Hello Ok for the report, is available a complete individual of 10 gr.? I have ask in my last email but I never received answer. Regards
Matteo --- Mike Farmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello everyone. Eric and I are back in South Africa, > safe and sound, exhausted, but happy. > I want to explain a little about this meteorite in > response to Matteo and Joel Warren's emails. > First for Matteo. Yes, the photos of the material > that > you saw in the Hupe's photos looks a little bit > weathered. I saw > all of the material first hand in Tucson so I know > exactly what it looks like. The meteorite fell in > Lesotho, (get a map Matteo), many thousands of > kilometers from North Africa, a little far for > nomads > to try and pull a scam I would think? Anyway, this > is > a very mountainous region, and this year was > apparently a record rainfall year. The area where > the > meteorite fell is partly on a high plateau, and > partly > in a valley. The strewnfield is almost 5 miles long > by > 2 miles wide. Several small villages and a satellite > tracking station are in the middle of it. The area > is > full of small ponds and farmland, cabbage and > cornfields. The stones are still being found, but it > is high summer here, allot of rain and irrigation > for > the fields, so many stones are now weathered just as > would be expected. The meteorite was seen and heard > to fall by thousands of people all over the entire > country of Lesotho and part of South Africa. The day > was 80% clouded so it was only broken visibility of > the fireball and smoke trail. Due to this, the > university took almost 3 weeks to find the actual > strewnfield. This happened when the local police > report came out, once per month. In it there was > report that some villagers reported to the police > that > someone had thrown stones from the sky at them. The > police of course had no idea whom to charge, so they > just reported it. > When the scientists at the university saw that, they > immediately went to the villages and began > recovering > the meteorites and mapping the strewnfield. This was > late August, almost one month after the fall. > These small villages are tiny, only a few houses, > the > people there have no time to waste on stones, so > they > soon forgot about the event until the university > people came to collect and buy the stones. Then of > course, everyone was out finding as many as they > could. > Eric and I spent an entire day at the university > discussing the fall with them, pouring over maps and > papers, and viewing the collection log of stones > recovered. They have listed 490 stones, completely > catalogued as to where recovered, by whom, size, > dimensions etc. Extremely thorough data collection. > We have logged in the stones we recovered and > submitted that data to the university in order to > keep > the data as complete as possible. We also got some > of > the meteorites that the university collected along > with all data about them. > This fall will be one of the best with complete > strewnfield mapping, logs for many stones, and > written > reports. So Matteo and Joel, I would NOT consider > these > people to be uneducated third world idiots. > By the way, the meteorite is pronounced > (too-wa-tea), > and Lesotho is pronounced (less-ooo-too). > Eric and I have many stones, almost all are > absolutely gorgeous. Black and no weathering. Many > have been held back by the people, because > unfortunately, the local people buying before us > were paying > 10 rand and 20 rand for the larger stones. This is > about $1.25 for stones of several hundred grams! > When > we arrived, we found helpful locals and they told us > to pay well or we would see no stones. When we > offered > the money, people gasped at the amount we offered, > it > was many months wages per stone, some enough to > build > entire houses. So by paying well, we got stones that > had been held back by the people for months. Almost > nothing Eric and I have shows much weathering at > all. > There are almost no large stones in this fall over > 500 > grams. Most are in the 20 to 50 gram range. Very few > oriented stones, but a couple. > The area has been well hunted, not many stones left > to > find out there. I have calculated along with the > scientists and found that the approximate recovered > weight is now about 33 to 36 kilograms. Undoubtedly > a > few more kilos is on the very rough terrain to be > found, but not much more than a few kilos. > This meteorite is Lesotho's first meteorite, and a > witnessed fall, so it is a great day for that small > beautiful country and for meteorite collectors. > The name Thuathe should be accepted, as it is the > major landmark for the strewnfield (the plateau) and > the villages are tiny. > Count your pennies and get ready to see some > beautiful > stones when we get home this weekend. > There isn't that much to go around, so this fall > will > disappear rapidly from the market. > I will of course, be reporting more about our > adventure later and have taken many photographs. > > Michael Farmer > Eric Olson, > Meteorite Hunters > > ===== M come Meteorite - Matteo Chinellato Via Triestina 126/A - 30030 - TESSERA, VENEZIA, ITALY Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sale Site: http://www.mcomemeteorite.com Collection Site: http://www.mcomemeteorite.info International Meteorite Collectors Association #2140 MSN Messanger: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EBAY.COM:http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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