bernie_UK Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 I've been fortunate, as a long-distance truck driver, to have witnessed 2 fireball trails, ( space junk ? ), and many meteorite trails over the years on my travels around Europe- the most spectacular over Eyemouth UK, many years ago. Anyway, I've been using a heavy-for-size 'cinder' as a paper weight for a couple of years since finding it in Norfolk during a walk; never bothering to really examine it. It's just weird-looking and different so I picked it up and kept it .The other day it got scratched and noticed that it's green rock under the burnt appearance. ... Decided it has to be 'kryptonite' !. - Well it'll be something simple but it isn't magnetic ,. ( I've sent 360 deg. videos of it off to Durham Uni and NHM to confirm it as terrestrial or a product of man )... . Anyway, attached a couple of views for general interest as meteor 'rights' and wrongs are of general interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToxoLight Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Hi Bernie and welcome to the lounge, I hope its from the cosmos but furnace slag perhaps? posting this in the Astro Lounge might get more views. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul schofield Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Hi Bernie and welcome to S.G.L. Be interested to find out what the findings are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologuitarist61 Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Hello Bernie and welcome to SGL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesF Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Perhaps copper, if it's green and non-magnetic? It does have the look of something that could be waste from a furnace, but then so do some meteorites that I've seen James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizibilder Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Hello Bernie and welcome to SGL!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernie_UK Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Thanks for the 'welcomes' and replies. It weighs1.3lbs and I found it on a shingle beach a couple of miles from the nearest village, no old lime kilns nearby to my knowledge but ships have crashed quite a bit and wars have blown a few apart so your furnace junk idea can't be ruled out. Quite likely in fact. but wouldn't it give a nice feeling to discover it was a chipping off one of our 'cousins'. A really strong magnate has no effect on it and I must say I'm intrigued by the olive-green colour just beneath the blackened hard surface. ...dream on eh ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Welcome to SGL Green is a very unusual colour for a meteorite. The only one I know of is called Tatahouine and fell in Tunisia in June 1931. Many (but not all) meteorites do respond to a magnet as they have varying %'s of nickel-iron in them.It will be interesting to see what the NHM make of it.Tatahouine specimens retail for around $20 per gram by the way. Lunar and Martian specimens around $500-$1000 or more per gram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesM Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Hi and welcome to the forumClear skiesJames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
todd8137 Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Hi and welcome hope it's one it's rather large pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telesto Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Hi and welcome to sgl and the forumsClive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningMajor Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Hi Bernie and welcome - Let us know what you find out about your "paperweight" ! Interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowjet Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Hi Bernie and welcome to SGL John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan potts Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Welcome to SGL from a wet and not very warm Bulgaria, SGL is a great site join in and enjoy.Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker1947 Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Welcome to SGL, Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernie_UK Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Thanks to all again for the 'welcomes' to SGL... a brilliant info forum and especially the stunning astro photos. Wonderful. On the more mundane subject of my Norfolk 'cinder', I've surfed the web on 'meteorwrong' ID help sites and the facts ;- non magnetic and green - don't bode well. Apart from bits blown off 4 Vesta and found in 1931, which are as rare as the proverbial rocking horse doodoo. Green, non-magnetic , doesn't match the usual meteorite-find profile.So, I scraped a few more parts of it and just literally a scratch under the dark exterior it's definately a regular continuous green all over. ? Looking at Copper ore on the web it seems to be a more translucient green with a 'minerally' texture and not usually found on a beach - one rock. My rock is a matt and has a smooth texture.Shame I missed the open-house ' bring-along-your-meteorite-day' at the NHM on 2nd September.. Just have to see what the experts reckon from my email. I've probably listened to 'Journey into space' and read Dan Dare comics too much as a kid !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke2k Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Well whatever it turns out to be it has been an interesting post. Welcome to SGL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charon Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernie_UK Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 Well- here's the result from the very polite and knowledgeable curator of minerals at NHM , Mr. Peter Tandy and grateful thanks to him ;-".........Thank you for your enquiry, which has been passed to me as I deal with public mineral enquiries.It is not our preference to try and make mineral identifications from images alone, as they can never fully substitute for the look and feel of the real item. However, they can be a useful first step in some circumstances.Having looked at the images which you sent, I am afraid that I shall add one more to the number of meteo-wrongs which you found, and which I get sent every year as enquiries. What you have is certainly not a meteorite. In fact it doesn’t resemble a meteorite at all. Meteorites are broadly divided into 2 groups, the irons and the stones. This clearly isn’t an iron, as they resemble pieces of scrap iron, and this doesn’t look like that, and isn’t metallic. The stones are characterized by showing a black glassy fusion crust on outer surfaces. This is generated when the stone enters the atmosphere and is heated to red/white heat. As it does so, the outer crust melts but only to s depth of 1mm or less. This is because the stone has been in space for 4 billion years or so, at a temperature close to absolute zero, so it would take a lot to heat it up. As rock is a poor conductor of heat, the few seconds it takes to pass through the atmosphere isn’t enough time to heat it. As it loses velocity, so it loses heat, and he molten outer crust solidifies rapidly. When a melt is cooled rapidly, it forma s a glass as the atoms have no time to order themselves. Your specimen shows no such crust. I know it is black and you say the black can be scraped off, but it still isn’t a meteoritic fusion crust.In addition, your specimen is too angular. As the outer surface melts, the first areas to burn away are any points which stick out. So stony meteorites are essentially smooth, but may still have an irregular outline. Also, you mention that it has no magnetic attraction, and most meteorites (all irons and most stones) are attracted to a magnet. Attraction is not a guarantee of a meteorite, but non-attraction is almost a guarantee that it isn’t one.Finally, your specimen shows a number of gas bubble cavities. This is not a characteristic of meteorites, as they are primitive rocks which have not been melted in that way.You can try getting a rough (very rough) indication of its density if you measure its volume (in cubic centimeters) and divide that into its weight (in grams). Working out the volume of an irregularly shaped solid is not easy, but a rough estimate can be gained by measuring its length, breadth and depth, or better still, but displacing water in a measuring jug. Make a note of how much water is in the jug to start with, then make sure the stone is completely immersed in it, and note the new measure. By subtraction you can get a reasonable estimate of the volume. Note though. If you are to use a jug straight from the kitchen, make sure you get permission first…….!!! Stony meteorites have a density of about 3.3 or so, iron ones about 7.0-8.0.Your specimen also does not resemble anything natural, and is almost certainly is a piece of industrial waste from some process (probably steel or iron making), or as you said, from a boiler or furnace. It may have ended up on the beach as a piece of ship’s ballast, lost either when the ballast was ‘flushed’ or from a wrecked ship. Or it may have been brought into the area originally as road or track fill – sadly we shall probably never know.I hope this is of help and interest to you.Yours sincerelyPeter Tandy(Curator:Minerals)...... so for all of us intrigued by the open skys under which we marvel, a very helpful, expert and salient insight into my ' meteorwrong '......but a very faithful paperweight 'wannabe'.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainMcD Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Gutted it's not a real meteorite! That would've been a nice little talking piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliver Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Hello and welcome to SGL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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