Meteorites

[jjjnettie]

I received a belated birthday present from myself today.:)
A collection of meteorites from www.galactic-stone.com

Maybe I'm just a bit touched in the head (no smart-alec comments thanks) but I'm in total awe atm.
Right now I'm holding in my hand 4 small pieces from the Martian meteorite DaG 476 which was found on May 1, 1998 in the Lybian Desert.
Imagine that, a piece of Mars in my hand!!!!:eyepop:

Other goodies in my box of specimens are.....

A slice of NWA 4300, H5 Chondrite, Morocco 2008
Tatahouine, Diogenite, Tunisia 1931
Campo del Cielo, an Iron Meteorite, Argentina 1576
Allende, Carbonaceous CV3, Mexico 1969
NWA 869, an L4-6 Chondrite from Algeria 1999
Plus a small clipseal bag of around 30 unclassified meteorites from the Sahara.

Anyway, it's really made my day. :)

[Ric]

Sounds like a good collection Nettie.

The website was an interesting place to browse as well.

Cheers

[space oddity]

Good to see someone else buys meteorites for themselves. My Christmas present for myself a few years ago was a 19 1/2 pound (8.8 kg) campo del Cielo.The wife says "Its a bloody rock", so it now resides at work for everyone to admire and tell me that I have rocks in the head:P.

[JimmyH155]

Probably a dumb question, JJJ, but how do you know that chunk of rock came from Mars??:shrug:
I mean we dont have any Mars rocks that have been collected, or anything, to compare them with.... The rock could have come from anywhere - couldn't it.:shrug:

[jjjnettie]

LOL ye of little faith.
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/news28.html

besides, I want to believe.

[phranticsnr]

I had to do a double-take on your list of meteorites - I thought the second entry on the list said Tunguska 1931, not Tunisia 1931!

I'm pretty sure if you'd managed to get your hands on a non-earth rock found in Tunguska around the early 1930s, you could become rather famous, rather quickly.

[astroron]

It could have been made in the last five thousand years , just like the coal:shrug:

[Allan_L]

Good on ya Nettie,
That is a nice collection.

My family thought me soft in the head too I guess when I added meteorite to my Birthday wish list.

But I did get one.
I think it was "Campo del Cielo" from memory.
It was bought from Australian Geographic store and comes with authenticity certificate, and a nice little display case.

And I am looking forward to increasing the collection!

So congratulations fellow space rock collector.
Maybe we can start a trend :)

[GrahamL]

Not quite .. yet !.. I've heard when you start mounting them on your scope Its time to get help .. thankfully I'm still a little way away from that :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Well Done! There is something very special about holding an object that did not come from this earth. :)

I've only got the one meteorite....a 2.7Kg Mundrabilla (pic attached) but am thinking a few more wouldn't hurt.

[hotspur]

Sounds interesting!,what sort of monies do these items cost?,one year I may think of buying one for the observatory,be a great exhibit,I imagine these things woud'nt be cheap,I see the last poster,has one around 2.7 kg,thats a fair size meteorite,and I imagine very expensive for that size,it looks great too.

What about tektiets? anyboby got those?I think there are some coming from W.A.

Anyhow a most interesting thread,

[Matt Wastell]

Way cool JJJ!

What a wonderful feeling! A bit of rock from another world. I will start my collection one day.

I hope the awe stays with you when you look at the rocks!

[supernova1965]

There are mars rocks that have been found remember the one they thought had fossils in it.

[jjjnettie]

Oh my, I was thinking of doing just that with one of the larger unclassifieds. :lol:
Still might do it. Why not.

[jjjnettie]

I've been fascinated by meteorites for many years. I can't see the awe wearing off any time soon. :)

One day I hope to own a few that are more substantial in size.

[mental4astro]

I've got a tektite! If I'm not mistaken, mine's from the Philippines.

Tektits are the fussed silica resulting from a meteorite impact. Earthly in material, but from extraterrestrial input.

[OneOfOne]

My collection started with a Campo, as most do. I call mine Aussie, he weighs in at 11kg. He isn't as shiny as he used to be, but I guess he has been handled by more than 2 thousand people so far, I bring him along to any public astronomical events I am involved with. Noticed you haven't got a meteorite from the Moon. You should also pick up one from Vesta, mine is about the size of the nail on your little pinkie, plus some Wolfe Creek, Mundrabilla, tektites etc. About 30 or 40 samples in total...plus, of course some dinosaur teeth and poo just for good measure!

[jjjnettie]

The Tatahouine, Diogenite, is from Vesta.
You won't find any large pieces of it
I have 2 pieces of that.

[Baddad]

Hi jjj, :)
While I was visiting my son in Arizona (Feb 09) We came across a number of "meteorite retailers". Scattered in the vicinity of the famous Meteor Crater. The prices were around $100 US for a 200gm to several hundred for the Kilogram sizes.:question:

At the Crater site itself there are pieces ranging from a few grams for $7 to larger ones for a few hundred. Much more reasonable prices for alien impact fragments.;)

Cheers Marty

[jjjnettie]

yep, you don't need to spend big dollars to start your collection

[Liz]

lalalaa ... 'touched in the head' :lol:

I agree, I would love to snaggle some, some day, and have had a look on the Net at various times at them.
Well done girl!! Very exciting :thumbsup: