<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I love stories like the one from the mailing list you posted, Wayne. I wish it had happened a bit further West and South, though... <br />Posted by rybanis</DIV><br /><br />Here's a followup that goes with the picture link I posted just above...</p><p> It's been an exciting and tiring couple of days since last I wrote my first <br />report Friday night from the Marsden Hotel in rural Saskatchewan. I'm now home <br />safe and sound after two expeditions into the field to hunt for meteorites. <br /><br /> On Saturday morning Frank Florian and I continued our expedition as <br />representatives of the Telus World of Science - Edmonton. We prowled the area by <br />car, getting out to explore a few small ponds and examine various suspect rocks <br />by the side of the road and in the ditches. Eventually we approached the farm <br />where the original finds had been made. The farmer, Ian Mitchell, was hanging <br />out at the entrance restricting access to just Dr. Hildebrand and his research <br />crew from University of Calgary. He had met us the previous day during the media <br />scrums when Frank had interviewed him on camera for a planned exhibit at TWoSE's <br />Space Place gallery, and I had passed him an RASC IYA2009 calendar in <br />recognition of his good will towards the scientific community. Our own good will <br />was repaid immediately, as rather than turn us away Ian said he realized we were <br />serious in our pursuit, and directed us towards a remote group of beaver ponds <br />in a corner of his property well away from other searchers. <br /><br /> We headed in that direction, took a wrong turn and spent quite a little time <br />on dry land exploring a cart path and a stubble field, still without success. <br />There were many "meteor-wrongs" including terrestrial rocks, clods of dirt, <br />vegetative matter such as wood chips, and animal droppings. With all my <br />experience observing meteors I reassured Frank that we needed to persist, and <br />that our patience would be rewarded. I added hopefully, "We need a little one <br />for you, a little one for me, and a big one for the science centre!" Little did <br />I know that was exactly how things would unfold. <br /><br /> Eventually we scrambled and slid down a steep and slippery embankment into <br />the coulee where we located the beaver ponds. A preliminary scan turned up <br />nothing, but on our second trip to the biggest pond Frank found a meteorite roughly 2-3 cm in all dimensions embedded in the ice. A <br />few minutes later I found one of the same size -- what a thrill that was! A <br />little while later I came across a somewhat larger specimen maybe twice as large <br />that we had to chip free of the ice. Finally Frank found a very small meteorite <br />of about 1 cubic cm. <br /><br /> We were running out of light so scrambled back up the embankment with our <br />finds safely wrapped and stored. We returned to Ian Mitchell, who recorded our <br />finds for Dr. Hildebrand but as I had hoped, told us to keep the meteorites we <br />had found. We promised to bring them first to Dr. Chris Herd at the University <br />of Alberta (Frank delivered them today), and once Chris is done with them, to <br />use them for display purposes at the science centre. I am hopeful but not <br />assured of getting "my" first, smaller fragment to use in conjunction with <br />school and public talks. I expect I'll be speaking frequently of the Lone Rock <br />meteorites during IYA!<br /><br /> Tired and happy from our successful expedition, Frank and I returned to Edmonton late Saturday, our meteorites, <br />images, and memories safely in tow. But at 6 the next morning, I was right back <br />on the road, this time accompanying Edmonton RASCals Alister Ling and Franklin <br />Loehde who were keen to do their own search. Even though I no longer had the <br />"in" of officially representing the science centre I thought my local knowledge <br />of the people and the area might be of use. <br /><br /> Alas, our ~six-hour search turned up nary a meteorite among the three of us. <br />We explored the train tracks and some small ponds on public land which may have <br />already been picked over or else they were outside the fall zone. As chance had <br />it at mid-day we encountered Les Johnson and family; the discoverers of the <br />large 13 kg meteorite had decided to return it to the land owner, Al Mitchell <br />(brother of Ian). Les took us to the exact point where he had discovered the <br />monster, and there was a ~10 cm deep indentation on the ground in which the <br />meteorite fit perfectly. Les said he had actually found it just beside the hole; it had hit and bounced out. As <br />it happened Al Mitchell was still in the area, as was Dr. Alan Hildebrand of U. <br />of C., Dr. Martin Beech of the University of Regina, and the big meteorite <br />itself. <br /><br /> The door to private lands thus opened, Dr. Hildebrand could scarcely refuse <br />our offer to help, and for the rest of the day we traipsed through parts of the <br />A.Mitchell property, through grassland and cow pastures, areas of heavy brush <br />and frozen marshes where a broken ankle was a misstep away. Franklin took a <br />tumble at one point and I nearly fell a couple of times, but luckily no harm <br />done. We tried to focus particularly on frozen ponds where meteorites will not <br />survive the spring thaw. Our search was more exhausting than exhaustive ... I'm <br />sure it would take a coordinated team of a hundred people a week to properly <br />search the full extent of the fall area, some of which is completely <br />unsearchable. <br /><br /> One last thing: on Friday when the press scrum took place, I scouted around the area with my trusty 10x50 binnies and spotted a second <br />small slough which when seen from a little further down the road had a very <br />likely black suspect projecting out of it. It was in a fenced area, so I <br />couldn't get close to it, but I told Ellen Milley (the grad student who made the <br />original find) about my preliminary observation, and she undertook to check it <br />out a.s.a.p. On Saturday the farmer confirmed that it had indeed been a <br />meteorite and an interesting specimen at that; and yesterday Dr. Hildebrand told <br />me it was an "oriented meteorite", which as he explained it doesn't tumble on <br />the way in and therefore develops a distinctive cone-shaped melt pattern. <br />Alister later told me the shape of the Apollo capsules (or was it the heat <br />shields? this was on the ride home) was designed in part by the aerodynamic <br />structures formed naturally by oriented meteorites. I keep telling people I'm a <br />meteoricist, not a meteoriticist, but I'm learning! Unfortunately, I never did <br />get to see this particular specimen ... yet. Maybe I can coax a picture from somebody on the research <br />team at some point. <br /></p><p> </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
Basic Error: The accelerating Universe conclusion - reason
What time is the NASA Parker Solar Probe's closest sun flyby ever on Christmas Eve?
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