[meteorite-list] Jenniskens Sutter Mill Meteorite

[JoshuaTreeMuseum]

Peter Jenniskens Sutter Mill

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/June2011/sut.jpg


APOD: Sutter's Mill Meteorite (2012 Apr 28)
Image Credit P. Jenniskens (SETI Institute) and Eric James (NASA Ames)
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120428.html

Explanation: Last Sunday's bright fireball meteor falling through skies over 
California and Nevada produced sonic booms over a broad area around 7:21 am. 
Estimates indicate the meteor was about the size of a minivan. Astronomer 
Peter Jenniskens subsequently recovered these fragments of a crushed 4 gram 
meteorite, the second find from this meteor fall, in the parking lot of the 
Henningsen-Lotus state park, not far from Sutter's Mill. This is now known 
as the Sutter's Mill Meteorite, the location famous for its association with 
the California Gold Rush. The meteorite may well be astronomer's gold too, 
thought to be a rare CM type carbonaceous chondrite, a type rich in organic 
compounds and similar to the Murchison Meteorite. To trace the meteor's 
orbit, details of its breakup, and aid in locating more fragements, 
scientists are also searching for video records. Security cameras across a 
wide area could have accidently captured the fireball event near 7:21 am PDT 
on April 22; e.g. California (SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, near Redding) and 
Nevada (Reno area, Tonopah), even in southern parts of Oregon and near Salt 
Lake City in Utah. If you have video footage of the event, please use the 
contact information here.

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum