once a meteorite or meteorites are found ?

[desertdrone]

Hi all

I'm still condsider my self a new meteorite hunter, i'm not sure if this has been asked before but once you find a meteorite or meteorites and get them home

what do you normaly do first.

get them sent off to be classified ?

also how do you organize your collections ?

Phillip

[Regmaglitch]

Hi Drone,

It's important that while still in the field, you take an in-situ picture, and record GPS cordinates. If you've found something new or unusual, this will be important for science, if it's yet another common chondrite from the strewnfield of a known find or fall, you'll want that information for provenance, mapping your finds, and most importantly, memories of great adventure. After you get your specimens home, you should clean them gently with soap, water, and a brush. Do not use any harsh chemicals or cleaning solutions. I like to use an old toothbrush because the bristles clean well without damaging the stone. Next, after drying, you should weigh your specimen, and write it down for your records. (not that you won't remember the weights of favorite meteorites - I'll always remember the weight of my first) Now that your stone is clean, re-examine it, possibly with a loupe because, many features that were not visable before, may now be seen. Also, you may want to photograph it again, for a "before and after" comparison. As far as classification goes, all coldfinds and new meteorites should be sent to a reputable, and established university meteorite lab for classification. The established rule is to send in 20 grams or 20 percent. You can find someone on this forum to help you get it cut. If your stone is from a known strewnfield, use common sense; unless your specimen is radically different from the other 10,000 stones found there, do you think they really want or need to classify it. If you've found more than one from a location, you may want to file a window into the meteorite, or even cut it with a rock saw, or wet tile-saw just to show off the interior. Or you might just want to display it. You might use cases, cabinets, tripods, boxes, jars, shelves, etc. Methods of display are only limited by your imagination. Any way that other valuable collectables can be displayed, will probably work with meteorites.

Ben

[meteoritewatch]

Hi Drone,

It's important that while still in the field, you take an in-situ picture, and record GPS cordinates. If you've found something new or unusual, this will be important for science, if it's yet another common chondrite from the strewnfield of a known find or fall, you'll want that information for provenance, mapping your finds, and most importantly, memories of great adventure. After you get your specimens home, you should clean them gently with soap, water, and a brush. Do not use any harsh chemicals or cleaning solutions. I like to use an old toothbrush because the bristles clean well without damaging the stone. Next, after drying, you should weigh your specimen, and write it down for your records. (not that you won't remember the weights of favorite meteorites - I'll always remember the weight of my first) Now that your stone is clean, re-examine it, possibly with a loupe because, many features that were not visable before, may now be seen. Also, you may want to photograph it again, for a "before and after" comparison. As far as classification goes, all coldfinds and new meteorites should be sent to a reputable, and established university meteorite lab for classification. The established rule is to send in 20 grams or 20 percent. You can find someone on this forum to help you get it cut. If your stone is from a known strewnfield, use common sense; unless your specimen is radically different from the other 10,000 stones found there, do you think they really want or need to classify it. If you've found more than one from a location, you may want to file a window into the meteorite, or even cut it with a rock saw, or wet tile-saw just to show off the interior. Or you might just want to display it. You might use cases, cabinets, tripods, boxes, jars, shelves, etc. Methods of display are only limited by your imagination. Any way that other valuable collectables can be displayed, will probably work with meteorites.

Ben

Ben's right... I think most meteorite hunters will agree, it's important to take a photo of the meteorite find before you remove it from it's resting place, even though that may not be where it originally landed. It's also a good educational image for visual ID to help "train" your eye to see meteorites in the field.

Regards,

Eric