Sky at Night - cleaning gutters?

[Alfian]

Just watched Sky at Night which focused on the Perseids. Is everyone cleaning their gutters out now? Enjoyable episode.

[nightfisher]

I have known about gutter meteorites but dont see me getting up there

[MarsG76]

Get your meteorites out of the gutter ;-)

 

[Alien 13]

You can set up a trap in the down pipe I have collected loads, u bend and some powerful magnets on the outside of the pipe.

Alan

[johnfosteruk]

I already knew about it after someone posted about it on SGL a while back but hadn't got around to it yet. I was planning to do so this weekend until reading Alan's post. I think I'll be cobbling a trap together instead.

It was a very enjoyable episode, especially as it was filmed at the Norman Lockyer Observatory up the road from here.

[bottletopburly]

So how do you tell if you have meteorites ? How do you analyse  don't seem to have a hi tech analyser 

[johnfosteruk]

3 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

So how do you tell if you have meteorites ? How do you analyse  don't seem to have a hi tech analyser 

Just the fact that it's magnetic is a good start. Then you've got the shape. Then Shove it under a microscope and eyeball the structure. 

[Alien 13]

I only have an optical microscope but it can tell if they are round.

Alan

[andrew63]

Yes a very good episode.  I guess there'll be a few electron microscopes on Christmas wish lists !

 

andrew

[bottletopburly]

I knew those magnetic window cleaners the wife has never used would one day come in handy 

[johnfosteruk]

1 minute ago, andrew63 said:

Yes a very good episode.  I guess there'll be a few electron microscopes on Christmas wish lists 

DIY it

 

[John]

8 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

So how do you tell if you have meteorites ? How do you analyse  don't seem to have a hi tech analyser 

Thats the big challenge !

90% or more of the stuff will be of terrestrial origin. Analysing those tiny grains to determine extra terrestrial origin is practically impossible even for a specialised laboratory let alone at home.

Probably you will need to just reason that somewhere in the stuff collected are possibly some meteoric particles.

 

[SilverAstro]

16 minutes ago, johnfosteruk said:

Just the fact that it's magnetic is a good start. Then you've got the shape. Then Shove it under a microscope and eyeball the structure. 

then squidge some between two rough ceramic tiles and examine the colour of (any) trace left.

Then add some (insert un-pronounceable chemical name(s) ) to look for characteristic colour of nickel

,,,, or something like that, sorry to be a bit vague, but it was all about 20y ago and anno dominii

It is all bound to be on the web/google I'm sure.

 

[John]

Quite an interesting couple of posts on this topic here on the BAA website:

https://britastro.org/node/10166

Some suggestions for testing are included in the 2nd post.

[Droogie 2001]

Very good episode especially the possible discovery of a micro-meteorite, seemed to be a genuine surprise to the scientist.

BTW. It is me or has Maggie lost a lot weight?! Not that this has any relevance with the episode but it struck me when they showed a segment from the Vatican’s observatory.e especially the possible discovery of a micro-meteorite. 

[Astro Imp]

Another fine episode from the team, S@N really is in the groove now.

[Alfian]

14 hours ago, andrew63 said:

Yes a very good episode.  I guess there'll be a few electron microscopes on Christmas wish lists !

 

andrew

Do you mean to say that putting a sample under an eyepiece and looking the wrong way down the scope won't work?

4 hours ago, Droogie 2001 said:

BTW. It is me or has Maggie lost a lot weight?!

Oooooo! In my experience speaking about a lady's age is a slippery slope, but weight? No way! You're right it must be you, but then again ......

[Kropster]

I'm going to start selling my gutter sludge to Hippies.

'Contains Star Dust' on the label ought to do it!

[SkyJamie]

I was washing up the other day and started seeing bits of twigs, moss and leaves randomly falling infront of the window so went outside to see what was going on, turned out to be a blackbird cleaning out the gutter lol if your gutters look surprisingly clean then you may have the birds to thank

[LukeSkywatcher]

Here's me spending £30-60 on meteorites. Ive heard of gutter meteorites but no chance of me getting up there to find them. I like the idea of a u-bend tube and magnets. ANYTHING magnetic caught will be investigated under my microscope.

Ive seen gutter "meteorite" material selling on ebay for a few pound.

I dont want no gutter sludge.

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

I caught a repeat of this episode. I certainly will not be climbing onto my roof and cleaning out the gutters for something that needs to be seen with an electron microscope.

Regarding a previous comment about Maggie and weight loss. Yes, she has slimmed down.............a LOT. But that is neither here nor there.