[meteorite-list] doubtful material related to Berlin fireball
Hi list, some of the German members of this list might have noticed there has been a fireball sighting in the Berlin area in February. The event lasted for about five seconds and has also been recorded by a camera of the European Fireball Network. There have been a couple of newspaper and TV-reports since then featuring scientists claiming that the entire 200 kg mass has vaporized during descent according to their calculations. Other reports showed various self declared meteorite hunters combing the terrain for cosmic booty, one of them equipped with a rather professional magnetometer, but none of them has claimed any finds in public yet. Anyhow, since there has been no official confirmation regarding recovered material of this fall I wonder about the nature of this material: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemcategory=44608item=6164417570rd=1 The seller claims to offer material of the - recent year 2005 Berlin fal l- which - has been tested by scientific institutions - as he states in his description. This is only one of several doubtful meteorite offers currently online in German ebay. Another seller offers a large piece of a meteorite from Rissani which is obviously not a meteorite, but rather a piece of magnetite-rich basalt. This auction has already found a bidder. I know that none of the reputable German sellers known to this list are involved in the cases mentioned above. But since I neglected German ebay for a couple of months, I wonder if I just stepped on single exceptions or if I missed a general trend. I f so, I might consider to invest in a sophisticated meteorwrong collection ... cheers Svend www.niger-meteorite-recon.de __ Mit WEB.DE FreePhone mit hoechster Qualitaet ab 0 Ct./Min. weltweit telefonieren! http://freephone.web.de/?mc=021201 __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] doubtful material related to Berlin fireball
Hello Svend, thank you for pointing our attention onto this ebay auction. Here are some facts. On February 1, 2005 a bright fireball has been recorded by two cameras of the European Fireball Network (one near Berlin and one in the Czech Republic). The bolide looked quite promising. So we measured and calculated the event with high priority. We have the full reduction of the fireball - and we are pretty sure that NO fragments have reached the ground, although the initial mass was 200 kg. The material was rather fragile (most probably a carbo- naceous chondrite) and didn't survive it's 90 km fiery passage thru the Earth's atmosphere. I have written a detailed, four page, report about this fireball, but so far it's available in German only. It is quite obvious that the following auction http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemcategory=44608item=6164417570rd=1 is a classical ebay fraud. The seller started his ebay carreer yesterday!, and he tells pure nonsense: I'm absolutely sure, that there he has NO scientific analysis of his material. Furthermore there were NO publications that 10 kg of material in 100 gram sized fragments may have reached the ground! It seems to me that the seller just tries to make a fortune with junk. He also claims, that he recently has found 34 fragment of 7 different meteorites here in Germany. So we are anxious what he is going to offer us next. Kind regards from Germany Dieter Heinlein DLR Fireball Network - Original Message - From: Dr. Svend Buhl [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 11:18 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] doubtful material related to Berlin fireball Hi list, some of the German members of this list might have noticed there has been a fireball sighting in the Berlin area in February. The event lasted for about five seconds and has also been recorded by a camera of the European Fireball Network. There have been a couple of newspaper and TV-reports since then featuring scientists claiming that the entire 200 kg mass has vaporized during descent according to their calculations. Other reports showed various self declared meteorite hunters combing the terrain for cosmic booty, one of them equipped with a rather professional magnetometer, but none of them has claimed any finds in public yet. Anyhow, since there has been no official confirmation regarding recovered material of this fall I wonder about the nature of this material: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemcategory=44608item=6164417570rd=1 The seller claims to offer material of the - recent year 2005 Berlin fal l- which - has been tested by scientific institutions - as he states in his description. This is only one of several doubtful meteorite offers currently online in German ebay. Another seller offers a large piece of a meteorite from Rissani which is obviously not a meteorite, but rather a piece of magnetite-rich basalt. This auction has already found a bidder. I know that none of the reputable German sellers known to this list are involved in the cases mentioned above. But since I neglected German ebay for a couple of months, I wonder if I just stepped on single exceptions or if I missed a general trend. I f so, I might consider to invest in a sophisticated meteorwrong collection ... cheers Svend www.niger-meteorite-recon.de __ Mit WEB.DE FreePhone mit hoechster Qualitaet ab 0 Ct./Min. weltweit telefonieren! http://freephone.web.de/?mc=021201 __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
AW: [meteorite-list] doubtful material related to Berlin fireball
Just had a phonecall with Dr. Oberst from the DLR (where the seller claims they analyzed his meteorite). They have never analyzed the meteorite, this is a lie. They are pretty sure it burned up in the sky. Just to let you know. Bernhard -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Im Auftrag von Dieter Heinlein Gesendet: Montag, 21. März 2005 13:33 An: Meteorite List; Dr. Svend Buhl Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] doubtful material related to Berlin fireball Hello Svend, thank you for pointing our attention onto this ebay auction. Here are some facts. On February 1, 2005 a bright fireball has been recorded by two cameras of the European Fireball Network (one near Berlin and one in the Czech Republic). The bolide looked quite promising. So we measured and calculated the event with high priority. We have the full reduction of the fireball - and we are pretty sure that NO fragments have reached the ground, although the initial mass was 200 kg. The material was rather fragile (most probably a carbo- naceous chondrite) and didn't survive it's 90 km fiery passage thru the Earth's atmosphere. I have written a detailed, four page, report about this fireball, but so far it's available in German only. It is quite obvious that the following auction http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemcategory=44608item=6164417570; rd=1 is a classical ebay fraud. The seller started his ebay carreer yesterday!, and he tells pure nonsense: I'm absolutely sure, that there he has NO scientific analysis of his material. Furthermore there were NO publications that 10 kg of material in 100 gram sized fragments may have reached the ground! It seems to me that the seller just tries to make a fortune with junk. He also claims, that he recently has found 34 fragment of 7 different meteorites here in Germany. So we are anxious what he is going to offer us next. Kind regards from Germany Dieter Heinlein DLR Fireball Network - Original Message - From: Dr. Svend Buhl [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 11:18 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] doubtful material related to Berlin fireball Hi list, some of the German members of this list might have noticed there has been a fireball sighting in the Berlin area in February. The event lasted for about five seconds and has also been recorded by a camera of the European Fireball Network. There have been a couple of newspaper and TV-reports since then featuring scientists claiming that the entire 200 kg mass has vaporized during descent according to their calculations. Other reports showed various self declared meteorite hunters combing the terrain for cosmic booty, one of them equipped with a rather professional magnetometer, but none of them has claimed any finds in public yet. Anyhow, since there has been no official confirmation regarding recovered material of this fall I wonder about the nature of this material: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemcategory=44608item=6164417570; rd=1 The seller claims to offer material of the - recent year 2005 Berlin fal l- which - has been tested by scientific institutions - as he states in his description. This is only one of several doubtful meteorite offers currently online in German ebay. Another seller offers a large piece of a meteorite from Rissani which is obviously not a meteorite, but rather a piece of magnetite-rich basalt. This auction has already found a bidder. I know that none of the reputable German sellers known to this list are involved in the cases mentioned above. But since I neglected German ebay for a couple of months, I wonder if I just stepped on single exceptions or if I missed a general trend. I f so, I might consider to invest in a sophisticated meteorwrong collection ... cheers Svend www.niger-meteorite-recon.de __ Mit WEB.DE FreePhone mit hoechster Qualitaet ab 0 Ct./Min. weltweit telefonieren! http://freephone.web.de/?mc=021201 __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
