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Space object lands in Bulloch Picking beans, farmer finds a meteorite By HOLLI DEAL BRAGG Statesboro Herald December 18, 2003 It was the summer of 2000 when local vegetable producer Harold Cannon found an odd rock. He tossed it aside. It would be three years before he learned he had found a meteorite. Cannon was picking butter beans when his bean picker machine lifted the five and a half pound lump. Cannon tossed it aside and kept on working. Three years later, at his wife 's prompting, Cannon decided to clean up a bit. Finding the strange rock where he had chunked it between two freezers, Cannon decided to chip off a bit to see what it looked like inside. It wasn't an ordinary rock, he said. "It looked like a rock outside, but it was black inside," he said. Cannon had always known the heavy lump was unusual, but never dreamed it was out of this world. After taking a hammer to the meteorite, he took the meteorite to Georgia Southern University professor Dr. Michael Kelley. "I called him and he told me to bring it in," he said. "He broke off a piece and sent it to the Smithsonian Institution. Kelley sent 25 grams to a friend who works in the Smithsonian after he and GSU professor Dr. Pranoti Asher identified the rock as a meteorite. Test results are still pending, but the meteorite has been classified as an L-chondrite, he said. "We're waiting for official classification," he said. "We are proposing a name to be approved by an international committee." Meteorites are named and listed in an international catalog of meteorites by a curator in the British Museum, Kelley said. "This is the first meteorite anyone has ever found in Statesboro," he said. Since meteorites are "usually named for the places they landed, we are proposing this meteorite be named Statesboro." L Chondrite meteorites are the type most commonly found, but since only 22 documented meteorites have been discovered in Georgia, one of which destroyed a Claxton mailbox in 1984, the find is "quite exciting," he said. "So many (L-chondrite meteorites) have been found they have been studied extensively, but this is exciting to us because it's the first found here - and it's in our back yard." Cannon's Produce Farm is located off Joe Hodges Road between Statesboro and Pulaski. When he realized his "rock" wasn't really a rock, Cannon secured the bulk of the meteorite in a bank vault for safety. While the value of the meteorite has not been determined, Cannon said Jerry Armstrong, an Atlanta man who deals in meteorites told him the space debris can bring anywhere from $5 to $1 million a gram. According to various Internet web sites including www.weatherfriend.com and www.tucsonshow.com, a witness reported seeing a meteorite fall near Claxton around 5:30 p.m. Dec. 10, 1984. According to these sites, Vietnam veteran Don Richardson stepped out of his home to hear "a whistling noise that reminded him of an incoming mortar round, and then a loud bang as the meteorite struck (a) mailbox and knocked it to the ground." The web sites described the meteorite as "chondrite, a type of stony meteorite containing millimeter to sub-millimeter spherical olivine and pyroxene bodies called chondrules." The Claxton meteorite was recovered about 11 inches below the ground beneath the mailbox, according to web site information. Cannon said he is looking forward to finding out what the meteorite is worth, and that the "rock" is for sale "to the highest bidder" after he learns of its worth. Holli Deal Bragg can be reached at (912) 489-9414. ----------------------------------------------------------- http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=27404 Statesboro man find meteor while picking butter beans The Associated Press December 18, 2003 STATESBORO, Ga. - An strange-looking rock that a Statesboro man tossed between two freezers and left there for three years may be a meteoric discovery. In the summer of 2000, produce grower Harold Cannons bean picker machine lifted the 5 1/2-pound lump out of the ground while he was picking butter beans. He tossed the rock aside and kept working. Three years later, Cannons wife asked him to clean up a bit, and he found the rock where he had chucked it between the freezers. He chipped off a little of the rock to see what it looked like inside and discovered that it was no ordinary rock. It looked like a rock outside, but it was black inside, he said. He took his find to Georgia Southern University professor Dr. Michael Kelley. Kelley and another professor identified the rock as a meteorite, and Kelley sent a piece of the rock to a friend at the Smithsonian Institution. Test results determining its official classification are pending, but the meteorite has been classified as an L-chondrite, which is the type most commonly found, Kelley said. The find is exciting because only 22 documented meteorites have been discovered in Georgia, one of which destroyed a Claxton mailbox in 1984, he said. Its in our back yard, Kelley said. Meteorites are named and listed in an international catalog of meteorites by a curator in the British Museum. Because meteorites are typically named for the places they landed and this is the first meteorite ever found in Statesboro, they'rre proposing naming the meteorite Statesboro, Kelley said. The value of the meteor _ which Cannon placed in a bank vault _ has not yet been determined. Cannon doesnt plan on keeping his find. After he determines what the meteorite is worth, he plans to sell the rock to the highest bidder, he said. Information from: Statesboro Herald ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
