It Came From Outer Space !!!

1. It Came From Outer Space !!! Some Famous Meteorites: • Ahnighito meteorite • Alais meteorite • ALH84001 • Allende meteorite • Barwell meteorite • Cape York meteorite • Cold Bokkeveld meteorite • Ensisheim meteorite • Hoba meteorite • Innisfree meteorite • Ivuna meteorite • Jilin meteorite • Kaba meteorite • Lafayette meteorite • Lost City meteorite • Lucky 13 • Murchison meteorite • Murray meteorite • Nakhla meteorite • Orgueil meteorite • Peekskill meteorite • Príbram meteorite • Sikhote-Alin meteorite • Tatahouine meteorite • Williamette meteorite • Yamato 791198 From the Internet Encyclopedia of Science: http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/meteorites_famous.html

2. The Sikhote-Alin Meteorite A huge iron meteorite that broke up in the atmosphere and fell as a shower near the village of Paseka in the western part of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in southeast Siberia at 10:38 a.m. local time on Feb. 12, 1947. Witnesses reported seeing a fireball that was brighter than the Sun. Coming out of the north and descending at an angle of 40°, it left a trail of smoke and dust 30 km long that lingered for several hours. Light and sound from the fall were reported in a radius of some 300 km around the point of impact. Having entered Earth's atmosphere at about 14.5 km/s (31,000 mph), the great iron mass began to break into fragments, which fell together over an elliptical area of about a square kilometer, the biggest making craters and pits, up to 26 m across and 6 m deep. The original mass of the meteorite has been put at more than 70 tons and the largest recovered fragment is a 1,745 kg specimen now on display in Moscow. Fragments from the Sikhote-Alin meteorite shower. Photo credit: Washington University in St. Louis. From: http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/Sikhote-Alin_meteorite.html

3. The Location of the Fall "Bear" Hunting Estate. Sikhote Alin' Mountains. Primorsky Province. (Photo by P.Fomenko) From: http://amurheilong.net/pho/02_ecosystem/02_ecoregions/02temperateforest/ussuriforest_sikhotealin/images/image/Medved-hunting-lease-Lazo%20district-PFomenko.JPG Location of the Sikhote Alin meteorite fall in eastern Russia, off the northern coast of Japan From: http://www.meteoritemarket.com/SAinfo.htm The Sikhote-Alin is a mountain range in the provinces of Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais, Russia, extending about 900 km to the northeast of the Russian Pacific seaport of Vladivostok. The highest summits are Tordoki Yani (2,077 m), Ko Mountain (2,003 m) in Khabarovsk Krai and Anik Mountain (1,933 m) in Primorsky Krai. Sikhote-Alin comprises one of the most extraordinary temperate zones in the world. Species typical of northern taiga (such as reindeer and the Ussuri Brown Bear) coexist with tropical species, the Amur leopard, Siberian tiger, and the Asiatic Black Bear. The region holds very few wolves, due to competition with tigers. The oldest tree in the region is a millennium-old Japanese yew. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhote-Alin_Mountains

4. More About The Sikhote-Alin Meteorite • Strewn field: • The strewn field for this meteorite covered an elliptical area of about 1.3 km². Some of the fragments made craters, the largest of which was about 26 m across and 6 m deep. Fragments of the meteorite were also driven into the surrounding trees. • Composition and classification: • The Sikhote-Alin meteorite is classified as an iron meteorite belonging to the chemical group IIAB and with a coarse octahedrite structure. It is composed of approximately 93% iron, 5.9% nickel, 0.42% cobalt, 0.46% phosphorus, and 0.28% sulfur, with trace amounts of germanium and iridium. Minerals present include taenite, plessite, troilite, chromite, kamacite, and schreibersite. • Two Types of Specimens: • Individual, thumbprinted or regmaglypted specimens, showing fusion crust and signs of atmospheric ablation • Shrapnel or fragmented specimens, sharp edged pieces of torn metal showing evidence of violent fragmentation • The first type probably broke off the main object early in the descent. These pieces are characterized by regmaglypts (cavities resembling thumb prints) in the surface of each specimen. The second type are fragments which were either torn apart during the atmospheric explosions or blasted apart upon impact on the frozen ground. Most were probably the result of the explosion at 5.6 km altitude. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhote-Alin_meteorite

5. Watch the 18-Minute Documentary On Line At: http://www.meteorites.com.au/odds&ends/sikhote-alin.html The biggest Sikhote-Alin individual piece (1745 kg). From: http://www.fmm.ru/meteoren.htm

6. This Purported Fragment From The Sikhote-Alin Meteorite Seller’s Description: Iron Meteorite Sikhote-Alin fall of February 12, 1947 Russia This is an iron meteorite. This meteorite was a witnessed fall of February 12,1947 in the Sikhote-Alin mountains of Russia. When the meteorite fell it literally went off like a grenade very close to the ground spraying iron meteorite shrapnel fragments all over a mountain side. So noteworthy was the event that the Soviets issued a stamp featuring a painting of the fireball. This is one of those shrapnel fragments, clearly showing the twisting and contorted appearance of a meteorite torn apart. Weighs 8.73 grams. Size 25 mm From ECIN Associates. Michael Godier – Proprietor, 151 O'Fallon Plaza, O'Fallon MO 63366

7. Is It Genuine ? Two diamond-blade saw cuts were made about here to expose clean metal surfaces for X-ray florescence measurements X-ray fluorescence : A nondestructive physical method used for chemical elemental analysis of materials in the solid or liquid state. The specimen is irradiated by photons of sufficient energy to cause its elements to emit (fluoresce) their characteristic x-ray line spectra. The detection system allows the determination of the energies of the emitted lines and their intensities. Elements in the specimen are identified by their spectral line energies or wavelengths, and the intensities are related to their concentrations. Measurements were conducted by Dave Utrata at CNDE. This painting by P.I. Medvedev shows the fall of the Sikhote-Alin in the morning of February 12, 1947. The painter happened to look through the window when he saw the terrifying natural spectacle and quick-wittedly took hold of the brush to document the event. The Soviet Union issued a postage stamp based on this painting to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the fall. From: http://www.chiemgau-impact.com/historie.html

8. Results of X-Ray Fluorescence Measurements On the Five Available Cleaned Surfaces Based on the measured percentages of Iron, Nickel and Cobalt, this fragment seems to be consistent with known Sikhote-Alin composition data.