[meteorite-list] The age of Mifflin. ?470 million years? Really?

[Sterling K. Webb]

It's the usual reporter scramble that results
when a scientist tries to explain something
more complicated than Brittany Spears or
Charlie Sheen to a reporter.

Mifflin's an L chondrite. John Valley and
Noriko Kita have done a lot of work on the fossil
L chondrites of the Ordovician period, which
fell at rates 100 times greater than today's fall
rates, apparently after the breakup of the L
chondrite parent body sometime shortly before
470 million years ago.

They must have tried to explain all this to the
reporter instead being smart and saying "Yeah,
it's a rock from outer space and it's really old,
old as the solar system itself" and just letting
it go at that.

Sorta like what you would say to a five-year-old.
Always a good idea to talk to reporters like they
were five-year-olds. Don't try to make them
handle too much.

So, all of that got mushed together into this:
"Scientists believe [it] was originally part of an
asteroid fragment that separated 470 million
years ago between Mars and Jupiter." (From
the other local TV station.)

Remember... Five-year-olds.


Sterling K. Webb
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Kerchner" <skyrockmeteorites at yahoo.com>
To: "meteorite list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 11:16 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] The age of Mifflin. ?470 million years? 
Really?


> Hello all,
>   It the 470 million year age for the Mifflin meteorite correct? if 
> so, isn't that very young for a meteorite? I have been under the 
> impression that the average age of a meteorite was 4.57 Billion years 
> old I know that's an average, but isn't 470 million way too young? 
> Theres no way that it is so young, is there?
>  I read that in a couple articles online today. below is a link to one 
> of them.
> http://www.wisn.com/r/27539805/detail.html?source=htv
>
>
> Best Wishes,
> Joe Kerchner
> http://illinoismeteorites.com
>
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