[meteorite-list] Metal Object Crashes Through New Jersey Home

[Sterling K. Webb]

Hi,

    The "Monmouth object" doesn't look strikingly
like an iron meteorite, but you can't rule it completely
based on looks.
    Thankfully, they provide a scale, so a rough estimate
of volume can be made. The weight is given as 13 ounces,
or about 370 grams. Roughing up the volume on a cylinder
of the diameter and length of the object shown, I get a
density between 7 gm/cm^3 and 8 gm/cm^3, so it's
likely iron.
    Whether it's extraterrestrial iron is another matter...
But we can rule out an old lead sash weight, or a melted
bronze bushing.
    Why do these dodoes always check sky-fallen
objects for radioactivity? When was the last time a
radioactive chunk of sky fell on them? (I assuming
they didn't live in Canada when the Russian Cosmos
reactor came down.)
    If there was a rain of toads, would they check them
for radioactivity? If there was a rain of rain, would they
check it for radioactivity? I wonder when and how the
urban myth of checking meteorites for radioactivity got
started?
    "Call the cops! And tell'em to bring a geiger counter!"


Sterling K. Webb
--------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 6:18 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Metal Object Crashes Through New Jersey Home



>

> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120AP_Fallen_Object.html

>

> Metal object crashes through N.J. home

> By CHRIS NEWMARKER

> ASSOCIATED PRESS

> January 3, 2007

>

> [photo]

> A metal, rock-like object about the size of a golf ball is seen in

> this undated photograph provided by Det. R. Gelber of Freehold Township

> Police Department in Freehold Township, N.J., Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007.

> Nobody was injured when the oblong object, weighing more than 13 ounces,

> crashed into the a Monmouth County home Tuesday night. Federal officials

> sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft. (AP Photo/ Det. R.

> Gelber of Freehold township Police Department )

>

> FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- A metal, rock-like object about the size of a

> golf ball and weighing nearly as much as a can of soup crashed through

> the roof of a Monmouth County home, and authorities on Wednesday were

> trying to figure out what it was.

>

> Nobody was injured when the oblong object, weighing more than 13 ounces,

> crashed into the home and embedded itself in a wall Tuesday night.

> Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft.

>

> The rough-feeling object, with a metallic glint, was displayed Wednesday

> by police. "There's some great interest in what we have here," said Lt.

> Robert Brightman. "It's rather unusual. I haven't seen anything like it

> in my career."

>

> He said he hoped to have the object identified within 72 hours, but

> declined to name the other agencies whose help he said he had enlisted.

>

> Police received a call Wednesday morning that the metal object had

> punched a hole in the roof of a single-family, two-story home, damaged

> tiles on a bathroom floor below and then bounced, sticking into a wall.

>

> The object was heavier than a usual metal object of that size, said

> Brightman, who added that no radioactivity was detected.

>

> Brightman would not disclose the address of the house or the names of

> the people who lived there, citing the family's desire to not talk to

> the media. He would only say that the couple and their adult son live in

> a township housing development.

>

> Brightman said one man who lives at the home found the object at about 9

> p.m. Tuesday after returning from work and hearing from his mother that

> something had crashed through the roof a few hours before.

>

> The Federal Aviation Administration, which sent investigators to the

> town, did not know where the object came from, said spokeswoman Arlene

> Murray.

>

> "It's definitely not an aircraft part," she said. "I can't speak beyond

> that as to what it might be."

>

> Approximately 20 to 50 rock-like objects fall every day over the entire

> planet, said Carlton Pryor, a professor of astronomy at Rutgers 

> University.

>

> "It's not all that uncommon to have rocks rain down from heaven," said

> Pryor, who had not seen the object that struck the Monmouth County home.

> "These are usually rocky or a mixture of rock and metal."

>

> Pryor said laboratory tests would have to be conducted to determine if

> the object were a meteorite.