Meteoritos

Meteorites - Heavenly Jewels

Meteorites
• • • • • • • What are they? Where do they come from? What are they composed of? How and where can you find them? What are they worth? What can you do with them? How are they used in the gem & jewelry industry?

Meteoroids, Meteors & Meteorites
• A meteoroid is what we call a rock while it is in orbit around the sun and before it is decelerated bythe Earth’s atmosphere. • A meteor is the visible streak of light that occurs as the rock passes through the atmosphere and the exterior of the rock is heated to incandescence, also known as a “shooting star”. • A meteorite is a rock that was formed elsewhere in the Solar System or universe, was orbiting the sun or a planet for a long time, was eventually captured by Earth’s gravitational field,and fell to Earth as a solid object.

How can I see a shooting star?
Go to a rural location with minimal lights in the area, as far from cities and towns as possible. Pick a night with minimal cloud cover. Find a comfortable spot to lie on your back, be patient, gaze at the heavens and eventually you will see a small bright light streak across the sky.

There are eleven major annualmeteor “showers”
Meteor showers are usually named after the constellation from which they emanate (trace their paths backward and they appear to come from one place in the sky - their radiant). The Quadrantids are named after an obsolete constellation named Quadrans Muralis. The peak is generally January 3/4. Its Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR), or the amount of meteors expected an hour during its peak,is 90, or about 1 every 40 seconds

Splash down

Roughly 70% of the Earth is covered with water. Therefore, about 70% of the meteorites falling to the earth’s surface are lost in oceans, lakes and rivers.

Time lapsed photo of a meteor shower

Not to be confused with satellites

Don’t mistake fireflies for meteorites

Meteorite “Fireball” also called a “Bolide”.

Meteoroid tometeor to meteorite
• If a meteor does not get burned up in its dash through our atmosphere, and lands on the earth, we now have a meteorite. • Approximately 600 metric tonnes of meteorites have been recovered to date. • Let’s compare that with world gold and diamond production…

World gold production history

Meteorites, gold & diamonds
• Total world wide meteorite recovery is less than1/2 of 1% (0.005%) of world gold production in the last 100 years. • Diamond extraction from primary deposits (kimberlites and lamproites) started in the 1870’s after the discovery of the diamond fields in South Africa. Production has increased over time and now an accumulated total of 900 metric tonnes have been mined since that date.

Where do they come from?
• Debris from comets passingthrough our solar system • Asteroids and asteroid fragments • Very rarely, ejecta from Lunar and Martian meteor and comet impacts.

Primary classification
• Witnessed called “Falls” • Un-witnessed called “Find’s” • As of mid-2006, there are approximately 1,050 witnessed falls having specimens in the world's collections. In contrast, there are over 31,000 well-documented meteorite finds.Witnessed fall of a fireball meteor which reached the earths surface

Witnessed indeed!

What are the odds?
The most famous (and, indeed, the only accepted) injury caused by a meteorite occurred in Sylacauga, Alabama in 1954. Mrs. Annie Hodges was taking a nap one afternoon when she was awoken by an "explosion." She then noticed that she was seriously bruised on her left hip and that ameteorite had crashed through her roof, bounced off of a radio, and then hit her. The incident was picked up quickly by the press and is therefore the only verified strike to a human (in the eyes of some).

Doctor and Mrs. Annie Hodges

What are meteorites made of?
1. Stoney 2. Mixed Stoney and Iron 3. Iron
All meteorite finds and falls are separated into these three categories of meteorite...