meteorite hunting & collecting magazine

1Meteorite Hunting & Collecting Magazine - July 2010

2 Meteorite Hunting & Collecting Magazine - July 2010


CONTENTSThe Great Wisconsin Meteorite Fall & StrewnfieldBy Eric Wichman 6Hunting Meteorites With A TelescopeThe discovery of asteroid 2008 TC3 by Richard Kowalski, Catalina Sky Survey 12The Luckiest Person Ever!by Mike Miller 16A Meteorite’s Journey To Earthby Bob King 18Featured Meteorite GalleryExquisite Celestial Minerals 20Meteorite News 4Almahata Sitta A Note 15Comic 23

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For the first time in human history we’ve witnessed an event in the as-teroid belt which scientists have sus-pected happens all the time but had never observed before. On January 6, 2010 scientists discovered Aster-oid P/2010 A2. An odd asteroid with a comet-like tail tens of thousands of miles long, minus the gas usually associated with a comet.

Scientists realized they were ob-serving the after effects of two small asteroids colliding in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The force of the impact was greater than that of a nuclear explosion, scat-tering debris in all directions and trailing off behind the asteroid as it orbits the Sun. Future meteorites anyone?

On January 18th, 2010 a 208 gram stone meteorite smashed through the roof of a Lorton, VA doctors office and ended up on an examination room floor. The doc-tors, who were tenants in the build-ing, reportedly claimed they own the meteorite since they were lawful tenants in the building at the time of the meteorite fall. The landowners also claimed ownership since they are the owners of the land and the building which the meteorite struck.

Meteorite ownership in the United States has been determined and there is a precedence set for with regard to meteorites found on private land in the USA, Canada, and Australia. In Oregon, USA the case of the Willamette meteorite (the largest iron meteorite in the USA) the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the landowner is the rightful owner, thereby acknowledging that meteorite ownership lies with the landowner.

EXCERPT: From The Pacific reporter, Vol-

ume 81 By West Publishing Com-pany

“OREGON IRON CO. v. HUGHES. (Supreme Court of Or-egon. July 17, 1905.)

1. Meteorites—Real Or Personal

Asteroid P/2010 A2 Photo: NASA Hubblesite.org

Property.A meteorite or aerolite, though

not buried in the earth, is neverthe-less real estate, belonging to the owner of the land, and not personal property, in the absence of proof of severance.”

Other countries acknowledge landowners ownership rights to meteorites. More recently in Aus-tralia, a custody battle erupted over the Cunnamulla meteorite which was found by a property’s caretaker. In this case the magistrate ruled in favor of the landowner.

It may be some time however, be-fore ownership is determined in the Lorton meteorite case. If the courts rule that the ownership lies with the tenants, then this could be a game-changer. It might even open up more litigation on past meteorite falls, and custody battles could pour into courtrooms across the country.

If the landowners are found to be the rightful owners by the courts, then it might clear up the miscon-ception of the non-existent “find-ers keepers” law that some believe governs meteorites.

Just ask yourself, if you owned the land, and a meteorite fell on it? Is it yours, or would there be any doubt?

Star WarThe Lorton Meteorite - Battle

over ownership rights.

Asteroids Collide


Asteroid Comes To EarthWell... part of it does. May 9,

2003, the Hayabusa capsule and mother ship launched with a des-tination of a near-Earth asteroid (Itokawa). “Hayabusa will be the first space mission to have made physical contact with an asteroid and returned to Earth,” said Tommy Thompson, NASA’s Hayabusa proj-ect manager.

Now, on June 13th 2010, the re-entry capsule, separated from the rest of the spacecraft approximately three hours before reaching Earth over Woomera, Australia. Peter Jen-niskens of the SETI Institute hopes

In the Allan Hills region of Ant-arctica in 1984, a meteorite from Mars (ALH84001) was discovered. It had been ejected from Mars some 16 Million years ago by an asteroid imapct. Then about 13,000 years ago it impacted Earth. Mars, like other planets, has been impacted many times by asteroids. About 3.6 billion years ago water permeated into cracks formed by these impacts, depositing carbonate minerals and allowing primitive bacteria to grow and live. Dead bacteria and chemi-cal traces that might have come from bacteria then became fossilized in the rock. Possible evidence of previous alien life found in a rock billions of years old! Meteorites could hold within them the secrets of the universe and to life itself.

Jupiter Smashed! Again...

At 1:30PM (PST) on June 3rd 2010, Anthony Wesley from Aus-tralia and Chris Go from the Phil-ippines imaged a supposed large fireball impact on Jupiter near the South Polar Region. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., gathered evidence indicating an impact.

Wesley was also witness to an 0.3 mile wide asteroid that struck Jupiter on July 18th 2009.

There’s some doubt whether this was an asteroid impact. If so, it’s just another example of how often these events take place.

Meteorites come from asteroids impacting with our planet. This

Photo Credit: Anthony Wesley http://jupiter.samba.org/

most recent event shows us that it’s chaos out there, unpredictable, and could be deadly for our planet if a large enough asteroid slammed into Earth. Shoemaker Levy 9 was a per-fect example of why it’s important to invest in technologies that will help locate possible impactors and defend our planet from threats.

Hayabusa Spacecraft ReentryPhoto: NASA

Aliens Among Us

ALH84001 Mars meteorite photomi-crograph. Photo: NASA

that the probe was able to pick up at least some asteroid dust or pebbles to bring back with it.


April 14th 2010 was just like every other early spring night in Livingston WI. All that changed in

a matter of a few magnificent seconds and would never be the same again. It was a day that will live in the memories of the local people for a long time to come.

Late that Wednesday night around 10pm a massive meteoroid, reportedly the size of a large truck, slammed into Earth’s atmosphere at thousands of mile per hour. Hundreds of people from 5 states witnessed the huge fireball that pierced the night with huge bright fiery flashes that bathed the countryside in cosmic light.

Loud sonic booms rumbled through the night. Concussion waves from the great forces shook the Earth so much that some people compared it to an earthquake. The fireball tore through the sky above the Preston, WI coming from the northwest, and continued on streaking above the small town of Mifflin, and traveled even further beyond Mineral Point toward the southeast where it extinguished. The local police and fire departments, TV stations, and emergency management agencies in the surrounding areas were bombarded with hundreds of calls from locals with reports of the fireball and maybe something crashing to the ground nearby.

People reported that it shook their houses to the foundations, items rattled off shelves, and dogs barked. The phones in the 911 emergency centers across the state lit up with reports of the massive fireball. What no one knew yet was that this fireball event which they had just witnessed in all it’s glory was a meteorite fall, and it had just dropped meteorites all across the countryside northeast of the friendly town of Livingston, WI.

A local news station in Milwaukee captured video

of the fireball as it barreled toward the Earth at over 20,000 MPH coming almost straight at the camera. A couple police cruisers dash mounted cameras captured the event on video. This event was in the news, and meteorite hunters were starting to stir. Word was buzzing on mailing lists all over the internet, emails were flying back and forth, videos of the fireball were being posted on websites, and people were talking. “Is this a new meteorite fall?” “Did the fireball drop meteorites?” “Wow! That was huge!”

Immediately, meteorite hunters from all across the United States started pouring over the news reports, gathering information, compiling data, making phone calls, checking Radar data archives, making maps, and familiarizing themselves with the area. Some hunters, even this early on, were already packing their bags preparing to hop on a plane headed for Wisconsin. The only question at this point, was where to go. The hunt was on, and the meteorites had barely cooled from their entry through the atmosphere before hunters were ready to fly. Locals in the area however went back to sleep without a care, and woke the next day to front-page news stories of the fireball that lit up the night prior.

Scientists, meteorite hunters, enthusiasts, and locals were all excited about this event. People in the meteorite world were comparing the WI fireball to the Buzzard Coulee meteorite fall in Saskatchewan, Canada November of 2008 which turned out to be Canada’s largest meteorite fall to date with a record setting number of meteorites recovered.

If the fireball over WI was as big as people thought it might be, it could be the USA’s version of Buzzard Coulee. Meteorite hunters were hoping. Regardless of the size of the meteorite fall one thing was for sure, it was a big one. Now there just needed to be confirmation. Someone needed to come forward with a meteorite.

People wouldn’t have to wait long at all. The first stone from this meteorite fall was found the next day by a local landowner who had witnessed the fireball. Now it was confirmed. This was the world’s newest confirmed meteorite fall, and the hunt ramped up! Meteorite hunters and scientists were already getting on planes and into their cars. Everyone it seemed was heading for WI.

There was data collection to do, teams to form, agreements to make, planning to be done, maps to be made, and the search area needed to be defined. You have to pack your gear, make arrangements for the kids, make sure you’re all caught up on chores, and you’re not leaving anything unfinished before you head out the

by Eric Wichman


of the fireball as it barreled toward the Earth at over 20,000 MPH coming almost straight at the camera. A couple police cruisers dash mounted cameras captured the event on video. This event was in the news, and meteorite hunters were starting to stir. Word was buzzing on mailing lists all over the internet, emails were flying back and forth, videos of the fireball were being posted on websites, and people were talking. “Is this a new meteorite fall?” “Did the fireball drop meteorites?” “Wow! That was huge!”

Immediately, meteorite hunters from all across the United States started pouring over the news reports, gathering information, compiling data, making phone calls, checking Radar data archives, making maps, and familiarizing themselves with the area. Some hunters, even this early on, were already packing their bags preparing to hop on a plane headed for Wisconsin. The only question at this point, was where to go. The hunt was on, and the meteorites had barely cooled from their entry through the atmosphere before hunters were ready to fly. Locals in the area however went back to sleep without a care, and woke the next day to front-page news stories of the fireball that lit up the night prior.

Scientists, meteorite hunters, enthusiasts, and locals were all excited about this event. People in the meteorite world were comparing the WI fireball to the Buzzard Coulee meteorite fall in Saskatchewan, Canada November of 2008 which turned out to be Canada’s largest meteorite fall to date with a record setting number of meteorites recovered.

If the fireball over WI was as big as people thought it might be, it could be the USA’s version of Buzzard Coulee. Meteorite hunters were hoping. Regardless of the size of the meteorite fall one thing was for sure, it was a big one. Now there just needed to be confirmation. Someone needed to come forward with a meteorite.

People wouldn’t have to wait long at all. The first stone from this meteorite fall was found the next day by a local landowner who had witnessed the fireball. Now it was confirmed. This was the world’s newest confirmed meteorite fall, and the hunt ramped up! Meteorite hunters and scientists were already getting on planes and into their cars. Everyone it seemed was heading for WI.

There was data collection to do, teams to form, agreements to make, planning to be done, maps to be made, and the search area needed to be defined. You have to pack your gear, make arrangements for the kids, make sure you’re all caught up on chores, and you’re not leaving anything unfinished before you head out the

door on a trip that might be a few days or may turn into weeks in the field.

Meanwhile my friends and colleagues were either on their way, or in Wisconsin already. I was a little late getting to the area and arrived the evening of the 20th of April. I drove to Dodgeville from Milwaukee to meet up with my hunting partner Mike Miller. The trip from Milwaukee was 2-1/2 hours of driving from the airport. I checked into the hotel and went to bed, barely able to sleep even after traveling 2000 miles from San Diego. I was excited for the coming hunt and just knew I would find a meteorite the next day. I was wrong.

The Strewnfield

Early the next morning Mike and I rose to a gorgeous sunny Wisconsin day. Perfect for meteorite hunting. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, and headed out to the area he had secured permission to hunt on the day before. We drove around a bit, getting to know the “lay of the land” a bit better while we brainstormed about the best place to start our hunt. We parked the Jeep, and I took my first steps out into the Wisconsin strewnfield.

As the strewnfield unfolded before me, I could not get an image of “the line” in my mind’s eye this early in the game. It was hard to picture the path of the fireball that dropped meteorites all over the countryside near Livingston, WI. Looking at maps is one thing, being in the field and getting a “feel” for it was difficult.

We had to calculate, or rather, make an educated guess as to where and how this massive space rock had fragmented above the Earth in relation to our current position on the ground. Being able to picture it accurately while in the field is key to being successful at finding meteorites in any meteorite strewnfield. Having radar data helped, but it certainly wasn’t anything like an X-marks-the-spot map, lots of work was still needed, and you could walk for days in the “right” area and still not find anything.

This sobering fact can make or break a meteorite hunter. Think about this for a second. You could literally be hunting in the correct area, with all the right equipment, data, knowledge and experience, but you might not find a meteorite for days or even weeks. Every meteorite hunter I’ve ever hunted with tells the same story. You don’t know you’re in the right place until you find a meteorite, and you could be in the right place and still not find one.

We had already compiled Doppler Radar data, plotted it on the map, and had a line in mind. I had one too, but my line was slightly more Southwest by about ¼ to a ½

mile from where Mike wanted to hunt. We talked more about “the line” and decided to move further toward the Southwest by a ½ mile or so to try my line. Nothing. Even though we thought we lucked out by getting permission to hunt on some very good pasture land with grass so short it looked like a putting green. Perfect! This made hunting much easier as we could see more ground and cover the area faster and more thoroughly. We hunted all day without finding a meteorite, my first day skunked, and Mike’s second. This was not looking good.

Back at the hotel we talked more about where to hunt the following day. We checked out another property after talking to some other meteorite hunters, contacted the landowner and secured permission to hunt on the land. We hunted… Found nothing. Next day. Nothing again.

Four days went by and we still hadn’t found anything yet. Other hunters were having the same problem, it seemed the meteorites that were being found were scattered few a very far between. Every now and then we’d hear news of a stone being found. So much for the USA version of Buzzard Coulee. This particular meteorite strewnfield was spread out over a huge area.

Each day was a blur of activity trying to pin down and map out the strewnfield. It was a lot of walking, phone calls, walking, research, walking, plotting, brainstorming, and more walking. We also drove around to so many properties it was all I could do to stay oriented, but after four solid days in the area we had a good mental image of the fireball event and strewnfield.

The fireball had traveled over Preston, WI toward the southeast over Mineral Point, and extinguished. It dropped meteorites all along the way. Because the angle of descent of the meteoroid was so shallow, the meteorites fell far apart, making it much harder to pinpoint the strewnfield and ultimately to find specimens. A meteorite strewnfield is called a distribution ellipse. The ellipse size is determined in part by the angle of descent of the body as it breaks up in the atmosphere. The sharper the angle the smaller the strewnfield and denser the clusters of meteorite material on the ground. The shallower the angle of descent, the longer and wider the strewnfield and the more sparsely meteorites are distributed. This is why meteorites from this fall were so hard to find.

Mike and I decided to double our chances of finding a meteorite. He took off to one property and I another, “Call me if you find something.” “Ok See you around lunchtime!” Off we went.

A few hours later my phone rang. It was Mike.


“I got one!” He had just found his first Wisconsin meteorite. I headed over to the property he was on a few miles away and he showed me his prize with a big grin. “Told you they were here.” He had now extended the strewnfield further than anything known at the time. Congrats were in order, and we both hunted there until dark before heading back to the hotel. We left early the next morning and hunted that same spot, gridding the field where he found his first meteorite.

Gridding is exactly what it sounds like. You walk back and forth in straight parallel lines, (usually and conveniently up and down crop rows when in farm fields) doubling back at the end of each row and moving over 3-10 feet each time. You can use a “tight grid”, or “loose grid” type of hunting technique, both work.

After hunting briefly in the field where Mike found his meteorite, I headed out to another field where I thought there might be a meteorite waiting for me. We had heard the day before from a friend that a couple very nice meteorites were found in one field adjacent to where we were hunting. This was about 3-4 miles from where Mike had found his stone. I plotted it on the map and had a line I wanted to hunt. I just knew there had to be meteorites there. After about 4 hours I headed back over to Mike’s spot. We finished up the day of hunting and we headed back to Dodgeville. Skunked yet again. At this point I had gone 4 solid days without finding a meteorite. I was starting to worry I wasn’t going to find one. I didn’t know it yet, but I was less than 24 hours and 2 miles away from my first Wisconsin meteorite find.

I found my first WI meteorite 3 hours into my 5th day of hunting at

about 10:45am on April 25th 2010, exactly ten days after the meteorite fall. The day started out slow. I was exhausted from walking for 4 days straight in the most relentless wind I’ve ever experienced. My feet were aching and blistered. Even my blisters had blisters. The weather had turned much colder, it was raining, and windy. Miserable meteorite hunting weather. Mike and I were hunting different fields and would call each other every now and then. “Find anything yet?” “Nope.”

After walking for 10 hours a day for 4 days straight, I was not looking forward to a day of trudging through wet fields with mud caked boots that felt like they weighed 100 pounds each. The clay-like mud stuck to everything, the wind blew, and the cold rain fell sideways. My mind would wander every now and then and I’d lose track of time, and was beginning to think I wouldn’t

Photo: University of Wisconsin - Madison AOS/SSEC

Fireball Over Wisconsin

Mike Miller proudly displays a 7.7g stone found on his 4th day hunting.

Photo: Mark Hirsch Photography

14.8g Wisconsin meteorite found by Eric Wichman

8 meteorites found by the Meteorite Hunting Queen: Vicky Olds


ever find a meteorite. I had planned to hunt for 10 days and this was the 5th day with no meteorite. I was starting to get discouraged. Then a black dot appeared on the ground about 15 feet away. It was shiny. “That’s no meteorite.” I thought to myself.

My heart skipped a beat. I stood frozen in time and body, cold, wondering, hoping, breathe. “That’s a meteorite!” No doubt. A few loud expletives later I was breaking out my camera, my GPS, the cold wet muddiness forgotten. Adrenaline pumping I reached for my cell phone and called my girlfriend Jaime. My numb fingers could barely press the buttons to call. “Babe! I got one!” “Really” “Yeah!” “14.8 grams.”

Mike went on to find 6 WI meteorites in the 7 days he was there, and I found 4 meteorites total in 16 straight days of meteorite

hunting. Few meteorite hunters found stones, and even many more got skunked. Halfway through my trip Mike had to head back to his home state of Arizona. After he left I met up with my new hunting partners Michael Cottingham and Greg Hupe. The three of us hunted for another week and found more meteorites. Michael, who’s in tune with the meteorite universe, found 3 during his second trip to Wi, and Greg 1 meteorite in 10 solid days of hunting. Talk about dedication.

Many of my meteorite hunting friends found stones. Sonny Clary hunted in Wisconsin 3 times and found meteorites on each trip. Rob Wesel found 1 nice stone. Keith and Dana Jenkerson found some. Larry Atikins, Karl Aston, Mark Hirsch, and a few others I know also found at least one meteorite each.

Then I met the queen of meteorite hunting! A local meteorite hunter named Vicky Olds. Now this lady could hunt meteorites, I’m telling you. She out hunted every professional meteorite hunter I know.

All total she found ten Wisconsin meteorites. No other meteorite hunter I know of found near that many.

The “Friendly” People of Wisconsin

I’ve traveled all over the United States from the deep south, to the Pacific Northwest and almost everywhere in between, and I’ve never met a nicer bunch of folks than those in Wisconsin. They’re very friendly and hard working people. Of all the people I met in Livingtston and the surrounding area none were nicer than the folks at the Friendly Place. A small Mobil gas station and convenience store located on Hwy 80 in Livingston,

Photo: University of Wisconsin - Madison AOS/SSEC

Fireball Over Wisconsin

WI. They have really good pizza and welcoming hospitality. This little store ended up being our base of operations while in the field, and a good source of info. Many other hunters made it their regular stop over for information, food, and good conversation too. They really chose the name of their store well. Friendly people at the Friendly Place.

If you ever find yourself in Livingston, Wisconsin, you have to try the “squeaky cheese”. Fresh cheddar cheese curds. So good.

One day I may go back and try hunting for the big meteorite that every meteorite hunter knows is still out there.

One thing is for sure, I enjoyed the people, the friendship, and the hunt.


Hunting meteorites with a telescopeAuthor Bio: Richard Kowalski was raised on Long Island, NY in a house that always had the TV tuned to the latest manned spaceflight. In the early 1970s he became an amateur astronomer with a specific interest in lunar and planetary science. In 1997 he started the Minor Planet Mailing List, which has become the source of information and communica-tion for the majority of the asteroid and Near Earth Object community, both amateur and professional. In 2005 he joined the Catalina Sky Survey, and as a member of this team, discovered 2008 TC3, the first Earth impactor found before impact, in October, 2008. He also owns and operates Full Moon Photography, a photographic studio in Tucson, AZ.

Mt. Lemmon: the 60” telescope poised to start its effort for the night. Photo Courtesy Richard KowalskiCatalina Sky Survey


by Richard Kowalski, Catalina Sky Survey

The sky is slowly darkening and the stars gently come into view. The only sound are the leaves of the Aspen trees rustling in the wind here at 9157 feet, all the while the light of Tucson twinkle a few kilometers below. Inside the dome at the peak of Mt. Lemmon, the 60” telescope is nearly silent, poised to start its effort for the night. In the warm room, I am as well. A few last minute items to deal with, a check of the clock and then with a few mouse clicks the telescope rumbles to life. Moving to the first field of the night, the telescope starts tracking, moving at the same rate as the earth rotates, but in the opposite direction. The shutter opens and the electronic detector starts to collect photons. After a thirty-second exposure, the shutter closes and the telescope moves just a single degree. The shutter opens again.

The Catalina Sky Survey consists of three telescopes, a 60 inch diameter telescope on Mt. Lemmon, a 27 inch Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, about 5 miles away and a 20 inch Schmidt located at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. With the exception of a few nights centered on the Full Moon each month, these three telescopes scan the sky every clear night of the year. CSS is and has been the most productive Near Earth Object (NEO) survey for the past 5 years. Discovering about 70% of all new NEOs each year, it shows no signs of letting up.

Our task at CSS is part of the Congressionally mandated effort, administrated by NASA, to discover 90% of all NEOs 1 kilometer in diameter and larger. By most measures, we and the other NEO surveys achieved that goal in 2009. The 1 kilometer size was chosen because it is objects in this size range that would end civilization if they impact the Earth. Objects larger than 1 kilometer would mean mankind’s extinction. The NEO surveys task is to find any potential impactors decades or centuries before impact so these objects can be studied and a plan of action to avert the impact developed and implemented. On October 6th, 2008 an object was discovered with the 60 inch telescope that was totally unexpected.

On any given night, CSS averages one new NEO per telescope. Some nights our telescopes pick up two or five, or on very good nights, ten or more new NEOs. On that one night in October 2008 I found three new NEOs. None particularly stood out from the hundreds we discover each year, but one, the second one of

the night showed an apparent acceleration between the discovery images and the follow up images. This apparent acceleration is not a real increase in the object’s velocity, but instead is a function of it being close to the Earth. Because of this, I imaged it a third time. As we always do, I submitted the observations to the Minor Planet Center, the clearinghouse for observations of asteroids and comets. Within minutes of me sending in my first set of observations, my object got posted on their public NEO Confirmation Page. The page allows anyone and everyone with a telescope to go out and observe newly discovered objects literally within minutes of their discovery.

At the end of the night, I closed the slit of the dome, stowed the telescope and headed down to the dorm to get some sleep.

The next afternoon I awoke and headed back up to the dome to take care of some normal duties, check emails and see if there was anything that would require my attention before the coming night. As I approached the telescope I saw our Principle Investigator, Steve Larson talking with Bob Peterson, the observatory site Manager. They were discussing the siting of our new robotic telescope. As I approached Steve spoke up, “Here’s the man of the hour!” I asked what he meant. He told me that I had discovered an impactor the night before, that it was going to hit that very night and it was going to come down in the deserts of the Sudan.

Now discovering an impactor was a possibility as that was our job, but no one had ever discovered one in the history of mankind, so I thought he was pulling my leg. An impact a day after it’s discovery AND coming down in a desert in a country who’s government was committing genocide against some of its own people? HA! Yeah right! A very bad joke too unbelievable to be true.

I entered the dome, fired up my laptop and opened the mail program. Several hundred emails from around the world flooded into the Inbox, all discussing an object now known as 2008 TC3 and it’s pending impact, now just over 6 hours in the future. After reading a few dozen messages the impact of this discovery, pardon the pun, was starting to dawn on me.

The rest of the day went by quickly, answering emails, giving interviews, discussing the event with loved ones. As the shadows began to lengthen again, I needed to start preparing for the coming night. The emails continued to stream in. Every few minutes the software fetched the latest batch from the mail server.

Hunting meteorites with a telescope


As the time of impact neared, the emails came to a grinding halt. 2008 TC3 had entered the Earth’s shadow and was no longer observable. After the appointed time, a few lingering emails came in asking if anyone had heard any reports of the fireball, meteorites dropping to the ground, anything?

Nothing. Not a word.

Using our measurements of an object’s brightness and its distance, we can come up with rough estimates of an object’s size. 2008 TC3 was initially estimated to be 1 to 2 meters in diameter. Much too small to survive atmospheric entry and drop any meteorites. Over the next days and weeks a few reports and videos of the flash recorded by security cameras hundreds of miles from the impact point came to light, but about one month after the event, on November 8th, 2008, the Astronomy Picture of the Day was an image of the smoke trail left by the entry of TC3.

That was cool!

One month after this I heard of some rumors of meteorites that had been recovered from the fall and four months after that, in March 2009, the story of these meteorites, now called collectively as Almahata Sitta were officially announced.

People often ask me my feelings when I discovered 2008 TC3. To be honest, the actual discovery was interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary. While the days following the impact were exciting too, the real excitement has come only after the recovery of the meteorites. For the first time in history we were able to study an object in space and then, in a very short period of time, go out and pick up samples that we can fully study in the lab.

I mentioned earlier that our task is to discover impacting objects decades or centuries before impact but the 2008 TC3/Almahata Sitta event shows that our NEO survey system is robust and sensitive enough to discover these small objects several days before impact; A trajectory that we’re now calling “The Terminal Plunge”.

We are able to pinpoint the time and location of this impact to within a second or two in time and a kilometer or two in location. In the not too distant future it should be possible to discover these terminal plungers and then travel to the impact site to study the fireball as the object enters the Earth’s atmosphere. It is also possible that the meteorite strewnfield could be

predicted BEFORE the entry. This way researchers, meteoriticists and meteorite hunters could be positioned on site to witness meteorites AS they fall from the sky, literally collecting them within minutes of their arrival from outer space!

CSS is working on a proposal for a new camera that would allow us to find these meteorite dropping objects on their terminal plunge while still allowing us to survey for the larger, more problematic Near Earth

Almahata Sitta meteorite in situ. Photo: P. Jenniskens and M. H. Shaddad - Astronomy Picture of the Day 2009 March 28


Asteroids. Early indications are that our proposal will be very well received. I look forward to the day when I’m asked how it felt when I discovered my second meteorite dropping impactor!

Almahata Sittaby Eric Wichman

The importance of the Almahata Sitta meteorite to science is unquestionably significant. It is for lack of a better term, astronomical in scope when considering the circumstances leading up to it’s discovery, later recovery and subsequent multiple classifications. Never in human history has anyone discovered an asteroid that was predicted to impact Earth, much less in mere hours after that discovery!

Scientifically, the data gathered by scientists and astronomers from this event is invaluable in helping determine how our solar system was formed and how we can defend our planet from larger more dangerous impactors.

The Almahata Sitta meteorite is special because we have all the data from asteroid to ground, it was discovered in orbit, predicted to impact, and later recovered. Not only was the asteroid that produced this meteorite fall found to be on a collision course with Earth, the type and classification of the meteorites from this asteroid is extremely intriguing and could very well change the science of meteoritics.

Having multiple classifications from the same meteorite fall is big news in the meteorite world. Almahata Sitta will certainly give us a peek through a cosmic window of our solar system to the knowledge of the universe beyond.

Through the study of this meteorite and others we will gain a new perspective on the science of meteoritics and ultimately the formation of our solar system not unlike the first look of a child at the skies above.

Almahata Sitta meteorite in situ. Photo: P. Jenniskens and M. H. Shaddad - Astronomy Picture of the Day 2009 March 28


by Mike Miller

Well, I have been accused many times of being the luckiest person ever. Every time I find a meteorite someone says, ‘Man, you are the luckiest guy I know...’ That has really started to aggravate me over the years.

If people had any idea what it takes to get lucky they would find a new way to say it. They might say, ‘You are working way too hard at this.’ or ‘Dang. it is about time you found something.’ I have called my self a meteorite looker many, many times when I was feeling like I was terrible at hunting meteorites. I have

even thought about starting another web site called Meteoritelooker.com. No, I mean really building another site because most of the time I am just a meteorite looker not a meteorite finder.

I have come home many times and had to tell my wife no I didn’t find anything I am just ‘meteorite-looker’ today. There have been many times when she didn’t even ask if I found anything, boy I must have been in a real slump those times. It’s not just looking that makes you get lucky.

There is the preparation, research, equipment, mind set, inside information, tenacity and I

am sure I’ve forgotten to mention half of the attributes that help to find meteorites. A book could be written on each of the items I listed. Equipment, wow, not only do you need the right equipment for the job but then you have to know how to use it.

I once took an acquaintance to hunt the Franconia meteorite strewn field. He is a smart and well-equipped person of above average intelligence. He is very well equipped with a brand new top of the line Fisher brand metal detector with a new state of the art touch screen just out of the box which after many hours of practice might

“The Luckiest Person Ever”

Mike Miller with the Glorieta meteorite main mass. 300lbsPhoto Courtesy: www.meteoritefinder.com


work to find a meteorite. But, in this case he turned the

detector on, poked a couple of times at the screen and thought he was ready to go. I was not so sure so I threw a nice 30 gram Franconia meteorite on the ground in front of him and said, “See what it sounds like on that because that is what we will be looking for today.” So he swung the shiny new detector over the meteorite and to our surprise there was no report?

Huh, well, um… “I must have something set wrong.” He said. So he struggled to see the LED screen in the bright sun, poked some more buttons and then gave it another try. Nada...Hmmm. I reached into my van and pulled out a back up Gold Bug 2 metal detector, gave him a 30 second lesson and told him to leave that new detector in the car until he figured out how it worked.

I have different types of detectors, I have different size coils for each of the different types of detectors, and I have spent literally hundreds of hours learning how to use each of them.

“I have worn out more detectors and coils than most meteorite hunters will ever own.”

Notice I said “most” because I am not the only one out there that is working very hard to become lucky.

Ok, so forget about the equipment, lets talk about the research and time spent figuring out where to go look. Yes I am talking about old books, new books, the internet, the Meteoritical Bulletin.

Keeping a group of friends that are willing to share information with you and you with them. Making allies with people who will help

you get to the right spot when the time comes. These are not easy relationships to be in because they must work both ways. These relationships must benefit both parties. Then after you have sifted over all the data and listened to all the rumors, you have to actually get in the car and go to where they might be. You won’t find them in your house! Those have already been found.

You have to dedicate enough time to get lucky and you have to keep going back over, and over, and over, and over, until that glorious day comes when you are the luckiest person alive.

Really, I have a friend who has at one time spent more than 30 days of hard hunting at Glorieta in the right areas. Ok… Think about that. We were in a meteorite strewnfield, he is a very good hunter, and he came back over, and over, and over, for 30 different days and he found nothing. Now, when he does find a hundred pounder are you going to call him lucky? I’m surely not going to call him that. Maybe crazy, or too stubborn for his own good, but you won’t catch me calling him lucky.

I have been skunked in every strewn field I have ever been in! That means the luckiest guy you know (to some people) hunted hard all day long in the middle of many strewn fields on many occasions and found nothing. Gloritea, Franconia, Gold Basin, Hollbrook, Correo, Admire, Ash Creek, and Red Dry Lake. I am sure I have forgotten some as well but in all of these places I have been skunked more than one day. The truth be told it would likely come out that I found nothing as often as I found something.

Then there are all the other places I have been and they are many... As I drive down any major highway

leaving the Kingman, Arizona area I look out in the desert and think yeah, I have hunted out there, and there, and over there. Sometimes I will even burst into stories about what happened out that way, and “Man you should have been there when this or that happened.”

So when it all said and done I spend way more time looking for meteorites than finding them, I mean way more time. So lucky is just not the word I would use to describe a meteorite finder.

In very recent memory I have been to southern CA several times to Essex, Merced fireball, Needles, Water road, and I have hunted several places in Arizona. Trips to New Mexico to hunt, Acomita, and several unnamed areas for one reason or another. I have been to Utah, southern Arizona, Georgia, Flagstaff, and other places chasing fireballs, all without finding a meteorite. How does lucky work anyway? Maybe I just don’t understand the word.

So the next time you see someone with an exceptional meteorite think about what they went through to find it.

Who knows maybe they just walked out their front door and got lucky.

“The Luckiest Person Ever”

101.7 gram sliceFound by Mike Miller


by Bob King

Events were already in motion long ago before the Earth had even cooled enough for life to take hold. Somewhere between Mars and Jupiter the mind-numbing accretion of dust and rock had fashioned millions of asteroids, each bent on following its individual orbit around the sun. As we know from our own lives, singularity of purpose sometimes meets with unexpected obstacles. In the case of one nameless asteroid, a chance alignment with Jupiter tugged it away from its original path onto a new track.

Our rock was now in for a surprise. Before long it would have an explosive encounter with yet another asteroid that through no fault of its own got in the way. Picture yourself watching from a safe distance as the one approached the other. In total silence you’d see the brilliant flash of rock-to-rock contact followed by clouds of dust and shards of asteroid spraying into space. Over time the invisible finger of Jupiter’s gravity pushed some of these fragments into new orbits that guaranteed future collisions with additional asteroids and even the mighty planets.

I was at the computer shortly before midnight on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, when Dirk Ross in Tokyo posted a note on his site about loud booms and a fireball seen over Wisconsin and Iowa earlier that evening. After following the excitement and adventure of the Buzzard Coulee and Ash Creek meteorite falls on the meteorite-list, I’d promised myself that if one ever fell in my neighborhood I was going. No excuses.

By the next day, we learned that Doppler weather radar had picked up the fireball over southwestern Wisconsin. Further study revealed that if fragments from the falling meteoroid existed, they might be found in the Livingston, WI area. I checked a map and discovered that Livingston was only an hour and a half from my parents’ home in LaCrosse. My mind was set to go, but I couldn’t leave immediately because of work commitments. By the following Wednesday I was a free man. After a discussion with my understanding wife and a trip to the bank and gas station, my path soon paralleled the fireball’s.

How long that errant chondritic chunk traveled through space after liberation from its host asteroid no one can say for certain. A million years, 40 million years? Think of how many times it must have buzzed by Earth during its repeated orbital plunges toward and away from the sun. Far below, life was evolving into wondrous forms including hominids who learned to use tools and scrutinize the sky. They could not know the name of the “star” that moved invisibly across their sky. Not then. That would be revealed in good time to their distant ancestors.

Baked by solar heat and ultraviolet light and zapped by galactic cosmic rays, the fresh, chalky exterior of our asteroid shard now glowed a subtle red like a sunburn’s first blush. Time passed and kept passing. Nature has access to the biggest hourglass in the universe and uses it to create outcomes no one could ever imagine.

Wednesday was sunny. I packed a lunch, grabbed some music for the road, and I was soon on my way to LaCrosse.

Ahead of me, a sizeable group of meteorite hunters already had been at work looking for and finding the black rocks that drew them across state borders to the rolling farm fields of southwestern Wisconsin. It’s as if we felt the motive power of the rock that did the traveling in the first place. Travelers’ tales have always had the power to incite the attentive listener to embark on a journey of their own. I had no choice but to follow the muse. With the weather forecast looking good for the next couple days, I planned to join up with hunters I’d met through the meteorite-list. As this was my first hunt, I was in need of their expertise to identify the best places to look and negotiate permissions to search private land.

Once in LaCrosse I made a quick detour to say hi to my mom and dad. Hunting for meteorites is strange enough, but to my parents it seemed downright exotic. They took pleasure in my passion for the adventure, and made sure I was stocked with spice gumdrops and a fresh can of cold soda before continuing on. The road took me past the limestone and sandstone hills in a region of Wisconsin that escaped the erosive effects of the last glaciation. Layer upon layer of yellow sedimentary rock exposed in road cuts made me feel as if I was journeying back in time. Hominids evolved and gave rise to our human ancestors. Humans used their talents to spread across the globe. On our asteroid fragment’s final days of isolation in space, telescopes dotted the Earth by the thousands and exquisitely crafted tools stood ready to decipher even the fragile signature of a meteor blazing through the

A Meteorite’s Journey To Earth!

Author Hunting The Wisconsin Strewnfield - Photo: Bob King


atmosphere. Our space rock’s status would soon change from minor actor on the interplanetary stage to a major player over a stretch of fertile land on the blue planet.

My parents were watching the weather on TV that Wednesday night when a bright light appeared outside their window followed by a smart bang. Neither knew what had happened. Those who were outside at the time saw a brilliant fireball split the sky with a radiance brighter than the full moon as it traveled from northwest to southeast over homes, fields, sleeping children and tired parents. Silent for so long, the meteoroid, now turned meteor, unleashed sonic booms that echoed from cliff to river valley. The Howard County, Iowa, sheriff’s dash-mounted video camera recorded the sky turning from night to day as the perpetrator rumbled earthward.

All that was left was to pick up the pieces, a task more difficult than anyone expected. The fireball’s low angle of flight dropped rocks across a long swath of land. Hunters placed dots on maps in hopes of tracing the full extent of the strewnfield, but truth be told, the dots were few and far between. Our little asteroid bit had spent eons in hiding and wasn’t about to give up name, rank and serial number just yet.

I really didn’t have a clue where to hunt except “around Livingston” and the phone number of Mike Miller that Ruben Garcia has given me. Mike gave me directions to the school where students had just found a couple meteorites in the school yard. Not far from there I spotted a group of people standing around vehicles in a cornfield. Those had to be meteorite hunters. I think I even spotted a vest or two. After 375 miles in the car it felt so good to be welcomed by friendly faces. Mostly they were people who I’d only had contact with through e-mails: Dave Gheesling, Greg Hupe, Michael Cottingham, Jack Schrader, Mike Curran, Mike Miller, and Eric Wichman. They took me in like a new pup and fed me good information. Tips like visualizing a meteorite in my head as I studied the ground in search of one. Cottingham talked about his “calibration stone”, a meteorite that he tosses out

periodically during a hunt to keep his vision keen on what to look for. Ironically he forgot to bring it with him.

Mike Curran used both his eyes and a meteorite rake while methodically tracking the fields up and down, back and forth. Other hunters swore by the swerving method and claimed you’re as likely to find one by wandering in sine curves as by adherence to the grid. I tried both ways that evening and all the next day, and though success was close at hand -- Cottingham found a beauty 60g stone not far from me -- I never did get lucky. I’ll tell you this, though. Once someone in your group finds a stone, your brain catches fire. I felt

I could will a rock right out of the Earth into my hands after seeing Michael’s find. Desire becomes more intense when whetted by success.

Every trip has its bright moments whether or not you achieve your anticipated goal. For me those will include seeing the happy relationship between Dave Gheesling and his daughter, Maddie, a Chinese dinner with Curran and Cottingham talking about caves and Navajo rituals, seeing another hunter in a distant field throw himself on the ground in joy after making his first find, the relaxed feeling that hunting brings – I felt like a kid walking around the block kicking cans – and all the positive

encouragement I received. Those guys really wanted me to find a rock.

Thanks to others’ persistence and luck, I finally came face to face with this story’s main character, the meteoroid that started on its way to Earth so long ago. I was fortunate enough to score a small part slice from Joe Kerchner’s 332 gram find. It arrived a couple weeks later in a tidy envelope in my mailbox. I couldn’t help but think what this rock had endured to arrive at my house in so civilized a fashion. Looking into its stony heart I read a history of impact not once but many times. The meteorite’s shock-altered brecciated texture, the dark and light minerals all attest

to a busy beginning with plenty of pushing and shoving. What a gift it is to turn my little slice around and around in my hand, me as surely in orbit around it as it once orbited the sun.

Meteorite hunters searching for fragments of the WI MeteoritePhoto Courtesy: Bob King

Author Bio

Bob king is a pho-tographer and photo editor at the Duluth News Tribune inDuluth, Minn. and

has been an amateur astronomer for many years.

He started a meteorite collection in the late ‘80s with a Canyon Diablo iron meteorite from Bob Haag. He also shares his passion for astron-omy through his blog called Astro Bob which can be found at:www.areavoices.com/astrobobE-mail: [email protected]

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