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ARTICLE SOURCE:
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2199710
Meteorite hunters now have a baker's dozen of space rocks that rained
down on Grimsby two months ago.
But the scientist leading the University of Western Ontario's search
believes there are still plenty of out-of-this-world stones that have
yet to be recovered.
"It's nothing to sneeze at," planetary scientist Phil McCausland said
Monday, describing the meteorite haul to date.
"There's actually still quite a lot of mass out there. It's just
difficult to find."
The fireball that broke apart and crash landed in Grimsby was first
picked up Sept. 25 by cameras operated by Western's physics and
astronomy department.
Astronomers at the London, Ont., university traced the
4.6-billion-year-old meteor's path and narrowed their search to a 10-to
12-kilometre area on the west side of Grimsby.
The 13 fragments collected so far were all found beneath the escarpment
on the border area of Grimsby and Winona.
The first piece was found after it smashed the windshield of a Grimsby
family's SUV.
The stones range from very tiny — about one gram — to the size of a golf
ball. The largest weighs 69 grams.
But McCausland said the larger meteorite pieces, which would have
carried farther, are expected to be found above the escarpment.
Search parties organized by the university spent many days scouring the
area over the past two months, but came up empty-handed each time.
The hunt was made difficult by forest that runs along the brow of the
escarpment, plus crops that remained in farmers' fields until recently,
McCausland said.
"We expect this fall to have produced several kilograms of material. So
far we've got less than 200 grams."
Three of the stones were found by local residents, two were spotted by
meteorite collectors from the U.S. and the remainder were gathered by
McCausland's hunters.
"They took a long journey to get here. It was really fun to pick them up
and find them," said McCausland, who has two of the finds to his name.
Under Canadian laws, meteorites become the property of the landowner
where they are discovered.
McCausland said the university has all but one of the rocks on loan for
research and is trying to negotiate to keep a few of them with their owners.
The university isn't planning any more organized searches until possibly
the spring.
In all likelihood, residents living in the area of the meteorite fall
will be the ones who find more of the rocks, McCausland said.
To help people know what they're looking at, the university is planning
to hold a meteorite identification clinic at the Grimsby museum within
the next couple of weeks. A date hasn't yet been finalized.
"I'm certain that there are more sitting out there right now that people
may have picked up and don't necessarily recognize," McCausland said.
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Enjoy...
Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorites USA
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