I think i found a meteorite!

EireGreg

Alright would like a few peoples opinion... me and my mate found this 5 foot down while we were digging to lay pipes threw a field its heavy and a magnet sticks to it do you think it could be a meteorite????
we brought it into astronomy Ireland and the bloke in there said in his opinion it was 100 percent a meteorite and has passed us onto someone in tcd but just wanted to hear what other people taught thanks

EireGreg

shedweller

Cut it in half with a grinder! If it's crystalline inside then you're in luck!
The meteorite will have been cut in half, however...:)

Skill Magill

Its a 20 cent coin.:D

EireGreg

haha no way that would ruin it me thinks no? if u move it a bit u can see little sparkle bits

Chuck Stone

That's so cool.

smcgiff

Worth miltiples of its weight in gold if it is :-)

Rhys Essien

Did you weigh it OP?

It might be worth a handy few bob.

http://www.aerolite.org/articles/how-much-is-a-meteorite-worth.htm

shedweller

Could you scrub it in some hot soapy water and take a few more pics?
One wet, one dry? The wet one will show up the sparkles better.

EireGreg

no an did not weigh it its around 2oz i reckon we brought it into astronomy Ireland he said we should be in for a few bob and if its from one of the planets it could be worth a small fortune i dont no if that correct only going on what we have been told.... and im not going to clean it im 2 afraid haha

Rhys Essien

OP,would you take Israeli Shekels for it. $$$$

shedweller

But it survived reentry, subsequent impact, burial for who knows how long etc etc. Scrub the bejaysus out of it! It'll hardly suddenly break!!:D

Go on go on go on!

Chuck Stone

smcgiff wrote: »

Worth miltiples of its weight in gold if it is :-)

If it's an iron meteorite then it's probably not.

Iron meteorites were once part of the molten core of a large planet or asteroid, and often exhibit fantastic shapes created as they flew, melting through our atmosphere. One of the most popular irons among collectors is the Campo del Cielo iron meteorite from Argentina. Enthusiasts nickname them "Campos," and a nice hand specimen can easily be obtained for $100 or less. Larger, high quality specimens typically sell for $200 to $300 per kilogram. So, if a collector is willing to spend $1,000 he or she can obtain an impressive tabletop display specimen.

http://www.aerolite.org/articles/how-much-is-a-meteorite-worth.htm

EireGreg

naw man ima wait till we show it to the person astronomy ireland passed us onto but i will update and thanks for the replys

johndoe99

have a look here:

http://meteorite-identification.com/streak.html

Happyman42

Thon thing would wake you up if it hit you though!:eek:

How often do things this size fall here? Any figures?

ThatDrGuy

Did you find it in a bog or swampy area by any chance ? It might be bog iron, thats quite common

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nawCa-4dWgY

slade_x

EireGreg wrote: »

Alright would like a few peoples opinion... me and my mate found this 5 foot down while we were digging to lay pipes threw a field its heavy and a magnet sticks to it do you think it could be a meteorite????
we brought it into astronomy Ireland and the bloke in there said in his opinion it was 100 percent a meteorite and has passed us onto someone in tcd but just wanted to hear what other people taught thanks

It doesnt really look like one but there are ways to be certain. one of which is to send a sample off or a guide but the guide may still leave you uncertain eg.

http://aerolite.org/found-a-meteorite.htm

shedweller

Some light reading:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/space/meteorites-dust/meteorite-faq/index.html

Meteorite FAQs
Are meteorites hot and molten when they hit the ground?
No. Meteorites are usually no more than warm to the touch when they land. Meteorites only melt around their outside when they pass through the atmosphere due to friction with the air and the magma produced cools as a fusion crust which is usually 1mm thick.

I've seen a fireball land. Will I be able to find a meteorite?
Probably not. Except for very large objects that generate craters, meteorites only produce fireballs at altitudes more than around 40km. So the fireball you saw was probably disappearing over the horizon and only appeared to land.

I've found a strange metallic object. Is it a meteorite?
If it is spherical, non-magnetic and a brassy yellow colour then it is probably a marcasite nodule rather than a meteorite. If it is made from metal then it could be a meteorite but is most likely to be artificial.

EireGreg

Thanks again for all the replys..... no mate it wasnt near a bog just a field area in carlow.. slade x the bloke we showed it 2 said it has all the markings that should be on it from when it entered and burned up but as i said im only repeating what he said fingers crossed tho

shedweller

Happyman42 wrote: »

Thon thing would wake you up if it hit you though!:eek:

How often do things this size fall here? Any figures?

This should get your ball rolling:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite_fall_statistics

EireGreg

Happyman42 wrote: »

Thon thing would wake you up if it hit you though!:eek:

How often do things this size fall here? Any figures?

he said theres a good few found every year not a exact figure but a good few haha

ZeRoY

Did you stick magnet to it or metal? If so whats the results? Looks like Iron to me but funny shape alright

EireGreg

ZeRoY wrote: »

Did you stick magnet to it or metal? If so whats the results? Looks like Iron to me but funny shape alright

we stuck a magnet to it and it stuck very strongly it also is very heavy i have not weighed it but will in the morning:D

MoonDancer

Oh wow, I'm so jealous! Fingers crossed.
If I found one, I'd want to just keep it for myself. I wouldn't sell it. I'd get such satisfaction from looking and it and holding it everyday
I'd bring it to bed every night!!

EireGreg

MoonDancer wrote: »

Oh wow, I'm so jealous! Fingers crossed.
If I found one, I'd want to just keep it for myself. I wouldn't sell it. I'd get such satisfaction from looking and it and holding it everyday
I'd bring it to bed every night!!

o man i agree if its worth a grand or 2 or any less il diffently keep it i cant stop looking at it and showing it to every1 im like a big kid haha but if it really ended up to be rare id have to cash in

ZeRoY

After reading and watching a good few videos I would say Im not sure it is one. Two things that many experts mentions are : no holes on the surface and there are a few on this one ... and if flow like surface then its likely melted metal from human made piece of metal, this pic shows both holes and flow on the top of the rock:

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/601260/235667.JPG

EireGreg

ZeRoY wrote: »

After reading and watching a good few videos I would say Im not sure it is one. Two things that many experts mentions are : no holes on the surface and there are a few on this one ... and if flow like surface then its likely melted metal from human made piece of metal, this pic shows both holes and flow on the top of the rock:

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/601260/235667.JPG

Thanks for the info i hope ur wrong tho:p

ZeRoY

EireGreg wrote: »

Thanks for the info i hope ur wrong tho:p

Indeed I do too. Just my observations!

alphabeat

pretty sure thats man made , but you never know .

EireGreg

They came from outer space and crashed in Ireland at about 100mph.

Now fragments from these two rare 4.5-billion-year-old meteorites which fell from the sky in Carlow and and Tipperary almost 200 years apart are up for sale.

The first meteorite landed at Mooresfort, Co Tipperary, in August 1810, while the other fell at approximately 10.10pm at Leighlinbridge in Co Carlow on November 28, 1999.

"Irish meteorites are as rare as hens' teeth," says Rob Elliott, a 49-year-old meteorite dealer based in Fife, Scotland, who is now selling fragments from both.

The five fragments, weighing just four grams, from the Mooresfort meteorite are expected to fetch up to £600 (€694) at a specialist auction conducted by Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on Tuesday, while a polished fragment, weighing less than a gram, from the Leighlinbridge meteorite, is tipped to sell for up to £250 (€289) at the same auction.





this was found near that spot in carlow i got this from a page on from the indo from 2009 could be from that maybe



http://www.independent.ie/national-news/watch-this-space-rare-irish-meteorites-put-up-for-sale-1861400.html

shedweller

I saw that one in Carlow. I was on the road to cork, near dungarvan i think. Suddenly the road ahead of me lit up with a blue/white light and i could see the shadow of my car in front of me, but it was moving. So i turned around to catch the last of the bright light fade to a yellow flamey light and a long tail with bits falling off as it went along. I estimate it was heading in a northerly direction at an angle of about 45-55 degrees from the ground. I think it stopped emitting light before it hit the ground. When i got to cork i got a map and roughly estimated what parts of Ireland were in my line of sight from where i saw it. Then my brother told me on the phone where he was and what direction he saw it. Boy was i excited! We were close enough with our triangulation but never bothered to try find it. Needle in a haystack!
But EireGreg, i think you may have found a piece of that meteorite! I think you need to put more pipes down in that area too!:D
Want a hand?!

EireGreg

shedweller wrote: »

I saw that one in Carlow. I was on the road to cork, near dungarvan i think. Suddenly the road ahead of me lit up with a blue/white light and i could see the shadow of my car in front of me, but it was moving. So i turned around to catch the last of the bright light fade to a yellow flamey light and a long tail with bits falling off as it went along. I estimate it was heading in a northerly direction at an angle of about 45-55 degrees from the ground. I think it stopped emitting light before it hit the ground. When i got to cork i got a map and roughly estimated what parts of Ireland were in my line of sight from where i saw it. Then my brother told me on the phone where he was and what direction he saw it. Boy was i excited! We were close enough with our triangulation but never bothered to try find it. Needle in a haystack!
But EireGreg, i think you may have found a piece of that meteorite! I think you need to put more pipes down in that area too!:D
Want a hand?!

haha great story im glad you didnt look to hard:D yea we know exactly where we found it have the spot marked and if it turns out to be one we will diffently be going back and searching and hopefully get some equipment to help us on are way me might get a show off the discovery channel like gold diggers but with meteorites haha

FISMA

EireGreg wrote: »

Alright would like a few peoples opinion... me and my mate found this 5 foot down while we were digging to lay pipes threw a field its heavy and a magnet sticks to it do you think it could be a meteorite????
we brought it into astronomy Ireland and the bloke in there said in his opinion it was 100 percent a meteorite and has passed us onto someone in tcd but just wanted to hear what other people taught thanks

I hope it is not just a bit of slag.

It does look good though - that is a meteor-right, as opposed to a meteor-wrong!

Don't cut...

EireGreg

FISMA wrote: »

I hope it is not just a bit of slag.

It does look good though - that is a meteor-right, as opposed to a meteor-wrong!

Don't cut...

Mycroft H

Geologist here (well, someone with a degree in it :P )

Looks odd alright, though it could possibly something native. Give it a good smack with a hammer and most things will split (eye protection needed!) and let us have a look at the inside.

Can't tell anything more without doing that. Washing is no use as we need to see the chemically unweathered interior.

EDIT; there is a crystalline structure to the outside alright. Could well be a cast off from iron smelting though. Slag or something similar.

JupiterKid

From the pictures it looks like it could be a nickel-iron meteorite to me. It looks quite a bit like a couple of meteorites that the Opportunity rover has found on the surface of Mars.

Good luck with your find OP.

ThunderCat

Fingers crossed for you EireGreg. I hope its the genuine article and makes you a fortune!

mickmackey1

Well I wouldn't get that excited, I mean 80 pieces were recovered in California from a single fall only last year...

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Sutters-Mill-A-Meteoritic-Gold-Mine-184689741.html

robertxxx

It's radioactive don't touch it.

ZeRoY

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Well I wouldn't get that excited, I mean 80 pieces were recovered in California from a single fall only last year...

Granted but it is sometime not a matter of quantity but the type of meteorite - from planet or asteroid, etc...

David09

Sorry for digging up an old thread, but just wondering if the o.p. had the specimen tested and what the outcome was?

Regarding the meteorite found in co. Carlow in 1999, I have a piece of it in my possession, albeit only a tiny piece of what was recovered.

MeteoritesEire

I'm guessing it was slag --doesn't look quite right---also if anyone else finds something that they suspect may be a meteorite it is possible to just file a window into it with a diamond file which can be bought for couple of euros.

I have some meteorites for sale for as little as 10 euros--check my adverts

I have tiny pieces also of Crumlin and Limerick--2 of the 6 which have fallen in Ireland.

Not ONE single cold find has ever been made in Ireland, but I guarantee there are some farmers out there with a meteorite sitting in a big pile of rocks they've dug up in their fields.Thats how the majority of cold finds are made in America and elsewhere.

would love to hear from O.P.

mickmackey1

I think it's disappointing that meteorites are allowed to be carved up by 'collectors' and then sold off for profit, often having been reduced to mere dust particles. There should be some mechanism whereby these specimens can be treated as national treasures and preserved accordingly.

MeteoritesEire

mickmackey1 wrote: »

I think it's disappointing that meteorites are allowed to be carved up by 'collectors' and then sold off for profit, often having been reduced to mere dust particles. There should be some mechanism whereby these specimens can be treated as national treasures and preserved accordingly.

I can sympathize with your position, however if it wasn't for 'collectors' then the majority of these treasures would weather into the ground completely unnoticed by science or anyone else.What effort did the institutions of Ireland make when Leighlinbridge fell in 1999? answer=zero

It was left to Rob Elliot, a collector/dealer in Scotland to offer 20 grand for pieces of the meteorite which resulted in 2 stones being found.It's the same story over much of the world excluding Antarctica where there is an extremely dedicated collection and curation of space rocks.

mickmackey1

MeteoritesEire wrote: »

I can sympathize with your position, however if it wasn't for 'collectors' then the majority of these treasures would weather into the ground completely unnoticed by science or anyone else.What effort did the institutions of Ireland make when Leighlinbridge fell in 1999? answer=zero

Fair point. It's weird that we can have natural history departments in the Unis and museums, but no policy on actually recovering and preserving these relics. Only five have ever been found in the Republic, they're about as rare as the Ardagh Chalice or Cross of Cong

Apparently the famous Limerick Stone was sitting in a farmer's house for over 100 years before finally ending up in the National Museum purely by accident!

MeteoritesEire

nice little short writeup about the Limerick stones here http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1968IrAJ....8..228L

I wasn't aware of the lost then found meteorite at Mr Collins farm or indeed of the still missing 24lb stone.Probably sitting around in somebodys attic down in Limerick.If only they knew what it was worth--likely at least €50,000

mickmackey1

Yes, it's a mystery. The bicentenary is coming up on September 10, maybe somebody could organise a fresh search!

Seanie M

Hi EireGreg,

Your sample does look man made. A meteorite (as you know by now) would have surface pitting from ablation during atmospheric entry.

smcgiff wrote: »

Worth miltiples of its weight in gold if it is :-)

Not by a long shot UNLESS it has a high degree of rare metal in it like iron and/or nickel, or also olivine (green glass) beads.

shedweller wrote: »

Could you scrub it in some hot soapy water and take a few more pics?
One wet, one dry? The wet one will show up the sparkles better.

Crystals in meteorites are almost always due to silicates, an indication that the meteorite was formed from a molten state such as collision between two celestial bodies. All lunar meteorites show this, (almost) proving the Moon formed from a collision (with Earth).

AND, if you ever thought you found a meteorite, DON'T SCRUB IT! Scrub it too hard and you're taking away the very thing that provenly makes it a brilliant meteorite - the carbon coating from the heat of atmospheric entry!

ZeRoY wrote: »

Did you stick magnet to it or metal? If so whats the results? Looks like Iron to me but funny shape alright

Not all meteorites have metal, and those that do sometimes don't have enough to be affected by a magnet. Something like less than 8% of meteorites that fall have metal content (tektites). They are among the most expensive.

Hope this helps,

Seanie.

MeteoritesEire

Seanie M wrote: »

Hi EireGreg,

Your sample does look man made. A meteorite (as you know by now) would have surface pitting from ablation during atmospheric entry.

not necessarily true-many meteorites are smooth down to the microscopic level

Seanie M wrote: »

Not by a long shot UNLESS it has a high degree of rare metal in it like iron and/or nickel, or also olivine (green glass) beads.

in fact iron and nickel are the most common types of metal found in meteorites.Typically 93% iron, 6% Nickel and various others in the PPM range (parts per million)

Seanie M wrote: »

Crystals in meteorites are almost always due to silicates, an indication that the meteorite was formed from a molten state such as collision between two celestial bodies. All lunar meteorites show this, (almost) proving the Moon formed from a collision (with Earth).

AND, if you ever thought you found a meteorite, DON'T SCRUB IT! Scrub it too hard and you're taking away the very thing that provenly makes it a brilliant meteorite - the carbon coating from the heat of atmospheric entry!

You CANNOT just scrub off fusion crust with soap and water although putting water on meteorites is never a good idea as it hastens weathering and potential rusting.And it is NOT a carbon coating, it is simply melted rock---silicates

Seanie M wrote: »

Not all meteorites have metal, and those that do sometimes don't have enough to be affected by a magnet. Something like less than 8% of meteorites that fall have metal content (tektites). They are among the most expensive.

This is simply not the case, in fact tektites are not even meteorites, they were molten silicates formed by an earthly collision with a cosmic body which have been ejected from the surface of the earth and travelled in many cases great distances but they have zero CRE (cosmic ray exposure) and thus are NOT meteorites.The most common meteorites are H5 chondrites which have plenty of iron/nickel.At a guess I would estimate that 95% of all meteorites have some metal content.

Seanie M

MeteoritesEire wrote: »

in fact iron and nickel are the most common types of metal found in meteorites.Typically 93% iron, 6% Nickel and various others in the PPM range (parts per million)

Yes, in those that are found to contain metal, but the percentage of meteorites found that contain metal is low. I think you misread that point.