Montrose81401
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2024
- Messages
- 4
Don't be fooled and don't believe that meteorites are rare.
On the contrary, my guess is that most of you have stepped on, thrown, or skipped on a pond, plenty of meteorites and just didn't know it. Herein I plan to help you identify a meteorite the next time you see one and I hope to educate you on why there is so much misunderstanding as to the rarity and value of meteorites.
According to researchers at the University of Oregon (uoregon.edu and wikipedia.org), about 25 million meteors enter Earth's atmosphere every day, yes I said every day. I double checked that number because it is amazing. Most of the meteors burn up into dust and ash upon entry but a substantial number of them actually hit the ground and become known as “meteorites”.
As you should expect, the meteorites have basically the same makeup as rocks on earth. Don't let anyone fool you that their meteorite is one of a kind. Meteorites are like earth rocks and they can look different from each other,but there are three types of meteorite.
Chondrites are stony meteorites and have no metallic content and rocks look like rocks. Just like earth rocks.
Iron meteorites have iron and nickel and other metals and metal looks like metal. Just like earth rocks.
Pallasites are meteorites with a mixture of stone and iron. Just like earth rocks.I am sure some professor with a PHD came up with those names.
Pallasites are the most common on the ground because the mixture of stone and iron helps them survive earth entry better.
Ok folks, the basics of meteorites is just that simple. A little later I will explain why something so common and so simple can be both worthless and worth tons of money.
I have been collecting meteorites since about 1958 and all of my collecting has been in Colorado. What started out as a Rocky Mountain boy rockhounding hobby has ended up in a very studied and mystery solving adventure as I reach old age. It's still rockhounding and it's still just a hobby but a lot more fun now than ever, and I will explain later why.
Several times a year you can hear the local weather forecaster tell you of an upcoming meteor shower. Usually the showers occur because the planet earth, with all you earthlings on board, passes through the remnant tail of a comet.
Sometimes a projectile maverick meteor wanting to do battle with planet earth and those are the ones that have created so much work and fun for me. Yes, I will explain that too.
The real fun for me is when that maverick meteor decides to make it relatively close to the ground and explodes and puts on a powerful light show. That exploding rock will break into fragments and provide a “strewn field” somewhere downwind. Then the fun begins searching for the strewn field and gives me a fun summer or sometimes dozens of fun summers before I find it. I suppose you're wondering now why an old man is still acting like a kid rockhounding. My grandkids have the rockhounding fever.
Now don't get me wrong, you don't have to actually be lucky enough to witness the explosion also known as a bolide. Those events almost always make the news and if you go to the web site cloudbait.com those guys keep track of all the meteor events and provide a wealth of information to help you find the fragments. From the website you can determine where the meteor entered the atmosphere, the angle of entry, the speed of entry, the direction of travel, approximate size, altitude of explosion and how the color of the bolide determines the material.
You will be surprised how many meteorite falls are recorded over Colorado. A good number of bolides are actually witnessed. Colorado is one of the most common places in the world for bolide witnessing. Meteorites are like Californians, they love Colorado. Personally I have witnessed live one bolide explosion near Salida, Colorado and I once witnessed an impact near Ridgeway Reservoir.
Now don't panic that you might need a master's degree in math to find the field, because you don't have to find the field unless you are crazy like me. See, I told you why it's still just a hobby and why it's so much fun for an old man. It took me 12 years to find the strewn field for the bolide that exploded over Montrose in 2004 and was caught on high school camera, but with math, I found it. Google it for yourself. My grandkids have seen it.
As you know the earth is billions of years old and meteorites have been hitting our home all that time.
So my advice is, look down. Go rockhounding, but keep an eye out for meteorites. But wait, I haven't told you yet what to look for and how to identify a meteorite, and I still haven't told you where not to look.I'm going to tell you all about that later, and it's so simple you are going to be angry that you haven't been looking for meteorites all your life. Maybe you could be rich, or not.
Seems to me I have been promising to tell you a lot of stuff later, I guess I better get caught up.
First let's talk about where not to look. I would think it would be obvious and if you ever watched the guys on tv hunting for meteorites you know that they stick to wide open land, the flatter the better, with little vegetation. Yes I think desert land is the one perfect place to go meteorite hunting. Don't spend any time in a forest or a rough mountain. While the meteorites are there in abundance they are super hard to see.
Since I already let the cat out of the bag about desert rockhounding let me go a little further. Keep the sun to your face if possible so you can see a smooth rock on the ground. A little piece of advice, you are also going to see arrowheads and really cool non meteorites and little crawly lizards. Look around first and get a feel for the natural rocks that dominate the landscape. Look at their color and texture. Now look around for any rocks that just look out of place. Now you're ready.
Wait, you're still not ready to start picking up rocks.
Now let this city slicker tell you my second favorite place to look for meteorites. I have had a lot of luck in town looking through gravel landscaping. Good thing they are too lazy to mow grass but we like it.
You see, all that gravel was imported from a gravel pit somewhere and you can bet your boots there are meteorites in there. In fact a few years ago, on my way into work at the food bank I found the sweetest little meteorite I ever saw in the gravel parking lot. I gave it to the boss. Be generous with your finds, post them and share them.
Oops. I forgot to tell you what a meteorite looks like, at least the most common ones. Smooth jet black surface all around…it's called fusion crust, from atmospheric entry heat. It has little dimples commonly referred to as thumbprints. No holes like lava rocks. The fusion crust can have flow lines, kinda like icing on a hot glazed donut. It is hopefully magnetic but doesn't need to be. The edges should be round from melting ablation but on impact a shattered meteorite will have sharp edges but still full fusion crust. Yes it's possible that a Meteorite that has been on the ground a long time has rust. You're not going to find signs of e.t. life in a meteorite but fun to think about. I was hoping not to get that technical but it's the nerd in me. Sorry
Dang I still haven't told you what equipment you will need for hunting meteorites. Most importantly is a rare earth magnet. You can get them at gold panning hobby stores or online. A rare earth magnet is way different than a fridge magnet but if you stick that rare earth magnet on the fridge it's going to take the whole family to get it off. Get a small leather pouch to keep the magnet in or cut the finger off your favorite pair of leather gloves. You will also need a bag to carry all the cool rocks and meteorites you will find. Leave the lizards alone they will appreciate it but I do carry a canera. Don't forget hiking shoes, sun block and water. Pay attention where you are so that you don't get lost staring at the ground. If you are going to do this on private property get permission and if you do it on BLM land you can only pick up 10 pounds of rocks. Silly huh?
Don't dig up the ground, the objects you are looking for are right on top.
Ok folks, earlier I promised to tell you why something so common and so simple can be both worthless and worth tons of money.
Anyone who tells you that their meteorite is from Lunar or Martian or any other specific location …they are lying to you. Not even the fake “experts” know where the rock came from. The fact is that it's much more likely that the rock point of origin is probably the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Look up astroid belt, that's a fun little study.
For some reason it seems that all the meteorite owners are from Arizona or associated with Arizona…. That should be your first clue that they are cabal. The dictionary defines cabal as a secret clique or faction. Just like the diamond industry there is a faction of “Meteorite collectors and experts” that can't wait to use the ridiculous term “meteorwrong” to devalue and destroy your dream of owning a meteorite while selling their “certified” rocks for millions. That is why your rock is probably worth millions but also worthless. Bummer huh?
Try an experiment…post a blurry picture of your meteorite and immediately the cabal will tell you it's a meteorwrong ….they don't care if it's right, they are going to shut it down because it doesn't belong to them. I knew a Meteorite man who was far more knowledgeable than anyone in the cabal but he was railroaded and imprisoned and his life destroyed by the cabal for selling meteorites online. So just enjoy the collection and don't get involved in the politics of collecting.
I enjoy my collection and I try to educate people about collecting meteorites if they ask. But wait, you didn't ask.
Oh well, too late.
My friends, enjoy life, take a kid rockhounding and you will make memories
that last forever.
Your friend,
Bob Stollsteimer
On the contrary, my guess is that most of you have stepped on, thrown, or skipped on a pond, plenty of meteorites and just didn't know it. Herein I plan to help you identify a meteorite the next time you see one and I hope to educate you on why there is so much misunderstanding as to the rarity and value of meteorites.
According to researchers at the University of Oregon (uoregon.edu and wikipedia.org), about 25 million meteors enter Earth's atmosphere every day, yes I said every day. I double checked that number because it is amazing. Most of the meteors burn up into dust and ash upon entry but a substantial number of them actually hit the ground and become known as “meteorites”.
As you should expect, the meteorites have basically the same makeup as rocks on earth. Don't let anyone fool you that their meteorite is one of a kind. Meteorites are like earth rocks and they can look different from each other,but there are three types of meteorite.
Chondrites are stony meteorites and have no metallic content and rocks look like rocks. Just like earth rocks.
Iron meteorites have iron and nickel and other metals and metal looks like metal. Just like earth rocks.
Pallasites are meteorites with a mixture of stone and iron. Just like earth rocks.I am sure some professor with a PHD came up with those names.
Pallasites are the most common on the ground because the mixture of stone and iron helps them survive earth entry better.
Ok folks, the basics of meteorites is just that simple. A little later I will explain why something so common and so simple can be both worthless and worth tons of money.
I have been collecting meteorites since about 1958 and all of my collecting has been in Colorado. What started out as a Rocky Mountain boy rockhounding hobby has ended up in a very studied and mystery solving adventure as I reach old age. It's still rockhounding and it's still just a hobby but a lot more fun now than ever, and I will explain later why.
Several times a year you can hear the local weather forecaster tell you of an upcoming meteor shower. Usually the showers occur because the planet earth, with all you earthlings on board, passes through the remnant tail of a comet.
Sometimes a projectile maverick meteor wanting to do battle with planet earth and those are the ones that have created so much work and fun for me. Yes, I will explain that too.
The real fun for me is when that maverick meteor decides to make it relatively close to the ground and explodes and puts on a powerful light show. That exploding rock will break into fragments and provide a “strewn field” somewhere downwind. Then the fun begins searching for the strewn field and gives me a fun summer or sometimes dozens of fun summers before I find it. I suppose you're wondering now why an old man is still acting like a kid rockhounding. My grandkids have the rockhounding fever.
Now don't get me wrong, you don't have to actually be lucky enough to witness the explosion also known as a bolide. Those events almost always make the news and if you go to the web site cloudbait.com those guys keep track of all the meteor events and provide a wealth of information to help you find the fragments. From the website you can determine where the meteor entered the atmosphere, the angle of entry, the speed of entry, the direction of travel, approximate size, altitude of explosion and how the color of the bolide determines the material.
You will be surprised how many meteorite falls are recorded over Colorado. A good number of bolides are actually witnessed. Colorado is one of the most common places in the world for bolide witnessing. Meteorites are like Californians, they love Colorado. Personally I have witnessed live one bolide explosion near Salida, Colorado and I once witnessed an impact near Ridgeway Reservoir.
Now don't panic that you might need a master's degree in math to find the field, because you don't have to find the field unless you are crazy like me. See, I told you why it's still just a hobby and why it's so much fun for an old man. It took me 12 years to find the strewn field for the bolide that exploded over Montrose in 2004 and was caught on high school camera, but with math, I found it. Google it for yourself. My grandkids have seen it.
As you know the earth is billions of years old and meteorites have been hitting our home all that time.
So my advice is, look down. Go rockhounding, but keep an eye out for meteorites. But wait, I haven't told you yet what to look for and how to identify a meteorite, and I still haven't told you where not to look.I'm going to tell you all about that later, and it's so simple you are going to be angry that you haven't been looking for meteorites all your life. Maybe you could be rich, or not.
Seems to me I have been promising to tell you a lot of stuff later, I guess I better get caught up.
First let's talk about where not to look. I would think it would be obvious and if you ever watched the guys on tv hunting for meteorites you know that they stick to wide open land, the flatter the better, with little vegetation. Yes I think desert land is the one perfect place to go meteorite hunting. Don't spend any time in a forest or a rough mountain. While the meteorites are there in abundance they are super hard to see.
Since I already let the cat out of the bag about desert rockhounding let me go a little further. Keep the sun to your face if possible so you can see a smooth rock on the ground. A little piece of advice, you are also going to see arrowheads and really cool non meteorites and little crawly lizards. Look around first and get a feel for the natural rocks that dominate the landscape. Look at their color and texture. Now look around for any rocks that just look out of place. Now you're ready.
Wait, you're still not ready to start picking up rocks.
Now let this city slicker tell you my second favorite place to look for meteorites. I have had a lot of luck in town looking through gravel landscaping. Good thing they are too lazy to mow grass but we like it.
You see, all that gravel was imported from a gravel pit somewhere and you can bet your boots there are meteorites in there. In fact a few years ago, on my way into work at the food bank I found the sweetest little meteorite I ever saw in the gravel parking lot. I gave it to the boss. Be generous with your finds, post them and share them.
Oops. I forgot to tell you what a meteorite looks like, at least the most common ones. Smooth jet black surface all around…it's called fusion crust, from atmospheric entry heat. It has little dimples commonly referred to as thumbprints. No holes like lava rocks. The fusion crust can have flow lines, kinda like icing on a hot glazed donut. It is hopefully magnetic but doesn't need to be. The edges should be round from melting ablation but on impact a shattered meteorite will have sharp edges but still full fusion crust. Yes it's possible that a Meteorite that has been on the ground a long time has rust. You're not going to find signs of e.t. life in a meteorite but fun to think about. I was hoping not to get that technical but it's the nerd in me. Sorry
Dang I still haven't told you what equipment you will need for hunting meteorites. Most importantly is a rare earth magnet. You can get them at gold panning hobby stores or online. A rare earth magnet is way different than a fridge magnet but if you stick that rare earth magnet on the fridge it's going to take the whole family to get it off. Get a small leather pouch to keep the magnet in or cut the finger off your favorite pair of leather gloves. You will also need a bag to carry all the cool rocks and meteorites you will find. Leave the lizards alone they will appreciate it but I do carry a canera. Don't forget hiking shoes, sun block and water. Pay attention where you are so that you don't get lost staring at the ground. If you are going to do this on private property get permission and if you do it on BLM land you can only pick up 10 pounds of rocks. Silly huh?
Don't dig up the ground, the objects you are looking for are right on top.
Ok folks, earlier I promised to tell you why something so common and so simple can be both worthless and worth tons of money.
Anyone who tells you that their meteorite is from Lunar or Martian or any other specific location …they are lying to you. Not even the fake “experts” know where the rock came from. The fact is that it's much more likely that the rock point of origin is probably the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Look up astroid belt, that's a fun little study.
For some reason it seems that all the meteorite owners are from Arizona or associated with Arizona…. That should be your first clue that they are cabal. The dictionary defines cabal as a secret clique or faction. Just like the diamond industry there is a faction of “Meteorite collectors and experts” that can't wait to use the ridiculous term “meteorwrong” to devalue and destroy your dream of owning a meteorite while selling their “certified” rocks for millions. That is why your rock is probably worth millions but also worthless. Bummer huh?
Try an experiment…post a blurry picture of your meteorite and immediately the cabal will tell you it's a meteorwrong ….they don't care if it's right, they are going to shut it down because it doesn't belong to them. I knew a Meteorite man who was far more knowledgeable than anyone in the cabal but he was railroaded and imprisoned and his life destroyed by the cabal for selling meteorites online. So just enjoy the collection and don't get involved in the politics of collecting.
I enjoy my collection and I try to educate people about collecting meteorites if they ask. But wait, you didn't ask.
Oh well, too late.
My friends, enjoy life, take a kid rockhounding and you will make memories
that last forever.
Your friend,
Bob Stollsteimer
