Meteor Strike Triggers Central Texas Treasure Hunt
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Meteor Strike Triggers Central Texas Treasure Hunt
Not much of the pickup-truck size meteor that streaked across the Central Texas sky Sunday morning made it to Earth, but enough evidently did to trigger a treasure hunt.
Reporter: By Megan Fleetwood
Email Address: megan.fleetwood@kwtx.com
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MCLENNAN COUNTY (February 19, 2009) - Some people thought it was an explosion.

Others thought a plane was crashing.

But it turns out that the roar that rattled many Central Texans Sunday morning, was a falling meteor.

Meteor showers happen all over Earth every day, said Dr. Dwight Russell, Astronomy and Physics professor at Baylor University.

Meteors that produce fireballs such as the one many Central Texans saw Sunday happen about 10 times a year, he said, and it’s rare for such a show of light and smoke to be seen during the daytime.

Even slimmer, he says, are the chances of finding a piece of a fallen meteor.

He likens the effort to trying to find a single quarter somewhere in Waco.

Despite the odds, two researchers from the Astronomy Program at the University of North Texas in Denton think they discovered two fragments the size of large pecans on Wednesday.

Preliminary results show their luck may be good; the pieces are almost positively part of the meteor from last weekend.

Now, other Texans have joined the search and an Elm Mott man may have found another piece of the meteor.

Russell and a colleague went out to inspect the two black rocks Bill Butler found on his driveway Wednesday and Thursday.

Russell said the rocks show all the characteristics of a meteorite: oddly shaped and colored, the correct density, and appearing to contain iron.

However, the experts believe that the rust on the fragments indicates they may have called Earth home longer than four days.

It will take further tests to tell for sure.

Butler says he'll still hold on to the lucky finds, and keep his eye out for more.

Russell says he hopes the interest inspired by the recent meteor, will inspire others to look at the Earth and beyond, with a greater sense of curiosity.

Latest Comments

Posted by: Doug Dawn Location: Monterrey, Mexico on Feb 25, 2009 at 06:05 PM

We recovered meteorites on Tuesday, 2/17 from the 15 Feb event & sent them for analysis to our collaborator, Dr. Alan Rubin, at UCLA. The analysis was in progress in Calif before the stones in the article were even found, and by Thursday, the results were in: It is a stony meteorite (e.g., vs. an iron one)known as an ordinary chondrite. The specific classification is "L6". It is uncertain where L6's are from, however one good bet is the large asteroid Flora. These are among the most common types of meteorites seen to fall, and in this particular case, the meteoroid that produced these meteorites experienced a relatively strong collision in its 4.56 billion year existence. Another finding is that the original body that was the source of this material was heated more than is typical at some point, perhaps due to a close approach to the Sun or some other heat producing source, which could include radioactive heating during the process of the formation of the Solar system.
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Posted by: Wife Location: Central Tx on Feb 20, 2009 at 09:03 AM

My husband was nearly hit by a meteor fragment about 9 years ago. He was squatting in the garden pulling weeds from around the onion plants when it shot past him and landed where he had just been standing. He said it took about 30 minutes to cool enough for him to touch it. We have it under glass with the newspaper article that appeared in the Belton newspaper. I shudder to think what would have happened to him had it hit him.
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