At 18:18 05/01/03, Pierre wrote: I'm studying the L'Aigle meteorite fall as I live only at 150km from the "official" fall in Normandy. I say official as I've heard of a study done in the 70's which said that the searchers found new fragments west of L'Aigle, on a massive zone from 2000 km square and that there should be still thousands of fragments to find. Do you have some information about this research or did you found yourseld another fragments ? ------
Hello Pierre & list, I haven't heard anything related to a search for L'Aigle fragments in the 1970's. There is no doubt that there could be (thousands of ?) fragments still awaiting in the area, although I just wonder to what extent they would have survived the humid weather conditions not rare in the Orne Department. I also remember having heard that our friend Alain Carion (whom you should well know) had in mind searching in the L'Aigle area for meteorite fragments several years ago (and perhaps he did so if my memory works well) but think he said he did not find any....(If Alain is reading this, perhaps he could add more comments) Perhaps the following anecdote can also be of interest to you. Last November (2002), I was contacted by a person from Alençon (a few dozen km SW from L'Aigle area) who, along with a couple of friends, used to search for meteorites with a metal detector and also with the help of a few other expert people who provided him "reliable (historical and other) advices" about that search. They explored a quite wide area having the village of L'Aigle as the center point and more closely looked on places (field areas) where, according to historical archives, many meteorites fell. He said having found 2 substantial masses (about 850 gram and...12 kg !) that "resembled a meteorite" but, as he was not really keen in identifying a meteorite, he needed some expertise. He invited me to meet him as he heard that I use to do such expertises during our Ensisheim meteorite shows. Despite the unfavorable satistics that a stone found by a non expert be a true meteorite (less than c.a. 0.1%), I accepted to drive about 400 km and met him for the expertise. To make a long story short, at the first glance, neither of the stones revealed to be a meteorite (you bet) but I met a very nice person and we became close friends. But the interesting part of the story (for you Pierre) might be that these people not only had extensively searched through the area for days and weeks, but still continue to do so. When I met them, I talked extensively about meteorites and showed them real meteorite fragments, among which my small piece of about 10 g of L'Aigle. They are retired people, passionate, have time and, with their new preliminary knowledge about meteorites, if some L'Aigle fragments are still lying in the area, I believe these kind of people will be among the first to find them. Needless to say I am in close contact with them and, in case something interesting or suspicious shows up in the future, I'll tell you for sure. Incidently, you may not ignore that next April this year, it is the 200th Anniversary of this famous multiple fall.... My friends are being now active to set up some official commemorative ceremony at L'Aigle and I already accepted their invitation to deliver some informal lecture about "what are meteorites". Friendly encounters in perspective! As you live not far away from there, Pierre, I am sure you won't miss such an event, and come. You and anyone from the list, are warmly welcome in France with, in mind, 2 important dates for 2003: April: L'Aigle and June: Ensisheim! All my best wishes for 2003 to the list! Cordially, Zelimir ****************************************************** Prof. Zelimir Gabelica Groupe Sécurité et Ecologie Chimiques (GSEC) - ENSCMu 3, rue A. Werner F-68093 MULHOUSE Cedex, FRANCE Tel: +33 (0)3 89 33 68 94 FAX: +33 (0)3 89 33 68 15 e-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************************************** ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
