[meteorite-list] Livingston mystery rock might be from space

[Mr EMan]

Looks promising...anyone know how this stacks up with the fireball sighting just announced?

Elton


--- On Wed, 4/22/09, Mike Groetz <mpg444 at yahoo.com> wrote:


> From: Mike Groetz <mpg444 at yahoo.com>

> Subject: [meteorite-list] Livingston mystery rock might be from space

> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

> Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 4:01 PM

> http://www.mercedsunstar.com/livingston/story/804260.html

> 

> Livingston mystery rock might be from space

> 

> By SCOTT JASON

> sjason at mercedsun-star.com 

> 

> LIVINGSTON -- It's clear a 170-pound black boulder

> doesn't belong embedded half-a-foot into a sandy loam

> field north of Livingston.

> 

> The puzzle is whether it fell from the sky -- a meteorite

> on a collision course with Earth. Or if the giant rock was

> abandoned 10 feet off the road for some unknown reason,

> coincidentally about the same time residents saw a fireball

> burning in the Central Valley sky.

> 

> The missing piece of information should be known in a few

> weeks, if not sooner. 

> 

>  Jerry McAlwee, the self-described rock hound who found the

> boulder with a friend, hopes it's an extraterrestrial

> discovery. And even if it's not, the suspense is worth

> the time and effort.

> 

> "It's kind of a CSI-type thing," he said

> Tuesday. "If it's not a meteorite, I don't know

> how to explain some of the things (about the rock)."

> 

> For example, magnets stick to most of its surface. Part of

> its crust is melted and smooth. The grass is stained around

> it.

> 

> McAlwee, 40, lives in Sunnyvale but helps his girlfriend

> maintain five acres and a house about 100 yards from Highway

> 99. Along with a friend, Tim Mihalko, he was extending a

> fence on Sycamore Street.

> 

> Surrounded by grass, Mihalko thought he'd stumbled on a

> tree stump. As he made a closer pass with a ride-on mower,

> he realized it was a rock about the size of a microwave.

> 

> He called over McAlwee, who wasn't sure what to make of

> it. The last time he had mowed the field was early December.

> The object wasn't there. It would've mangled his

> mower blade.

> 

> After pondering a few theories, he wondered if it could be

> the remnants of the fireball seen in the night sky Dec. 27.

> 

> Several people in the state saw a tomato-green fireball

> flying northwest through the Central Valley. It sparked

> interest among meteorite hunters. A few are said to have

> spent some time scouring the area.

> 

> Meteorite researchers put the landing, if there was one,

> somewhere near the north Merced County line. No one has yet

> announced that they've discovered any pieces of it.

> 

> It remains to be seen whether this is from that event or

> some coincidence.

> 

> McAlwee sent a walnut-size sample to Eric Whichman, a San

> Diego resident who runs www.meteoritesusa.com.

> 

> Whichman said he will run preliminary tests to see if it

> contains nickel and iron, two minerals found in chondrites,

> the most-common kind of meteorite.

> 

> He'll also look for round mineral patches called

> chondrules. If both those pan out, he'll ship the sample

> to a lab for tests.

> 

> "We're taking a wait-and-see attitude,"

> Whichman said.

> 

> Based on the photos alone, he's skeptical that it's

> a meteorite. If he was forced to make an immediate judgment,

> he'd say it's not a space rock. 

> 

> If it turns out to be a meteorite, he said he'll visit

> Merced as soon as he can. 

> 

> If it's not, he still wants to spend some time looking

> for any meteorite left by the fireball.

> 

> Regardless of how this mystery turns out, McAlwee looks at

> discovering the rock with a philosophical bent.

> 

> "Everyone lives between their alarm clock and their

> next meal," he said. "It broadens your idea of

> what might be the context of reality."

> 

> In other words, between a rock and a starred space.

> 

> 

> 

> 

>       

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