rix and well def ined chondrules. It â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably one of t he low met amorphic grade areas.

Here is a close-up of t hat part . Neat and orderly. PPL FOV 3 mm.

Same wit h anot her f ilt er t hrown in. Not as dist inct , but pret t ier. XPL FOV 3 mm. Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine Count Guido Deiro by Editor Like

T his f eat ure is devot ed each mont h t o one of t he personalit ies wit hin t he met eorit e communit y. T his mont h we are delight ed t o have Count Guido Deiro share t he incredible st ory of his f irst met eorit e f ind. MET EORIT E FIRST FIND ST ORY 3/3/10 12.73kg NEVADA RECORD CHONDRIT E

Myself and Sonny Clary's dog "Brix" overlooking t he f ind. I’ve lived and worked in t he Great Basin and Mohave Desert s all my lif e. For dozens of years and t housands of hours as a commercial airplane and helicopt er pilot providing cont ract services t o government agencies and scient if ic laborat ories, most associat ed wit h t he Nevada At omic Proving Grounds (87% of t he St at e of Nevada is government land). Af t er t he deat h of Howard Hughes, (yes, I did know and f ly wit h him) I lef t my posit ion at t he Hughes Tool Co. as Direct or of Aviat ion Services and began brokering ranch propert ies, Taylor grazing and pat ent ed wat er right s which put me “boot s on ground” t hroughout t he st at e. I began t o st udy met eorit es about a year ago as a diversion t o t ake my mind of f t he t wo years of radiat ion and chemo t reat ment s I had been undergoing f or st age IV met ast asized cancer. I had responded well f or a 72 year old and was in remission. I needed some new pursuit t o get my ment al and physical healt h back. Lit t le did I know t hat I was about t o cat ch anot her disease..and t his one incurable…t he obsession wit h met eorit es.

Af t er purchasing some sixt y dif f erent t ypes and classif icat ions, a st ereo scope and a cabinet f or comparison purposes …and reading numerous post s on List and dozens of papers, at t ending Tucson… put t ing f aces on all whom I had met online… I decided I was ready t o go int o t he f ield and f ind my own met eorit es.

My modest cabinet wit h t he big chondrit e looking so out of place. I was f ort unat e t o have made acquaint ance wit h Sonny Clary who lives nearby. He had become my ment or, given me samples and shown me some point ers on hunt ing by t aking me on a short local t rip t o look at an area of int erest . We spent maybe t wo hours in t he f ield. Sonny moves quickly, his acut e vision and experience let t ing him cover a lot of ground in very lit t le t ime. I f ound I was more comf ort able going my own way and not slowing him up. Neit her he, nor I, f ound anyt hing. I have f our grandsons and I spent a f ew hours in some vacant f ields in Las Vegas t hrowing down weat hered samples and demonst rat ing t o t hem t he use of t he cane and det ect or. Ten years young, Vincent , was f ascinat ed. He’ll be an “ist ” someday. On Tuesday, March 2nd, Sonny called lat e and invit ed me t o spend my f irst f ull day hunt ing an area he f elt was promising several hours away. We met at his home and loaded up t he gear, f ood and wat er. Brix, his super Alsat ian, whined excit edly knowing we were going on a hunt . Sonny has t rained Brix t o t he point t hat t he dog will bring him rocks in t he f ield. No met eorit es yet …but it will happen. We arrived in a remot e part of t he desert around nine o’clock. T he t emperat ure was a pleasant 67 degrees under clear skies and no wind. We saddled up and agreed as t o which way each of us would go. Sonny t ook of f t o t he lef t and me t o t he right . Wit hin minut es we were out of sight of each ot her. We did have a means of communicat ing elect ronically in t he event of an emergency. Af t er several hours wit h no luck, we met back at t he t ruck and t raveled t wo miles nort h on t he valley f loor. Af t er anot her hour or t wo of not hing but met eor wrongs picked up f rom t he desert pavement , Sonny decided t o expand our search area again several miles t o t he west . T his t ime we were on excellent ground. Gent ly rolling, wit h very lit t le organic growt h and hardly any rocks at all. If t hey were here, t he met eorit es would st and out prominent ly. Again, Sonny st rode of f nort hwest wit h Brix roaming in f ront of him. Brix has received snake avoidance t raining and a good t hing, because t he rat t lers, including t he f eared “Mohave Green”, are coming out of t heir dens t his t ime of year t o warm t hemselves, and shed t heir wint er skin, making t hem ill t empered and aggressive. Sonny hunt ed wit h no assist ance f rom cane, or det ect or. I used my six f oot st af f wit h a circular neodymium magnet screwed on t he end.

I f ollowed Sonny t o t he west , deciding t o make t he f irst leg of my search int o t he reduced visibilit y of t he sun, so I could make t he ot her t wo half mile legs wit h t he sun at my side and rear t o highlight t he ground and prevent squint ing. I have special t int ed prescript ion glasses t hat provide some UV prot ect ion, reduce eye st rain and sharpen t he f ield of view. Sonny and Brix were quickly out of sight . About an hour and a half int o t hings, and while walking f orward a f ew paces at a 45 degree angle t o t he lef t and t hen t o t he right , my scan picked up an irregular shape 50′ t o my right . It was so out of place as t o shape and color t hat I knew immediat ely it was a possible. I t urned and walked t oward it . As I got wit hin a f ew yards I could see t hat it had t he f amiliar dark desert pat inat ion t hat I had st udied on my Gold Basin samples. It was a t hree inch high t ip st icking out of t he ground like a t riangular iceberg. I st art ed t o laugh out loud as I walked around it in a t ight circle. Taking my cane, I caref ully placed it close alongside dangling it loosely bet ween t wo f ingers. Nevada chondrit es t end t o have low met al. T he cane moved slowly t oward t he rock and t ouched it . So subt le was it s movement t hat I didn’t immediat ely believe I had seen what I had seen and had t o repeat t he t est all around t he t ip. Each t ime it “clicked” I got a rush of excit ement . Bef ore I could cont ain myself , I reached down and grabbed t he exposed t ip and pulled. My hand slipped of f . T he rock was solidly buried in t he ground.

T he met eorit e in sit u af t er clearing t he f irst t wo inches of dirt away f rom it by hand. I began t o dig wit h my bare hands. Down t wo inches and st ill no movement . St ep back. Put scale cube down. Take pict ure. T hree more inches and shove it wit h your f oot . No movement . More pict ures and t he t hought of “How in t he hell did I get t his lucky?” I dug f rant ically like a rabid gopher. “How big was t his t hing?”, “Wow”, “Wait t ill Sonny sees t his.” T hen I got greedy. I didn’t want it t o st op get t ing bigger, but f inally at a dept h of about nine inches I was able t o get my f ingers under t he bot t om edge of t he t riangular shape. I st ood up, put my f oot against it and shoved. T he met eorit e came f ree f rom it s t housands of years ent rapment in t he desert f loor. I had my f irst f ind.

T he met eorit e exposed in sit u wit h 1cm scale cube. T his phot o result ed in Tom Phillips producing t he one inch "Count " scale cube f or larger met eorit es. I called Sonny on cell. At f irst he t hought I was joking, but when I of f ered a $100 wager if he came and f ound it was not a met eorit e, he st art ed his t rek t o my locat ion. He arrived in f if t een minut es, t he last f ew yards wit h a huge grin on his f ace and his arms out st ret ched. “Dude” he said. “You t he man.” We were like a couple of kids f or a minut e. Lit erally pounding each ot her’s f ist s and laughing. I have never seen Sonny so animat ed. Brix immediat ely went t o t he met eorit e, and curling around it , he laid down on guard. It was his now.

Adam Hupe' using his 24" diamond bladed saw t hat he calls "T he Judge" t o cut t he Nevada chondrit e in half . I gave Sonny half as wit hout his guidance I wouldn't have made t he f ind. T he specimen is current ly t he largest int act chondrit e f ound so f ar in Nevada and my f irst f ind. It s gross weight was 12.73kg. 250mm x 180mm x 120mm. I went out and bought a bunch of lot t ery t icket s.

Count GuidoDeiro IMCA 3536 Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine Meteorite Calendar â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 2010 by Anne Black Like

Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine Meteorite Spheres by Editor Like

Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine Bediasite Tear Drop Tektite by Editor Like

9.9 gram specimen f rom T he Darryl Fut rell Collect ion Of Tekt it es Please Share and Enjoy:

Meteorite-Times Magazine Meteorite-Times Sponsors by Editor Like

Please support Meteorite-T imes by visiting our sponsors websites. Click the links below to open their website in a new tab / window.

Met eorit es.t v Labenne Met eorit es

cat chaf allingst ar.com

Michael Blood Met eorit es

Nakhla Dog Met eorit es

Impact ika

met eorit elabels.com

Membrane Boxes

Met eorit es For Sale .com

Rocks f rom Heaven

Aerolit e Met eorit es For Sale

Midwest Met eorit es

Big Kahuna Met eorit es

Advert ise 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. Photo by ÂŠ 2010 James Tobin