Hi Rubin and all,
One hundred and fifty years ago, a stone fell in Bethlehem, New York on
August 11 that also involved a meteorite finding dog, apparently not as
well trained as the West, Texas dog. C.U. Shepard wrote:
“Mr. Vanderpool was at work near his house, and heard the explosion in
common with other members of his family. About two minutes after, as it
appeared to him, a stone, coming in an oblique course, struck the side
of a wagon house, glanced off, hit a log upon the ground, bounded again,
and rolled into the grass. A dog lying in the doorway of the wagon house
sprang up, darted out and seized it, but dropped it immediately,
probably on account of its warmth and sulphurous small.”
And of course there's the story about the dog that found the Lost City
meteorite in January, 1970. Must have been too heavy to carry so he just
"marked it", probably so he could find it again. ;-)
Cheers,
Frank
--- On Sat, 2/21/09, Ruben Garcia <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Ruben Garcia <[email protected]>
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Finding Dog in West Texas
To: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 5:08 PM
There is indeed a meteorite finding dog!
Here's the story. On Friday Sonny, Steve Arnold and I drove into the
strewn
field bright and early and immediately started knocking on doors to try to
gain
permission to hunt. Upon walking up to a particular house Sonny spotted a
meteorite on the porch (about 70-90 grams) he picked it up, and laid it
back
down. "Ruben, did you see that fully crusted meteorite on the porch?"
He Said. I couldn't believe it. He was right! Right there on the porch but
no one was home...what to do? Since Sonny assured me that he wasn't going
to
buy meteorites when he could find them I decided to track down the owner
and try
to buy the specimen.
I got the owners work phone number from a neighbor and called. After
introducing myself and explaining what I was in town for, I told the owner
that
there was a meteorite on their porch. "What, you mean that black rock that
the dog brought up and dropped on the porch?" "Yes, that one" I
said.
Needless to say, I drove down and did a nice video interview with the
owner
holding the space rock and recalling the tale.
Ruben Garcia
Phoenix, Arizona
Website: http://www.Mr-Meteorite.Net
Articles: http://www.meteorite.com/blog/
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=meteorfright&p=v
--- On Sat, 2/21/09, [email protected] <[email protected]>
wrote:
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] West, Texas meteorite finds
To: [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 4:18 AM
Quick...make an offer for the dog!
Thanks for the interesting update/report.
Graham Ensor UK
---- [email protected] wrote:
> Hello from Sunny Texas, under clear and starry-eyed
skies at the moment,
>
> A few stones were found right at the time of the fall,
however, they
> were not definitively identified as meteorites -
though that was the
> suspicion and they were saved.
>
> We (Doug Dawn, Dmitry Sadilenko, Sergey Petukov) drove
across the
> country and estimated the location of the strewn field
within 48 hours
> of the event. With a bit of tenacity, scarcely four
hours after the
> second day, thanks to the help of some Texas-sized
hospitality, we
> arrived in the strewn field and found our first couple
of stones and I
> had the distinct pleasure of shaking the finders hand
and removing any
> lingering doubts in his mind that he had meteorites
fresh from Heaven's
> farm.
>
> After the initial success, my good friend and
asteroidhunter, Rob
> Matson of Los Angeles, joined up with the team. We
have found some
> stones, but more are being found by others, and we
really expect larger
> masses to be found, though hard work in the field
definitely gets you
> wondering if just because such a meteoritical
spectacle drops one
> stone, should it drop the thousands we keep expecting
to see? The TKW
> is rapidly evolving, but the area is being hit quite
hard by hunters
> already. This doesn't seem to be a dense fall, and
some areas are very
> easy to search, though bramble in other areas
effectively keeps those
> off limits. All land is private and most families keep
their gun
> collections well oiled. In our case, the big-hearts of
the landowners
> have humbled easily as much as the witness reports of
the bolide's
> fragmenting itself. This is at odds with some other
reports, only
> because residents of the area treasure their privacy
and were
> completely overwhelmed by the wave of treasure hunters
that descended.
> We almost lost our permission to hunt when they
believed that we were
> somehow responsible for several meteorite hunters
showing up with a
> news crews. Besides being quite busy, I promised to
respect the
> anonymity of our hosts as a condition of our search,
and this evening
> we reaped the benefits of a delicious home-cooked
dinner prepared by
> the caring hands of our hosts at their dinner table.
There is a great
> Texas steakhouse on I-35 which adds to the flavor for
anyone wanting to
> experience Texas culture, cowboys and pretty cowgirls
from West, TX.
>
> It has been an incredible last few days, which started
by being the
> first to walk in a virgin strewn field, though my
mother had some
> problems (she seems better now) that have somewhat
muted what will
> undoubtedly be some of the most memorable moments of
my life. It is way
> past bedtime and I will post more tomorrow. The
meteorite itself is
> moderately to highly shocked and has a very bright,
light, interior and
> veins of troilite and nodules of metal, and the
majority of stones
> found are fully fusion crusted. More on the
classification on Saturday.
> We certainly were not in a mass-laden portion of the
strewn field,
> other hunters please take note; more likely just a
place where a minor
> fragmentation impacted. In any case, we are committed
to getting the
> science done so everyone else can rest assured that we
have already
> gladly provided the mass requirements necessary for
this honor.
>
> All in all, a very humbling experience for many
reasons. To pick up a
> piece of a falling star and I thought, detect a faint
sulfurous odor.
> It seems a dog even caught the scent of a meteorite
and laid it down on
> the owners porch!
>
> Best wishes and clear skies
> Doug
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pat Branch <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]; Global Meteor Observing Forum
> <[email protected]>
> Sent: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 9:28 am
> Subject: Re: (meteorobs) West, Texas meteorite finds
>
>
> The University of North Texas Astronomers have found 4
so far. I saw a
> video clip of them. The biggest is about 3 times the
others...just
> about palm sized.
>
> I think that is 4 for Farmer and 4 for UNT. I have not
heard of other
> teams finding anything.
>
>
> --- In [email protected], drtanuki
<drtan...@...> wrote:
> >
> > Dear List,
> > Here are the latest reports from the West, Texas
fall.
> >
> > http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/
> >
> > Best Regards, Dirk Ross...Tokyo
> > _______________________________________________
> ______________________________________________
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> [email protected]
>
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