http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/avis.woa/wa/visArtikkel?id=30585&del=uniforum
Nice pictures of the rock but I felt that the commentary was a bit over the top so I've translated it for your reading pleasure. It looks like there is a steep road to climb for meteorite hunters and collectors in Norway. There aren't many of us but I'd like to think that we're not thieves who don't care about science as is implied by the article. If you disagree with Elen's proposal, maybe a gentle note explaining how you think meteorite collectors and dealers can and do help science would be a good idea. Not that I suggested it of course.
Enjoy.
Be aware that I may have missed a few norwegian words but I think that I got it right for the most part.
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Private meteorite hunters have come to Norway to find and sell pieces of the meteorite that fell down over Østfold on July 14th to international collectors. Director of the Natural History Museum (University of Oslo) seeks a precise law in order to stop 'meteorite theives'.
By Yngve Vogt
International meteorite hunters have
been tempted by the summer's rare meteorite fall in Østfold.
They hunt after pieces of the meteorite and can earn 10,000's of
Kroner (>1,500USD) by selling to the highest bidder. Today, there
are no legal regulations that can prevent this.
To this day, three pieces of the
Østfold meteorite have been found. International buyers stand
in queue. This afternoon, the highest offer was 150,000 Kroner
(~25,000USD) for a piece that came down in a yard while the family
was on vacation.
- This a very high amount for the Natural History, says director of the Natural History Museum, Elen Roaldset. She seeks, therefore, a precise law that will make it so that pieces of meteorites will not be sold to private collectors, but will be owned by the state and will be useful to research.
- There is big commercial interest in meteorites. In the Moss area there are rumours that meteorite hunters have come from near and far. Several meteorite hunters have already come from America and Germany. As long as there are no laws, it is very tempting for them to sell meteorite material to the highest bidders and to international collectors. Then the meteorites disappear out of the country. This means that one can not do groundbreaking scientific research. It is via meteorites that we have the possibility to gather knowledge about the formation of the earth and the solar system, points out Elen Roaldset.
The meteorite that fell over Østfold on the 14th of July of this year is the 14th meteorite that has fallen in Norway since the Natural History Museum started registering (falls). The meteorite in Østfold, according to Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, very rare and the fifth meteorite of its type. The last time that a comparable meteorite fell, was in Russia in 1937.
Each time a new meteorite is found, the meteorite must be registered and approved by an international commission.
Wishes clear rules
The problem with private meteorite
hunters happened already when the 78.67kg Finnmarken meteorite fell
over Alta in 1902. Then many collectors appeared and sold pieces of
the meteorite to other lands. Then geology professor W.C. Brøgger,
who later became the university's rector, wrote already about the
need for a meteorite law in 1903.
Elen Roaldset seeks now norwegian regulations that will be just as strict as those around the finds of old cultural treasures.
- A law is needed that takes care of fossils and the type of object that fell over Moss, and that can (protect) the scientific interests of mankind. This law ought to be comparable to the cultural properties law that takes care of viking treasures, says Elen Roaldset.
She points out that todays laws are
imprecise. The problem is the commercial value that causes problems
between finders, property owners, and the state.
- What
happens if a valuable object falls down on private property? Does the
mountain (presumably mining) law or the property law apply?
Danish meteorite law
Denmark has solved the legal problem by
introducing a law that meteorite finds are property of the state.
Also Canada has introduced a comparable law (not strictly true of
course).
The danish bill secures the most
important natural history finds for the danish public.
The danish museum law says that objects
shall be turned over to the state when they are found in Denmark
after January 1990. If the state wishes to keep one of these objects,
the finder or owner of the object will get a reward. The size of the
reward is dependent on the scientific or display value and how good
care the collector has taken care of the object.
Hearing statement
The Natural History Museum sent in
August of last year a 'hearing statement' to the environment
department about the draft of the new law about nature, landscape,
and biological diversity, also called the new nature diversity law.
The Natural History Museum points out
that the current laws don't take into account the geological
diversity. The property rights to natural history objects is of large
scientific value and it is a 'special problem that property rights to
meteorites is not regulated by the laws.
Elen Roaldset says that it is thanks to
well-meaning people, that it has been possible to have the last three
meteorites in the museum's collection.
As long as a law is needed, she has just the possibility to tempt meteorite hunters with recognition and a finders fee.
- We can offer finders that the meteorites is saved for posterity and we can say in the display who has found it. Also we can pay a finders fee.
Important scientifically
For researchers, it means a lot to have
as many pieces of the meteorite as possible. From studying the size
of the pieces and how they met the earth, one can say more about
where the meteorite came from.
The problem is that one of the three pieces, that was found from the meteorite in Moss, has already been sent out of the country.
Meteoritten over Moss er sannsynligvis karbonholdig. Elen Roaldset påpeker at denne typen meteoritter er av stor vitenskapelig betydning og det vil være spesielt interessant å undersøke om den har organiske forbindelser.
The meteorite over Moss is possibly
carbon-bearing. Elen Roaldset points out that these types of
meteorites are of large scientific meaning and it will especially
interesting to research whether it has organic compounds.
Stort!
Astrokjendis Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard ved
Universitetet i Oslo sier at meteorittnedslaget setter Norge på
kartet internasjonalt.
Big!
Astro celebrity, Knut Jørgen
Røed Ødegaar with the University of Oslo says that the
meteorite fall puts Norway on the international map.
- This is the first meteorite that has hit a roof in Europe since 1989. And the first time such a meteorite has fallen since 1937. And, it is the first time that more than two meteorite pieces have been found from a meteorite fall in norwegian history. This means that there are hundreds of pieces that will not be found. The meteorite is a holy object for us at the University of Oslo. It can help us explain life on Earth. Meteorites are an important goldmine on Earth for us astronomers. It is there that geologists and astronomers meet, says Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard.
- The meteorite is 4.6 billion years old a little bit older than Earth. The meteorite is composed of material from the when the solar system was being formed. The meteorite is not the left over bits from a planet explosion, but the pieces that became asteroids and then broke when the asteroids crashed into each other, says Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard.
Dependent on amateurs
Elen Roaldset applauds Knut Jørgen's
'mediablast' around the meteorite fall in Østfold. Without
this mediablast the workers, who were to repair the hole in the roof
of the warehouse, would not have realized that the stone in the hole
was a meteorite. The discovered the stone when it began to pour rain
in the warehouse after a terrible rainstorm. Then they thought about
the meteorite posters and the announcement that the Natural History
Museum had run in the Moss Avis.
Norgesgruppen turned the meteorite over to the University of Oslo yesterday afternoon.
The University of Oslo has now gotten large response from eager 'Østfolders'. Together with meteorite hunter and amateur geologist Morten Bilet, Knut Jørgen has, in the past days, visited daily five to ten residents that have inquired about a possible meteorite find.
Elen Roaldset is also very happy that amateur geologists hunt for meteorites.
- We don't have enough people that can do it. So we are solely dependent on amateur geologists. But it is hugely important that these meteorite pieces come to our collection and be researched. We make models of them before we take out small pieces from the meteorite and research them. We then do isotopic analyses and chemical and mineralogical research, says Elen Roaldset.
The rush to look
Knut Jørgen asks urgently that
people look for meteorite fragments now.
- When the frost comes, the meteorite pieces with deteriorate. So look now, in yards and on roofs! You will recognize the meteorite as it is black, light gray inside, and a little bit magnetic. If you find such a piece, phone myself or the Natural History Museum. Morten Bilet and I drive out whenever all day, says Knut Jørgen who apologizes that meteorite collectors have come to the country just to grab their own pieces.
- It is horrible and crazy that on
sells meteorites internationally when they are not registered. It is
a fight to find the rest of the meteorite bits. All are working
together except two men. They've run away with the pieces.
All the same, Knut Jørgen
doesn't wish to see new laws for meteorites.
A law can destroy meteorite searching.
If a law comes, there is now reason to look. What one needs is a
payment system, asserts Knut Jørgen.
--
Michael Mazur
Vigdelsvegen 523
4054 Tjelta
Norway
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