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Post by 1dave on Feb 10, 2019 5:20:15 GMT -5
Thanks Walt manofglass for the heads up on this. www-m.cnn.com/2019/02/01/americas/meteorite-cuba/index.html A suspected meteorite is shown in the western Cuban town of Viñales on Friday. Havana, Cuba (CNN)A meteor broke apart over western Cuba on Friday, hurtling numerous pieces of various sizes to the ground in several towns in Pinar del Rio province, the state-run Granma newspaper reported. One meteorite landed with a "loud explosion" in the town of Viñales, Granma said. Researchers from several Cuban agencies, including the Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy, confirmed the meteorite strikes, Granma reported. There were no reports of any injuries. The US National Weather Service began tweeting about the event Friday afternoon, eventually saying that radar may have detected the meteor at 1:21 p.m. ET at an altitude of about 26,000 feet. |
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Post by 1dave on Feb 10, 2019 5:21:25 GMT -5
Except for the fusion crust on the outside, this looks like a plain old rock you could pick up just about anywhere.
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Post by fernwood on Feb 10, 2019 5:33:48 GMT -5
Does not look like a very typical meteorite to me.
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agatemaggot
Cave Dweller 
Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on Feb 10, 2019 7:44:55 GMT -5
Looks like a stony meteorite now that you mention it, they do come in several forms !
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Post by 1dave on Feb 10, 2019 14:02:54 GMT -5
Looks like a stony meteorite now that you mention it, they do come in several forms ! Some from chunks of planets that once revolved around ancient suns that became supernovas and ripped the planets to shreds. |
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Post by grumpybill on Feb 10, 2019 14:36:33 GMT -5
I would have expected the heat from passing through the atmosphere to have fused the rock into a more homogenous mass.
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agatemaggot
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on Feb 10, 2019 14:48:50 GMT -5
If that would have been a piece of stony meteorite the main body would have popped when it entered the atmosphere from being heated rapidly from being cold as crap traveling thru space for a long time. I imagine the fragments might glaze over slightly during their decent depending on what angle and distance traveled after the first blow up happened !
That piece appears to have a glaze or patina of sorts on it.
Rock (WILL) blow up when heated rapidly as quite a few Flint knappers know !
Myself included !
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Post by 1dave on Feb 10, 2019 14:49:40 GMT -5
I would have expected the heat from passing through the atmosphere to have fused the rock into a more homogenous mass. Scientists have only three classifications for meteorites, but in reality they come in every variety imaginable. The recent explosion over Cuba happened shortly before landing so the fragments only had a short exposure to our atmosphere. |
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Post by grumpybill on Feb 10, 2019 14:57:05 GMT -5
Hadn't thought of that. Need more coffee to get the old brain goin'.
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 10, 2019 20:45:39 GMT -5
That is a stony meteorite, but I doubt the one in the photo is from the recent fall. The fusion crust looks too old and weathered. A recent fusion crust would be more complete and dark black.
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 10, 2019 20:50:48 GMT -5
Does not look like a very typical meteorite to me. There are many types of meteorites. That is definitely a meteorite.
You may be used to seeing iron meteorites like this one:
But stony meteorites look different such as this one:
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 10, 2019 20:56:33 GMT -5
I would have expected the heat from passing through the atmosphere to have fused the rock into a more homogenous mass. Scientists have only three classifications for meteorites, but in reality they come in every variety imaginable. The recent explosion over Cuba happened shortly before landing so the fragments only had a short exposure to our atmosphere. There are three primary classifications iron, stony and stony iron. But there are numerous subclassifications such as octahedrites and plessitic irons, common chondrites, carbonaceous chondrites, howardites, etc. in stone meteorites and pallasites and mesosiderites under stony irons. These are just a few examples. |
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 11, 2019 7:22:35 GMT -5
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Post by fernwood on Feb 11, 2019 14:33:37 GMT -5
Does not look like a very typical meteorite to me. There are many types of meteorites. That is definitely a meteorite.
You may be used to seeing iron meteorites like this one:
But stony meteorites look different such as this one:
I am used to some which do not look like your fist photo. Love the second photo. thanks for educating me. |
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 11, 2019 20:46:07 GMT -5
There are many types of meteorites. That is definitely a meteorite.
You may be used to seeing iron meteorites like this one:
But stony meteorites look different such as this one:
I am used to some which do not look like your fist photo. Love the second photo. thanks for educating me. Meteorites vary a lot. I have a very large collection of them. Here are some other examples from my collection that I already have uploaded to Flickr. These are all iron meteorites:
Mundrabilla
NWA 859 "Taza"
Sikhote Alin
Sikhote Alin
NWA 859 "Taza"
NWA 859 "Taza"
Gibeon
Canyon Diablo
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kskid
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2014
Posts: 98 
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Post by kskid on Feb 15, 2019 0:10:04 GMT -5
A couple of years ago I found a rock on my place that I thought for sure was a weathered meteorite - extra heavy, remnant crust, ferromagnetic, and metallic reflection in a window I cut. I sent a sample to a local meteorite club member who had a friend test it. Results said it was terrestrial. Haven't been that disappointed since my brother tried to tell me Santa Clause wasn't real... I still don't want to believe either of them.  |
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Kai
spending too much on rocks
Member since December 2018
Posts: 331
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Post by Kai on Feb 15, 2019 0:17:19 GMT -5
That's one cool collection, vegasjames!
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 15, 2019 0:42:54 GMT -5
A couple of years ago I found a rock on my place that I thought for sure was a weathered meteorite - extra heavy, remnant crust, ferromagnetic, and metallic reflection in a window I cut. I sent a sample to a local meteorite club member who had a friend test it. Results said it was terrestrial. Haven't been that disappointed since my brother tried to tell me Santa Clause wasn't real... I still don't want to believe either of them. I had one stone that I found loaded with olivine crystal and tested positive for nickel. Also tested it for magnetism and it was clearly magnetic. I sent a big chunk off to a well known meteorite hunter to get his opinion. Did not hear from him in a while so I wrote to him. He claimed it was not magnetic, which is the first thing I checked and it was definitely magnetic, and said he threw away the sample instead of asking me if I wanted it back. I was so pissed.
I have another sample at a lab overseas. Last I heard they asked if they could do an oxygen isotope analysis on it, which is only done on rare confirmed meteorites due to the cost and time involved. They sent it to a local university for the test, but their own samples get priority so it was sitting in limbo. Been there for about 12 years or so now. I need to contact them again one of these days and see if they ever came to a conclusion. A meteorite dealer I took it to in Southern California said it looked like a martian meteorite. It does have martian and angrite meteorite properties.
Identifying meteorites can be challenging sometimes.
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Post by vegasjames on Feb 15, 2019 0:46:06 GMT -5
That's one cool collection, vegasjames! Thanks. Used to have a lot more posted on here but those were uploaded on my Photobucket. When Photobucket got suddenly very greedy I deleted all the photos on my account since they would not allow them to be viewed unless you paid their ransom. Those are just some of my favorites because they look like other things. You can see a seal in one, a bird skull, a falcon, a horse head, a crow, etc if you look carefully at them. |
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kskid
Cave Dweller
Member since July 2014
Posts: 98
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Post by kskid on Feb 16, 2019 22:36:08 GMT -5
Wow, vegasjames, I can only imagine how mad that would have made me. As for the test, I'd read that university labs took a long time but I never would have thought it would take 12 years! After years without any luck it was just part of my routine to check likely looking rocks with a magnet. I nearly peed my pants when the magnet clicked onto the side of that rock and stuck. The person that helped me out knew another collector who was a buyer and had plans to meet him at an upcoming show. He said the pictures looked promising, so I mailed him a sample. The buyer had a gun-type instrument that could analyze the nickel content. The rest you know. I still keep an eye out and a magnet in my rock bag... |
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