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A man from Michigan discovered that he was unknowingly sitting on a gold mine for 30 years. After the huge brown rock that he had used to open a door at his home, it was confirmed that it was a rare meteorite of up to $ 100,000.
The man, who did not want to be identified, went to Professor Mona Sirbescu, a geologist at Central Michigan University, to ask him to confirm his suspicions that the rock was a meteorite.
"It's the most valuable specimen I've ever had in my life, financially and scientifically," said Sirbescu, professor of high-temperature geochemistry, mineralogy and experimental petrology.
In 1988, the man from Grand Rapids, Michigan bought a farm in Edmore, Michigan, about 30 miles southwest of Mount Pleasant. The meteorite was thrown into the deal with, as the door to a shed.
Central University of Michigan
The seller of the property had observed with his father the meteorite choking in the sky and touching the ground one night of the 1930s. "That made a hellish noise when it hit," said the seller at the time. nameless man. The next morning, they found the meteorite, still hot, nestled in a crater.
A few years later, the unnamed man moved to another farm but kept the mysterious rock. He stayed with him for three decades.
He did not realize that meteorites were of value until a meteor rips the sky in Michigan in January, breaking into pieces and causing an earthquake of magnitude 2 times, according to the US Geological Survey.
When the man presented space debris to Sirbescu, she stated that she could "immediately say that it was something special.
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In nearly two decades, this is the first time that a member of the public has presented Sirbescu with a pebble that they believed to be a meteorite and for their presentiment to be correct, she said.
Sirbescu tested the rock and confirmed that it was 88% iron-nickel and 12% nickel, which is rarely found on Earth.
For a second opinion, she posted a piece of the meteorite to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, which supported her ranking. Sirbescu and the team at the Smithsonian Institution agreed to call the brown size Edmore meteorite.
John Wasson, Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences, Planets and Space Science at the University of California at Los Angeles – widely regarded as a recognized expert on ferrous meteorites – will then examine it to look for rare elements that could increase its value.
In most cases, meteorites are sold and displayed in museums or collectors. The owner is committed to donating 10% of the proceeds from the sale to the university to fund courses in earth sciences and atmospheric sciences for students.
But for Sirbescu, the meteorite has a value that exceeds the dollars. "Just think that what I was holding is a piece of the primitive solar system that literally fell into our hands," she said.
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