[meteorite-list] NPA 12-22-1982 Smithsonian Returns Wethersfield Meteorite

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Daily Intelligencer
City: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Date: Wednesday, December 22, 1982
Page: 27

Smithsonian returns meteorite

     WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (AP) - The Smithsonian Institution wants to display 
the meteorite that landed here last month, but the owners of the house hit 
by the rock aren't sure they want to give it up.
     "We're trying to arrange with the public library to put it on display," 
Wanda Donohue. "The people in town should have the opportunity to see it.  
After that, we're not sure."
     The meteorite, which scientists say weighed about 50 pounds before 
hitting the Earth's surface and breaking up on Nov. 8, was recently returned 
- minus a few fragments - to Mrs. Donahue and her husband, Robert.
     The black, stony mass has been analyzed at the Battelle Pacific 
Northwest Laboratory in Richard, Wash., a government-run facility.  Chips of 
the meteorite are undergoing further study at Battelle and in Washington, 
D.C.; Houston and elsewhere.
     Roy S. Clarke Jr., curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian's Museum of 
Natural History, said the meteorite that hit the Donohues' house is similar 
to the one that landed about a mile away in Wethersfield in 1971.
     "They are the same, identical class and thus are probably related in 
space and time." Clarke said. "But how close that relationship is is hard to 
know."
     Clarke said both rocks are known as L-6 chondrites, the most common 
type of meteorite found on Earth.  But he said the Donohues' meteorite is 
important because it is the "freshest" meteorite ever studied.
     The L-6 chondrites are believed to come from the asteroid belt, a 
cluster of matter that orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter.  Many 
scientists believe the asteroids are remnants of an exploded planet.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
http://www.imca.cc

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The NPA in the subject line, stands for Newspaper Article. The old list 
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more for quick reference and shortening the subject line now.