[meteorite-list] 1, 430 Pound Pallasite Meteorite Joins Kansas Cosmosphere Collection

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/15013424.htm

1,430 pound meteorite joins Cosmosphere collection
Associated Press
July 11, 2006

HUTCHINSON, Kan. - The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center has 
added a 1,430-pound meteorite that fell in Kiowa County about 
2,000 years ago to its display.

"We're placing it next to the moon rock and will affectionately 
call the two our rock collection," Cosmosphere CEO and 
President Jeff Ollenburger said.

The meteorite is believed to be the world's largest "oriented" 
pallasite meteorite, meaning it has a nose-cone shape caused 
by the way it entered the atmosphere.

Steve Arnold, 40, a former Kansan now living in Arkansas, found 
the meteorite Oct. 16, buried more than 7 feet under a farm 
halfway between Haviland and Greensburg.

The meteorite is 50 percent iron and 50 percent peridot crystal.

Most meteorites become rounded as they tumble and roll through 
the earth's atmosphere, Arnold said. Instead of tumbling, this 
meteorite maintained a constant orientation, melting one side 
and not the other.

The meteorite will remain at the Cosmosphere through August, 
Ollenburger said.