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!!!!
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.
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.
Probably a dumb question, JJJ, but how do you know that chunk of rock came from Mars??
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.
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.
Probably a dumb question, JJJ, but how do you know that chunk of rock came from Mars??
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.
It could have been made in the last five thousand years , just like the coal
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
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,
Last edited by hotspur; 22-03-2010 at 08:17 PM.
Reason: spelling
Probably a dumb question, JJJ, but how do you know that chunk of rock came from Mars??
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.
There are mars rocks that have been found remember the one they thought had fossils in it.
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!
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.
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.
.
