golddiggerart
Super Sluicer
I was born for a reason...
Posts: 381
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Post by golddiggerart on Nov 10, 2015 18:53:59 GMT 10
So here's the thing, I woke one morning and as I do most mornings I go outside and breathe in the freshness of the air and check on my furry friends/pets. I look down and right in the middle of the lawn is a black rock, so it looks out of place and so I pick it up and think to myself is it a meteorite. Did some research online and found a picture of a Stony Meteorite.... Mine is below - this one weighs in at 28 Grams and is the size of a 50 cent piece. I broke a piece off to see if Metallic flakes could be seen and sure enough there are shiny bits in it but without a proper magnifying glass or a microscope I don't know if they are crystals or metal. I did a video test for you all to see that it is Magnetic which is the first passed test but as it suggests not everything that falls from the sky is a meteorite. As I said in the video if it is then I'd have to be the Luckiest bugger on earth. Funny thing is I have been talking with my wife about them for a while how they just fall from the sky anywhere at any time and I said wouldn't it be funny if one just landed on the back lawn, stranger things in life have happened haha. Cheers GDA - Arthur
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Post by shivan on Nov 10, 2015 21:06:20 GMT 10
Can you see any sort of crust on the outside of the rock? If you believe it to be from a fresh fall, then you would be very lucky as pieces that large normally do not make it to the ground in one piece, though it can happen. I cant see the rock well in the phot but maybe this site will help. meteorite-identification.com/found.html
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golddiggerart
Super Sluicer
I was born for a reason...
Posts: 381
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Post by golddiggerart on Nov 10, 2015 21:36:03 GMT 10
Already done all of the identification processes.....Shivan it has a crust on one side of it.....
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golddiggerart
Super Sluicer
I was born for a reason...
Posts: 381
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Post by golddiggerart on Nov 10, 2015 23:15:32 GMT 10
Going to local High School tomorrow to see if they have a Geiger Counter to run over it....also they may have Microscope I could use...
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Post by shivan on Nov 11, 2015 1:34:58 GMT 10
Meteorites are not radio active, so a Geiger counter probably wont help much Not sure where you are but there are places that will do proper evaluations, like Bathurst Observatory Research Facility. www.bathurstobservatory.com.au/metstudies.htmYou would be better off visiting or sending your rock somewhere like that.
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golddiggerart
Super Sluicer
I was born for a reason...
Posts: 381
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Post by golddiggerart on Nov 11, 2015 9:35:34 GMT 10
I know that BOFC do evaluations they also keep a portion of it for research but it is so small, I will send it off because I am curious to know exactly what it is......What I didn't mention is that we have rabbits that run free and they dig so this more than likely popped out of one of the holes. I just found it rather funny and strange to find it.
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Post by shivan on Nov 11, 2015 14:30:39 GMT 10
Not trying to put you off and I really hope it is a meteorite, it seems to have some good indications. The reason I mentioned Bathurst Observatory was because they will give you a definitive, certified answer. Taking it anywhere else will just get you an opinion, which still could be wrong.
The piece they keep is normally only 10% (from memory) of the rock where they slice it to do an acid test or chemical analysis.
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golddiggerart
Super Sluicer
I was born for a reason...
Posts: 381
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Post by golddiggerart on Nov 15, 2015 8:00:26 GMT 10
I bought a $12 Microscope from Kmart and took a scraping from the rock, I was very particular with making sure that I had shaved a metal flake from it. It was no surprise to see a beautiful pattern on it with all the colors of the rainbow, such a beautiful site. I tried to find a similar picture on the net but couldn't find one with the same patterns as mine was very close but no cigar. After hours and hours of research I came across the Murchison Meteorite which touched down around this area in 1969 and a lot of the fragments were collected as this was a day time event. Also came across a few pages www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/fragments-of-fallen-sky-20120207-1r8nl.html which looks like the area has produced quite a few meteorites. After looking for more signs of this being a meteorite I could see the remnants of fusion crust, this particular rock is weather worn and has been underground for some time, it would seem that my rabbits dug it out and placed it in a position which made me suspect it had just fallen. Sending a small piece off to be analyzed next week. Fingers crossed that it is what I think it is and is also a Lunar Rock because those are worth $1000 a gram. LOL Can only live in hope.
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golddiggerart
Super Sluicer
I was born for a reason...
Posts: 381
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Post by golddiggerart on Nov 21, 2015 19:36:23 GMT 10
These are images under microscope of suspected meteorite taken using my phone. Of note I have been in contact with Bathurst Observatory and he said he'll be back next week so I'll send off the sample then. Getting interesting, those images are 450x magnification using my $12 Microscope from Myer.
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Post by Flying Scott on Nov 21, 2015 19:57:42 GMT 10
By the looks of the images it looks like you have found a new planet. Flying Scott
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golddiggerart
Super Sluicer
I was born for a reason...
Posts: 381
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Post by golddiggerart on Nov 23, 2015 14:41:40 GMT 10
So after some back and forth with the Guy from the Observatory and a few more pictures he deduced that it isn't a meteorite but in actual fact an iron rich basalt rock, the metallic shavings with all the colors more than likely are olivine.
I had fun with finding out what it was, I never asked if he wanted a sample to test it because he was quite adamant that it wasn't a meteorite. Thanks for those who followed this post my wife and children had fun looking at it under the Microscope and it gave me a chance to look at the Gold collected under the microscope as well.
Cheers Arthur.
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Post by shivan on Nov 23, 2015 18:38:39 GMT 10
Keep looking, the next one may just be the real thing.
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Post by goldierocks on Jan 3, 2016 14:11:58 GMT 10
It was not a foolish thought - although rare it happens, and some big ones have fallen in eastern Australia in the last 100 years (e.g. Pakenham). Seen ones that farmers have found in their fields. Tektites more common (like black glass buttons),lots picked up by detectorologists around Southern Cross (WA), and a lot found lying on the road surface near Warnambool). We found one in the Huckitta crater, NT. Did you see the utube of the one coming down in Russia in the last couple of years, slightly injuring hundreds of people (mostly shattered windows from the sonic blast). Tunguska in Siberia about a hundred years ago was much bigger - flattened trees in a radial pattern around the crater for many km. A couple have come through house roofs in the USA in the last decade. So keep your eyes open! We used to hike into the rainforest in northern Namibia to see the largest nickel-iron meteoritre known (deeply buried with the top at surface - got a photo of us clowning pretending to lift it out of the ground (impossible). Now excavated and is a monument at the same site (Hoba metorite).
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