Remember the ginormous fireball that rained rocks down on western Canada in November? Scientists rushed to the scene, and found a large number of meteorites in pristine condition sitting on or slightly embedded in the ice covering a frozen fish pond near Lone Rock, Saskatchewan.
Well, Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Space & Science Foundation has posted a whole bunch of totally cool pictures of the find. These two are my favorites:
On the left is PhD candidate Ellen Milley, and gives you a sense of scale for the meteorites – though the biggest chunk they found is 13 kg and about as big as your head. This little one is in situ, sitting on the ice. The picture on the right is a microphotograph of a thin slice of one of the meteorites, showing a chondrule of olivine crystal. Olivine is a relatively simple crystal found in lots of meteorites, and can be very pretty. Images like this will help the scientists understand more about the original asteroid, including possibly its age and past history.
And let me add: I am super jealous. I would love to go out and find a fresh fall like this! I’m fascinated by meteorites (I have a few on my shelf at home) and I’d give my left setting circle to be able to find them in the field. Wow.
