[meteorite-list] Important Mojave Meteorite Found

[Adam Hupe]

Dear List,

I promised to announce a few things of  interest as laboratory results come
in so here is the first of many important announcements to come:

I recently received laboratory confirmation regarding a meteorite that was
found within a few miles of the famous Old Woman Meteorite.  When I first
examined the stone I was not even sure it was meteoritic but it was magnetic
and dense.  It reminded me of iron shale I had seen in other iron type
meteorites so I broke off a small piece and diamond lapped it. When I saw a
few elemental metal flakes imbedded in the shale, I knew with 90% certainty
it was a weathered iron meteorite so I sent a piece in for classification.
Here are a few images with explanations.

This image shows where weathering has delaminated the crystalline structure.
If you look carefully you can see 10 mm sized bands forming a triangular
pattern.  What is interesting is that the original Old Woman meteorite has a
10 mm bandwidth making it a coarsest octahedrite.  The reason this specimen
is more weathered than the original find is that it was found at a lower
elevation where moisture is more prevalent.

Freshly found Old Woman IIAB Iron meteorite, image one:
http://themeteoritesite.com/oldwoman.jpg

The second image shows the side with less weathering and more elemental
iron:
 http://themeteoritesite.com/Oldwoman2.jpg

I hope you enjoyed the images and will take any advice on what to do with
this very special meteorite.  Should I donate it and if so where?


------------------------------------
Adam Hupe
The Hupe Collection
Team LunarRock
IMCA 2185
raremeteorites at comcast.net