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Chelyabinsk meteorite - impulse buy!

lukebl

By lukebl
in The Astro Lounge

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lukebl

lukebl

Posted
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Hi all,

Here's a picture of my first meteorite - a frament of the meteorite which exploded off Chelyabinsk in Russia on February 15th this year. I've always wanted one, particularly one from a recent observed fall. I once had a lump of metal which was given to me by someone who claimed it was a meteorite, but I met Patrick Moore once and he immediately identified it as a bit of old slag iron!

Is it authentic? I have absolutely no idea, but I bought it off a reputable dealer.

When I told my wife I'd bought a meteorite, she was expecting something at least the size of a bowling ball. In fact, it's about the size of a pea. And a small pea, at that! Looks nice close up, though.

9560081537_905a03a735_b.jpg

In case you've forgotten, this is what it looked like in february:

russian-meteor_0.png

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Matt Scunthorpe

Matt Scunthorpe

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I like the ''this is what it looked like February'' :laugh:

It must be rather nice to be able to hold something that has only recently arrived on the planet.

Like a baby? :D

But seriously, i've always thought about getting something like this, seems insignificant but as foundaplanet says, to have something that was flying through space not that long ago would be amazing.

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Pig

Pig

Posted
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Like a baby? :D

But seriously, i've always thought about getting something like this, seems insignificant but as foundaplanet says, to have something that was flying through space not that long ago would be amazing.

Are you selling babies ? :shocked:

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lukebl

lukebl

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Is it an iron meteorite?

No.

Apprently, it is a humble Chondrite which make up the majority of meteorites, 'formed when various types of dust and small grains that were present in the early solar system accreted to form primitive asteroids' (according to Wkipedia!).

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mallorcasaint

mallorcasaint

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I recently had an interesting conversation with one of the S@N presenters about "meteorite dealers". His comment was "How do they manage to replenish their stock so quickly?" "Does God just chuck a truckload at them and say, Here you go!" Needless to say he was extremely sceptical about these "meteorites". :rolleyes:

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lukebl

lukebl

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... Needless to say he was extremely sceptical about these "meteorites". :rolleyes:

You are quite right. I guess it's impossible to tell if they're genuine. I am normally very sceptical about things like these, but in this instance I threw my usual caution to the wind!

In fact, I bought two. More money than sense, me. Here's the other one:

9563860780_374a628eca_b.jpg

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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nice. in the end, without serious scientific cost, you'll never know I suppose but reality is in the eye of the beholder. if you are happy with it and believe it to be genuine then it may as well be (and hopefully it is). for this sort of money it's a nice thing to have and a small risk to take. enjoy!

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John

John

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Nice :smiley:

If it was bought from an IMCA registered dealer you should be fine. Did it have a card / certificate of authenticity with it ?

Hope you did not pay too much - the prices of Chelyabinsk are all over the place at the moment !

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SnakeyJ

SnakeyJ

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Is yours amongst these.....

http://www.meteorite...lyabinsk_1.html

Amazing the variety of these samples in the picture - though as stated the chrondrite is an accretion of smaller objects!

Cherbakul_chelyabinsk_meteorites_597.jpg

I suppose given the extra terrestrial origin that standard isotope dating has no fixed reference point - but nice to imagine the age and genesis.

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themaninthesuitcase

themaninthesuitcase

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I got a piece which I know to be genuine (was bought from the impact site within 2 weeks of impact). It's about 1cm3 in size.

This is what it looks like freshly smuggled out of russia in russian loo roll.

post-26671-0-64456800-1377104213_thumb.j

Yours appears to be rougher in texture and with out the pock marks, but that doesn't mean it's not genuine.

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Pig

Pig

Posted
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I got a piece which I know to be genuine (was bought from the impact site within 2 weeks of impact). It's about 1cm3 in size.

This is what it looks like freshly smuggled out of russia in russian loo roll.

post-26671-0-64456800-1377104213_thumb.j

Yours appears to be rougher in texture and with out the pock marks, but that doesn't mean it's not genuine.

Are you sure the Russian toilet paper is the genuine article, I believe this too could be a very rare specimen :laugh:

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themaninthesuitcase

themaninthesuitcase

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Are you sure the Russian toilet paper is the genuine article, I believe this too could be a very rare specimen :laugh:

According to my sister who collected the specimen, it is genuine. However there is a possibility this was a foreign contaminant. To know conclusively will require significant research, and probably some form of government grant.
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