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GREAT RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) – A man from Michigan recently learned that a stone he used as a goal was a meteorite worth $ 100,000.
The Smithsonian Museum and Central Michigan University claim that iron and nickel, which weigh nearly 10 kilograms, is the sixth largest meteorite found in Michigan.
Mazurek said he went to university after seeing rumors that meteorites were selling for thousands of dollars.
Mazurek says the meteorite came with a barn that he bought in 1988 in Edmore. He says that the farmer who sold the property told him that it had landed in his garden in the 1930s.
Other tests are in progress to determine if the meteorite contains rare elements.
Mazurek says that when he sells the meteorite, he will donate some of the money back to the university.
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Gary H. Piatek, Associate Director of Communications, Central Michigan University:
During her 18 years at Central Michigan University, Mona Sirbescu, a faculty member in Geology of Earth Sciences and Atmosphere, has had several people ask if the rock discovered was a meteorite.
"For 18 years, the answer has been categorically" no "- meteors are wrongs, not meteorites," she said with a smile.
It changed.
Earlier this year, a man from Grand Rapids, Michigan, asked him to examine a large rock he has owned for 30 years. She was skeptical but agreed to meet him. Upon his arrival, he pulled out of his bag the largest potential meteorite she ever had to examine.
"I could tell right away that it was something special," she said.
She determined that it was actually a meteorite of more than 22 pounds, making it the sixth largest discovery in Michigan – and potentially a value of 100 $ 000.
"It's the most valuable specimen I've ever had in my life, financially and scientifically," she said.
A precious door stop
The man, who asked to remain anonymous, got the meteorite in 1988 when he bought a farm in Edmore, Michigan, about 30 miles southwest of Mount Pleasant.
As the farmer showed him around the property, they went to a shed. The man asked about the big rock with the strange look that kept the door open.
"A meteorite," says the farmer in a neutral tone. He went on to assert that in the 1930s, he and his father had seen him go down at night on their property "and that it was making a background noise when he hit." In the morning they found the crater and dug it. It was still hot.
The farmer told the man that as it was part of the property, he could have it.
Strike of chances
The new owner lived a few years on the farm before leaving, the rock lagging behind.
He kept it for 30 years – also using it as a door loot and sending him to school with his kids to show it and tell it.
The meteor that exploded in Michigan last January changed the trajectory of his life by reading stories of people who found and sold small pieces of meteorites.
"I said:" Wait a minute, I wonder how much is mine. "
A friend and alum of CMU geology directed her to the Sirbescu College of Science and Technology, where she took him to one of Brooks Hall's labs and examined him with an X-ray fluorescence instrument. to determine if it was an iron-nickel meteorite. with about 88% iron and 12% nickel, a metal rarely found on Earth.
Ferrous meteorites are generally composed of about 90 to 95% iron, the rest being nickel and traces of heavy metals, including iridium, gallium and sometimes even gold.
Show or sell
Seeking to confirm his assessment of the rock and to properly classify and record the new find, Sirbescu cut a slice, refined it and sent it to a colleague of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, who confirmed his conclusion.
"What usually happens with this is that meteorites can either be sold and displayed in a museum, or sold to collectors or sellers looking to make a profit," Sirbescu said.
The Smithsonian plans to buy the meteorite for display. If she does not buy the entire rock, the slice will remain in her collection. They all agreed to call it Edmore meteorite, she said.
The Smithsonian also sent the sample to John Wasson, professor emeritus at the Department of Earth Sciences, Planets and Space at the University of California at Los Angeles. He is considered the ferrous meteorite guru, Sirbescu said, and is currently conducting a neutron activation analysis to determine its chemical composition. It is possible that the analysis reveals rare elements likely to increase its value.
A Maine mineral museum was also considering buying it, and the owner herself – a collector – said she could buy it.
A victory for the CMU
Regardless of the amount received by the owner, he promised to donate 10% of the sale value to the university, which would be used to fund students in Earth Sciences and the Atmosphere.
Whatever the amount, Sirbescu believes that she herself, the CMU and her students have already benefited.
"Just think that what I was holding is a piece of the primitive solar system that literally fell into our hands."
And she gave the same experience to students this fall, since they were able to touch a concrete example of what are usually only photographs in their textbooks.
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