[meteorite-list] World Record Meteorite Visits Fort Worth

[Notkin]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2006


“WORLD RECORD METEORITE” VISITS FORT WORTH
The 1,430-pound pallasite meteorite found in Kansas and reported on by 
ABC, NBC, CBS, and “USA Today” is on display at the Noble Planetarium
	
A giant space rock found in a farmer’s field by professional meteorite 
hunter Steve Arnold, 40, is the highlight of a new exhibition in the 
Rotunda of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

The three quarter-ton visitor from outer space, known as a Brenham 
meteorite, was discovered in Kansas in October 2005 using sophisticated 
metal detecting equipment. It is millions of years old, and has 
captured the attention of the media around the world, with appearances 
on MSNBC.com, the Discovery Channel, the Weather Channel, the NBC 
“Today Show,” and many others.

Brenham meteorites, named after the nearby Kiowa County, Kansas 
township, were first found in the area during the 1880s. Brenham 
meteorites are on permanent display in the American Museum of Natural 
History in New York, the Field Museum in Chicago, and other prominent 
institutions. They are of a rare type, known as pallasites, which 
account for only 1% of all known meteorites. Pallasites consist of a 
nickel-iron matrix with colorful embedded olivine crystals (the 
semi-precious gemstone peridot) and are very beautiful when cut and 
polished. Mr. Arnold’s discovery is the largest pallasite ever found in 
America, and the largest oriented pallasite meteorite ever found 
anywhere in the world. An oriented meteorite is one which has traveled 
through Earth’s atmosphere without tumbling, thereby forming a 
parabolic or “nose cone” shape as its surface melted. Oriented 
meteorites are extremely rare and highly prized by museums and private 
collectors.

Fort Worth has a unique place in meteorite history. Prominent local 
businessman, the late Oscar Monnig was one of the world’s foremost 
meteorite enthusiasts. He donated his entire collection to Texas 
Christian University, where it is today housed in the Oscar E. Monnig 
Meteorite Gallery. Steve Arnold, and his partner Philip Mani, an oil 
and gas attorney and geologist from San Antonio, have themselves 
enjoyed a long association with Fort Worth, working closely with Dr. 
Art Ehlmann and Teresa Moss, Curator and Director, respectively, of the 
Monnig Gallery. Dr. Ehlmann, together with Linda Krouse and Vishal 
Malhotra of the Noble Planetarium, joined Mr. Arnold at the Brenham 
excavation, where Dr. Ehlmann recovered a 320-lb specimen—also on 
exhibit in Fort Worth. Dr. Ehlmann’s first ever meteorite find was 
140-lb Brenham, discovered last November with Mr. Arnold and Mr. Mani.

The World Record Meteorite is joined by a number of other recent 
meteorite finds for the Noble Planetarium display. The exhibition is 
sponsored by Lockheed Martin, and further information is available 
online at:

http://www.fwmuseum.org/noble/events.html

Dr. Ehlmann described Mr. Arnold’s discovery as “the most significant 
American meteorite find in decades.”