[meteorite-list] Why carbonaceous chondrites? (A "thank you" to Mr. Horejsi)

[Michael Doran]

My friends often ask me "What got you interested in meteorites?"  I honestly don't have a good answer to that question.  I do, however, know precisely when and how I was inspired to focus on carbonaceous chondrites.

As a newbie to the hobby (cough, obsession), I was reading through back issues of Meteorite Times Magazine when inspiration struck.  In a June 2011 article about Nogoya, a CM2, Martin Horejsi wrote:

   "Gazing into a polished face of Nogoya is like staring into space
   through a telescope. Everywhere you look there are interesting
   features. Little galaxies, nebulas, constellations, planets, suns
   and moons orbit the stone." 

Up until that point, I'd considered CCs to be rather drab cousins to the bejeweled pallasites, sculptural irons, and multi-chondrule'd type 3 OCs. However as I looked at the accompanying photo in the article, I thought by gosh, he's absolutely right. How perfect is it that a window into the black interior of a CM2 meteorite can also be a window back out to the universe where it originated -- if only you have the imagination to see it. You may have to look a tiny bit deeper to see the beauty, but it's absolutely there. Anyway, that's what first hooked me on carbonaceous chondrites.  Now I have my own CM2 specimen to gaze at in wonder.  So, thank you, Mr. Horejsi!

-- Michael

[Resent to list after conversion to plain-text - I keep forgetting!]

Michael Doran
Fort Worth, TX