Could these rocks be meteorite?

[SecretSquirrel]

Can anyone confirm this?

HI all, I found what i believe is a Meteorite in Westport , Ma.
After doing a little research i found out that on March 29, 2009 at 9:45 PM from North Carolina to Virgina Beach tons of people saw a very fast low flying meteor heading north east up the coast line followed by a sonic boom which shook houses etc..
The following morning March 30 2009 in Westport ,Ma allot of people in several citys heard a sonic boom which shook houses & rattled windows including the police dept. however no one reported seeing anything and to this day it remains a mystery to what it was.

Well today i found what appears to be a fresh chunk of a Meteorite in Westport, I did the scratch test on glass and it didn't leave a mark, I tried the magnet test but it was odd as there was a force but not attracting instead it was repelling (pushing away) and it does seem to have a black crust (coating)
I have taken photos and was hoping someone who knows about this stuff could take a peek & give me there opinion.
Here is a slide show with about 18 pictures http://s620.photobucket.com/albums/tt287/secretZsquirrel/?albumview=slideshow

Thank you in advance.
Wayne

 

[Saiph]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

Certainly looks odd. I'd take it to your local college and ask anybody in the geology dept if they could help. If it's a common thing, they'll be able to point it out quickly. As long as your respectful, and ask questions with an intent to learn, most faculty staff are happy answer a few quick questions.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks for the reply, I will do that soon.
Im going to head back today and look around that area some more to see if i can find a bigger piece.
Considering the recent news broadcasts I think i could be onto something.
Let you guys know how i make out.
Thanks again!
Wayne :shock:

 

[Boris_Badenov]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

I looks like a possible C-Type Asteroid to me, maybe even a G-Type. But Saiph is quite correct. Go to your local Collage or University & allow them to conduct a thorough physical inspection. That is the only way to be sure.
C-Type

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-type_asteroid
G-Type (this is a very rare type
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-type_asteroid

 

[crazyeddie]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

HI all, I found what i believe is a Meteorite in Westport , Ma.

Well today i found what appears to be a fresh chunk of a Meteorite in Westport, I did the scratch test on glass and it didn't leave a mark, I tried the magnet test but it was odd as there was a force but not attracting instead it was repelling (pushing away) and it does seem to have a black crust (coating)

Wayne

I'd say that's a definite "maybe". It does seem to have the black crust, but what throws me is the brightly colored spots here and there, which really shouldn't be there. The crust ought to be pretty uniform, but it looks as if it escaped being melted in some places. But it's worth an evaluation by a professional, for sure.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

Im back, Found roughly another 45 samples a few slightly larger and the rest the same size and smaller.
They Were all concentrated in a few hundred feet area. outside that area i didn't see any.

Only a couple had the blueish color like the 1st one, the rest were mostly dark gray with shiny silver spots/specks.
After bringing them home i examined them more closely, To me they look a little like half used coal but im not sure so i did some tests.
1- magnet test failed, (i tested the 1st sample again and it also failed) no magnetism on any samples.
2-weight is about the same for a rock of the same size.
3- scratch test on glass passed (no marks)
4-Scratched on another stone and it left a black mark
5-After handling,breaking a small piece there was slight black residue on hands.
6-Heated 1 small sample on a gas burner for 45 minutes (to see if it would burn if it was coal) the sample turned red but did not smoke or burn.
7-Broke one in half and noticed it broke clean, mostly flat on each half. The inside was a very shiny solid silver/crome color. no matter where i broke it the result was the same.
8-With a pocket knife i was able to goudge a small hole by applying pressure by hand and spinning the knife blade, During this time black dust with silver specs did appear.

Honestly i just don't know at this point because even though it kinda looks like coal there are things that just dont add up,
like the sizes, the shiny bluish,red etc colors on some. Some of these are a dark grey with very shiny flat spots and specs while a few others have specs with a goldish or blueish color.
And that theses were all consolidated in a small area on a very long beach (all were on top of the sand and some in the dunes) yet all within a few hundred feet of each other.
I know coal is supposed to be black but are they a dark Grey with silver shiny specs and flat areas?
Is it possible for coal to have shiny blue/red specs with goldish almost melted looking flat areas?

Either way i wont be 100% disappointed as it was a fun adventure for me and my wife even though a small part of me will feel like a fool if this turns out to be Some sort of coal.

Anywho i have more pictures of the new stuff as well as the burn test/split rock etc.. if anyone wants to see them, let me know and i'll post them up.

Wayne

 

[Boris_Badenov]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

Anywho i have more pictures of the new stuff as well as the burn test/split rock etc.. if anyone wants to see them, let me know and i'll post them up.

Wayne

Yes, by all means post the pix or the link to them.

 

[3488]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

Of course, I second that Boris.

Hi SecretSquirrel,

Firstly a big welcome to SDC, great opening post & questions.

Your slide show sure looks to me to be meteorites.

Please post up the new photographs when they are ready.

MeteorWayne will be able to confirm & I think Boris has most certainly pointed you in the right direction.

I hope that you do not object, but I'vre linked to these, which I think are very interesting.

Andrew Brown.

 

[bearack]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

To me (and no expert at all here), it appears to be space junk. Do the shiney silver pieces flake at all?

 

[stardust_2970]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

Does a Meteorite write like led, like in my profile pic on a shell?

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

Anywho i have more pictures of the new stuff as well as the burn test/split rock etc.. if anyone wants to see them, let me know and i'll post them up.

Wayne

Yes, by all means post the pix or the link to them.

Here are the newest pics, I included Flash on and Flash Off in title of some pics so you can compare them better.
Also yes , when squeezed/crushed (small area) with commercial grade lineman dikes, some of it broke in to smaller pieces with some flaking also.

here is a link to new pictures-->http://s620.photobucket.com/albums/tt287/secretZsquirrel/new finds/?albumview=slideshow

 

[crazyeddie]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

Here are the newest pics, I included Flash on and Flash Off in title of some pics so you can compare them better.
Also yes , when squeezed/crushed (small area) with commercial grade lineman dikes, some of it broke in to smaller pieces with some flaking also.

Well, some pieces look very much like pieces of coal, and one looks like an indian arrowhead, which is in itself a worthy "find". But most of these new ones lack the melted-looking crusty surface that the first one has, so I have my doubts. Nevertheless, they are all worth being checked out by a pro.......good luck!

 

[stardust_2970]

Was just wondering if different pics can help find out what my husband has posted. These are pics from my camera. To stop the slide show put mouse over picture. Its very unusual never seen anything like it, the shine on them makes it look like they have holes, but the dont it's just indents that shine, in picture they may look like coal, but I never seen coal like this in my entire life, its silvery dark grey ball. Not completely rounded like a ball, all oval like egg shape. Does aged coal harded like metal? It's just wierd I feel like I'm holding some rock from outta space. lol Even if they don't turn out to be meteorites it was a great adventure for me & my husband and I will keep theses rocks for memories of what we thought we found lol But I'm learning more than I'd ever thought I would, reading all the stuff about meteorites. Hope someone can identify these mysterical rocks.
Thank you
viv

http://www.slide.com/r/BAc4jNMRxD9fPsHz ... w=original

 

[BoJangles2]

Some of them look like they have iron pyrite inclusions and very rounded, indicative of a lot of weathering, most of them id say no they aren’t, but I’m not expert. They certainly do look interesting though.

An interesting story, is that when I was fairly young my brother found a rock when we were camping, he kept it because it was very heavy and later on we found out it was magnetic. For nearly 20 years that rock lay in the fish tank at my family home. The old man (father) used to just say it was a lump of iron ore, it was only until a couple of years ago I was researching that I found that it was a tell tale meteorite, full of thumb/finger sized dimples (melt spots) kind of like the picture below, then i found out they had chucked it away. Rotten luck

Except ours was a little more rusted colour.

A lot of meteorites are magnetic as they contain a percentage of iron; put a magnet next to them see if they are magnetic.

Im sure MW could shed some light on this for you.

 

[stardust_2970]

Thanks BoJangles2. This is a very odd iron looking ball at first we tested it with magnet felt like it was pushing away, then we tested it again and there was nothing, kinda started thinking maybe its an illusion. The only reason why I second this is because I posted them on the internet on my facebook account & one of my girlfriends boyfriend studied in Geology, told me it can be graphite. And if it's graphite from outter space, it means there's life on other planets. That's what has pulled my interest closer to learn bout this. We found that news report after we found one rock, the rest we did not look for until the next day. It was very weird how we found it. We were walking along the beach I was collecting rocks & found a green one. Then he say's too bad we can't find a blue one. We started walking back a big wave came up at him and soaked his shoes, he stumbled onto rocks and saw this one just shinning up at him all blue. Once in hand you can see the color of a rainbow. Not all of them look like this 1st one we found with the blue, pink & gold shine in them. or black like it. It was almost like he was pushed in that direction.. he did wish to find a blue one. :lol: And that News report last month, http://www.abc6.com/news/42156477.html where they couldn't find anything. And left everyone scratching their heads. Could this be the answer to it? It's Just too many things say it can be, the beach we were at was after that bridge the news guy was standing in front of. As I said this has been an interesting journey for me. I'll probably get a fireplace built & place them all in it for decoration.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Can anyone confirm this?

I'm going to merge this thread with the "Could these rocks be meteorites?". Since the other title is a bit clearer as to the subject, I'm going to move this one there. I have some links that I will post after the threads are merged.

MeteorWayne

 

[crazyeddie]

Was just wondering if different pics can help find out what my husband has posted. These are pics from my camera. To stop the slide show put mouse over picture. Its very unusual never seen anything like it, the shine on them makes it look like they have holes, but the dont it's just indents that shine, in picture they may look like coal, but I never seen coal like this in my entire life, its silvery dark grey ball. Not completely rounded like a ball, all oval like egg shape. Does aged coal harded like metal? It's just wierd I feel like I'm holding some rock from outta space. lol Even if they don't turn out to be meteorites it was a great adventure for me & my husband and I will keep theses rocks for memories of what we thought we found lol But I'm learning more than I'd ever thought I would, reading all the stuff about meteorites. Hope someone can identify these mysterical rocks.
Thank you
viv

http://www.slide.com/r/BAc4jNMRxD9fPsHz ... w=original

It's definitely not coal. I have a chunk of andesite coal in my living room, which I kept as a keepsake from a family trip to Pennsylvania (my grandfather had been a coal miner). If it's not magnetic, it's probably not a meteorite, and it doesn't appear to have the melted crust you would expect. But it's still a very pretty rock!

 

[stardust_2970]

crazyeddie, thanks for your post. It is a very interesting rock to look into, to find out what it is made of. I didn't think it was coal. We tried to break one of them with hammer & flat head screw driver it wouldn't break. Whatever it is it's very strange to shine like that. Will keep you all informed after we have it tested.
Thank you

viv

 

[MeteorWayne]

OK, first of all, no meteorite can be identified from a photograph.

If you want to be sure, you definately need to have them tested.

I'd suggest looking at these links first. First up, meteorwrongs:

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/meteorwrong ... wrongs.htm

How to identify a meteorite:
http://www.meteoritemarket.com/metid1.htm

Meteorite or Meteorwrong:
http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm

What to do if you think you've found a meteorite:

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/what_to_do.htm

Wayne

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Thank you everyone for your input, and i will bring 1 or 2 of these to be looked at but just want to wait till all this flu stuff in the usa is over with.