A meteorite worth about $ 100,000 has been used for years as door-to-door on a Grand Rapids farm.

Geology professor Mona Sirbescu, of Central Michigan University, first identified the 22.5-pound piece of iron as being more than a mere door stop when the owner asked her to l & # 39; 39 to consider earlier this year. Although many people have asked him to examine rocks in the past, this time was different.

"I was excited," Sirbescu said.

Meteorites are pieces of broken asteroids that originate in outer space and enter the Earth's atmosphere.

To test his suspicions, Sirbescu immediately began to examine the properties of iron, such as its magnetism, weight, and composition. She sent two small slices to the Smithsonian of Washington, DC to validate her findings. One of his colleagues then analyzed the sample, including using an acid test to reveal the pattern of Widmanstätten, owned by most iron-nickel meteorites that can not be tampered with.

January 17, Michigan had a meteorite flash that shook the state and left small rocks scattered throughout Livingston County as it exploded into the atmosphere.

But this piece belonged to a much older asteroid: when the man from Grand Rapids bought his farm in the Edmore area in 1988, the previous owner told him that the shutdown was a 1930s meteorite .

Professor Monaliza Sirbescu shows a meteorite installed in a man in Grand Rapids for years. (Photo: Mackenzie Brockman / Central Michigan University)

"The story tells that it was collected immediately after witnessing the big boom and that the meteorite was dug into a crater," Sirbescu said, adding that the story had been transmitted without confirmation by eye-witness.

The meteorite is the sixth largest found in Michigan.

Sirbescu added that the use of a nuclear reactor would determine which asteroid it comes from.

As for naming the asteroid: Sirbescu and the Smithsonian agree that "Edmore" is fine.

Read more:

The Michigan meteor is the gift that scientists continue to offer

"Buy at your own risk": meteorites for sale online in the Detroit Metro

Michigan Meteor: What to do if you find a piece

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