By Associated Press, Published: April 25 | Updated: Thursday, April 26, 5:00 AM
RENO, Nev. —Robert Ward found something special in the Sierra foothills along the path of a flaming fireball that shook parts of Northern California and Nevada with a sonic boom over the weekend.
And scientists have confirmed his suspicions: it’s one of the more primitive types of space rocks out there, dating to the early formation of the solar system 4 to 5 billion years ago.
He found the first piece on Tuesday along a road bet, where James W. Marshall first discovered gold in California, at Sutter’s Mill in 1848.
Ward, who has found meteorites in every continent but Antarctica and goes by “AstroBob” on his website, said he “instantly knew” it was a rare meteorite known as “CM” — carbonaceous chondrite — based in part on the “fusion crusts from atmospheric entry” on one side of the rock.
Ward actually has two rocks but suspects they were part of the same small meteorite that broke on impact. Each weighs about 10 grams — about the same as two nickels. He said his only previous finds that rival this one were three lunar meteorites he found years ago in the Middle East.
An event of that size might happen once a year around the world, said Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “But most of them occur over the ocean or an uninhabited area, he said.
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/apnewsbreak-meteorites-found-in-northern-california-likely-from-giant-fireball-over-weekend/2012/04/25/gIQAoUWthT_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop
Meteorites found in Sierra Nevada likely from giant fireball over weekend, old as solar system - The Washington Post
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