[meteorite-list] Marsden Canadian fall/first sedimentary meteorite??

[Greg Catterton]

It was only a matter of time for someone to try to pass off a fake meteorite from this fall.



--- On Mon, 12/1/08, ensoramanda <ensoramanda at ntlworld.com> wrote:


> From: ensoramanda <ensoramanda at ntlworld.com>

> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Marsden Canadian fall/first sedimentary meteorite??

> To: 

> Cc: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

> Date: Monday, December 1, 2008, 5:17 PM

> Hi All,

> 

> Looks like the Canadian meteorite might be the first

> sedimentary ever 

> found eh!!!!  :-)

> 

> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/My-pet-Rock-found-south-east-of-Lone-Rock-Saskatchewan_W0QQitemZ260324758120QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_2?hash=item260324758120&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

> 

> Graham Ensor UK

> 

> Rob Matson wrote:

> 

> >Hi All,

> >

> >One aspect of this new Canadian fall amuses me in

> particular. In

> >the original report, we had quite a few

> "facts" about the bolide:

> >

> >  

> >

> >>SASKATOON - A fireball that lit up the skies of

> Alberta and

> >>Saskatchewan last Thursday evening was a chunk of

> low-flying

> >>asteroid that weighed about 10 tonnes before it

> struck Earth's

> >>atmosphere, according to a University of Calgary

> investigation.

> >>    

> >>

> >

> >  

> >

> >>University of Calgary researcher Alan Hildebrand

> has outlined a

> >>region in western Saskatchewan where he expects to

> find desk-sized

> >>fragments of the space rock.

> >>    

> >>

> >

> >Of course, these first two paragraphs are quite

> inconsistent with

> >each other -- a bolide that weighed only 10 tonnes

> *before* it hit

> >the atmosphere would be the size of a SINGLE desk.

> That's prior to

> >atmospheric ablation, which certainly would have

> reduced the mass

> >by 70-90%. How do you find "desk-sized

> fragments" on the ground

> >following ablation of a single desk-sized original

> object?

> >

> >  

> >

> >>The fireball pierced the atmosphere at a steep

> angle of about

> >>60 degrees off the horizontal and lasted about five

> seconds.

> >>    

> >>

> >

> >The steep entry angle suggests catastrophic break-up

> into many

> >pieces -- most of them small compared to the size of

> the original

> >meteoroid. Obviously not desk-sized or even

> television-sized. Mind

> >you, it's still an impressive fall. But I don't

> understand the

> >need for hyperbole.

> >

> >How quickly people forget that we had an asteroid of

> KNOWN size

> >(to within a factor of two) and orbit that entered over

> Sudan at

> >a lower initial velocity and a much shallower angle,

> and yet

> >"officials" poo-pooed that anything

> significant would reach the

> >ground. This asteroid was at least 40 tons and quite

> possibly

> >over 100 tons, had an orbit that intersected that of

> Mars

> >(suggesting a possible SNC), and impacted in a location

> that

> >would have been child's play to recover -- if it

> weren't for

> >the minor matter of its landing in a third-world,

> genocidal

> >disaster area of a country.

> >

> >I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the

> Sudan fall went

> >off the radar almost immediately, yet was a far more

> substantial

> >and scientifically important fall. But it seems not

> even meteorites

> >are immune from sectionalism.  -Rob

> >

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