Stargazers Club of WA and meteor tracking

[Southskyscience]

Hello All,

This seems a great role for amateurs to contribute:

"a report of meteorites (sic) in the night sky by Stargazers Club of WA founder Carol Redford"

led to the checking of data on the system for accurate tracking, followed by the locating and recovering of the freshly fallen meteorite. http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/great-balls-of-fire-wa-scientists-follow-flames-to-freshly-fallen-meteorite-20161121-gsty3w.html

Congratulations to everyone involved.

Hope more people and more (possibly every) astronomy clubs and societies can explore and systematically take part.

Best Regards
Team Southskyscience

[Eratosthenes]

Amazing how they were able to find a meteorite just over 1kg in weight just 1 week after it was tracked in the night sky. The article also mentions a 9 tonne Meteorite found in WA in 1911....I wonder how long that took to find?

A "meteor" hurtling through the cosmos minding its own business AND suddenly becomes a "meteoroid" if it happens to enter the earth's atmosphere and begins burning up. If it survives the earth's atmosphere, then it changes its title once again and becomes a "meteorite".

[bugeater]

I believe the one found in 1911 was just the first piece found of the Mundrabilla meteorite. There were a lot of fragments. The 9 tonne bit was found in the 60s. I can't find much info on it though. I think the biggest mass (which is actually around 12 tonnes) is the big meteorite sitting in the WA museum.

[Eratosthenes]

Actually 12 tonnes sounds like a very large object but due to the high density of most meteorites they are surprisingly small in size. The 12 tonne piece may only be about 1.5 cubic meters in volume.

There is a meteorite on display in the Melbourne museum which looks so small that you are fooled into thinking you can lift it. But when you read the details on the information board, the weight is estimated at about 900 kg.

this is a very important meteorite find - and as the article says, the earlier you find these extra terrestrial objects post impact, the less likely hood of contamination by the earth itself .