CU-Boulder Researchers to Analyze Meteorite That Fell Outside

BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- University of Colorado at Boulder researchers will scientifically analyze a meteorite that fell outside Berthoud, Colo., last week, only the fifth to ever have been seen falling and subsequently recovered in Colorado, experts say.

The meteorite weighs more than 2 pounds and is about as large as a baseball, although it is irregular in shape. It appears to be made of igneous rock and is melted on its surface from the heat of entering the atmosphere. The meteorite probably broke off an asteroid or planetary body.

Megan and John Whiteis of Berthoud, and Megan's son, Casper, provided the meteorite to aerospace engineering sciences assistant professor Scott Palo for scientific analysis after they saw it land in their backyard. The couple had just walked out their back door into the yard at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 5, when the meteorite flew over their heads and landed about 100 feet ahead of them.

...Palo is an expert in radio meteors -- the study of ionized meteor trails in the upper atmosphere using radio waves. Palo spent the next few days putting together a team of scientists interested in helping to analyze the specimen. The team includes:

- Jack Murphy, curator emeritus of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, who is writing a book on Colorado meteorites

...Residents of Berthoud also are asked to keep their eyes open for any rocks that appear unusual with a smooth, black, shiny crust. People who find objects they think may be a meteorite should contact Jack Murphy ...

Field Report from Berthoud

By Mike Jensen, October 13, 2004

Just wanted to fill everybody in on how today's hunt went. The obvious first question to answer is did we find any and the answer is not really. We did find a couple of meteorite fragments in the pit which of course were turned over to the land owners.

Several of us including COMETS members Fred Hall, Fred Olsen, Larry Sloan and myself met Jack Murphy and several of his volunteers from the Museum.

When we first arrived we were happy to see Scott Palo an assistant Professor in the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering Sciences who is heading up the investigation there as well.

Also in attendance were the Land Owners John, Megan and their son Casper Whitesis. But of course the most exciting moment is when Scott showed us the guest of honor.

We set up a little viewing area on the picnic table outside their rustic 1910 built house. What a truly gorgeous place to view the meteorite, with the Rocky Mtns in the background and a truly exceptional fall day in Colorado. Immediately as Scott removed the meteorite I was glad I had my sunglasses on. The fusion crust is incredibly shiny. One is struck by its size as compared to its weight. Looks like it should be 1.5 kg not just 960 grams. My second thought was it looks just like a Millbillillie or Camel Donga with tan colored clay instead of the Australian Red clay.

While the mass is somewhat irregular in shape there are obvious flow line easily visible from a distance. It also has a large missing piece about the size of half an apple with some of the lightest secondary fusion crust I have ever seen.

Under a hand lens one can see that only the highest points of the fractured surface were melted. Along this surface a roll over lip was created. This obviously happened later in flight.

Most perplexing to me is the smaller golf ball diameter chip off the secondary fusion crusted area. This shows no signs of fusion crust but does reveal the interior. The interior is a light to white colored matrix filled with a clearer crystalline material.

One disappointment is the piece is filled with numerous cracks. If this piece had hit harder surface it would have fractured into several pieces. The surface it did hit was quite hard being a horse corral.

Megan actually the saw meteorite in flight at about 25 feet before it hit from a distance of 100 feet. She saw what she described as the ground move in the middle of the horse pen.

All three of the family members were outside at the time but John and Casper only heard the sound. They went over to find the meteorite which took about 25 minutes to find and dig out. All that was exposed was a small piece that I would guess was 25-30 grams. The rest was completely buried. John looked over at his wife and said it was not a meteorite. She quickly asked him if he saw any other rock that looked like that. He'll probably never live that one down. After trying to dig the piece out with their hands they discovered it would not budge. Both John and Casper ran to get something to dig it out. Casper quickly found a claw hammer. You might all be cringing right now but John was going to get the shovel.

This of course would have completely destroyed the crater. In fact the lower half of the crater was completely in tact to the point that the piece could be easily placed back in the hole with the correct orientation.

Probably the coolest part of the pit is the bottom as you can see straw imbedded in the bottom.

The areas we walked were an adjoining property owned by another land owner. Please note all of the land is privately owned so permission should be obtained before hunting. We were quite fortunate to be joined by both John and Casper at one time or another. In all 12 people joined in the search. One interesting aspect of the hunt is the almost total absence of rocks. So you don't find yourself bending over much to pick up rocks. It is also row after row of corn that has mostly been harvested. So it was quite easy to follow a straight line. Unfortunately later in the day the stubble for the corn stalks creates some wicked shadows.

Something else I was struck by was the size of the their property. It is only 1.5 acres while the property around theirs is 300-400 acres and 1000 acres across the street. I guess you sometimes need to be lucky.

As we were talking during the hunt we realized that at 1:33 PM it would be a week since it fell. In fact Casper noted that 7 days ago it was still in space. So at the appointed time we stopped to take a photo of our group with the house in the back ground in order to observe it 7 days of life on the planet earth.

The next major hunt will be on Saturday. CU will have several astronomy classes out to help search to properties in the area. I'll be there tomorrow. Email if you are interested in helping with the hunt.

Wish us luck.
Mike Jensen IMCA 4264

for more details see the Feb. 2005 issue of METEORITE - Intriguing Stone Recovered Near Berthoud, Colorado by Mike Jensen

also "Berthoud" Meteorite and photo of search