Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Cloudy Nights - Official Forums of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User   You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Other >> Space Rocks Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | (show all) half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Four Collection Centerpieces       #2341170 - 04/20/08 09:37 PM Attachment (24 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I've only recently begun collecting meteorites, thanks to Mike. And he had an important part in my recent good fortune to acquire four centerpiece irons. I wanted to find aesthetic and substantial iron meteorites for my centerpieces. To me, these are the quintessential meteorites, the kind I best remember seeing in science museums since my youth. The four specimens arrived last week -- one Gibeon, one Sikhote Alin, and two "new" Campo del Cielos. All I had handy was my cell phone camera as I unpacked them so I apologize for the lousy image quality. Two boxs arrived. One was marked "150 Lbs" and the other "18 lbs". This is the 150 pound box. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341181 - 04/20/08 09:43 PM Attachment (23 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Here is the 18 pound box. I knew to open this box first because it contained four professional armatures (wire stands) custom made to hold and display my meteorites. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341211 - 04/20/08 09:58 PM Attachment (20 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   That box was easy to unpack! The numbers on the armatures are lot numbers. I acquired these four specimens and armatures at a natural history auction in New York City in March. The Macovich Collection was the source for the meteorites and armatures, and the Gibeon in particular proudly bears that provenance. Here's more about the Macovich Collection. The Smithsonian, the Natural History Museum (London), The Academy of Sciences (Beijing and Moscow), and the American Museum of Natural History (New York), as well as Nicolas Cage, James Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Jerry Bruckheimer, Bruce Willis, Yo-Yo Ma, Saud bin Mohammed al-Thani, the late Bill Ziff, and Ripley's Believe it or Not Museums have all acquired meteorites with a Macovich provenance. Meteorite Times Magazine has an interview with Darryl Pitt, the curator of the Macovich Collection. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341215 - 04/20/08 10:01 PM Attachment (19 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   On to the heavy box... -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341257 - 04/20/08 10:21 PM Attachment (23 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   One of the two Campo del Cielo meteorites. This one weighs 7.484 kg (16.5 pounds). The Campos are called "new" because these came from a new find high up above the valley and moisture of the original meteorite debris field so they are not weathered nearly as much as the almost featureless original Campos. This Campo has a nice "heatshield" shaped orientation. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341260 - 04/20/08 10:22 PM Attachment (18 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Another view of the same Campo del Cielo. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341263 - 04/20/08 10:24 PM Attachment (15 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Despite the camera phone white balance that shifted the colors, it does have a great patina look to it on the armature. From straight on the armature disappears except for the vertical post and base. It looks as as if the meteorite is floating. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Edited by half meter (04/23/08 11:14 PM) Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341279 - 04/20/08 10:31 PM Attachment (22 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The second meteorite I opened was my crown jewel! When I saw this grand specimen in the auction catalog I was stunned. Such beauties show up once in a blue moon. But I thought there was no way I could ever own it. Anything can happen at an auction, though, and fate has a way of making the impossible possible. Thousands of years ago an enormous iron mass slammed into Earth's upper atmosphere exploding above the Kalahari Desert and raining down in an elliptical strewn field. It is rare for meteorites to have naturally formed holes, and rarer still when the hole is located in the matrix in such an aesthetic specimen. This meteorite contains a large socket that fully penetrates the mass and forms a natural hole. It is highly unusual for the "socket to mass" ratio to be as large as seen here. This Gibeon iron weighs 4.067 kg (8.9 pounds). -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341283 - 04/20/08 10:33 PM Attachment (17 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The rear view of the Gibeon on its armature. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Edited by half meter (04/23/08 11:14 PM) Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341291 - 04/20/08 10:35 PM Attachment (18 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Two of the four specimens unpacked and on their armatures. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341302 - 04/20/08 10:38 PM Attachment (19 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The Sikhote Alin I opened next. In 1947 there was a massive meteorite fall approximately 440 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok, Russia. This extraordinary event happened during the day where untold numbers of witnesses looked up into the sky to see a fireball brighter than the sun rushing toward the earth. The meteorite broke up shortly after entering Earth's atmosphere due to the extreme heat created by the terrifyingly fast speed at which the asteroid was hurtling at the surface (14 km per second). Here is a piece of history that left its mark on the Earth's crust. The specimen weighs 3.357 kg (7.4 pounds). -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341307 - 04/20/08 10:40 PM Attachment (12 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Another view showing the nice surface texture (called regmaglypts). -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341319 - 04/20/08 10:43 PM Attachment (14 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The Sikhote Alin on its armature. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341327 - 04/20/08 10:46 PM Attachment (12 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Speaking of the armatures, here is the back view showing the construction details and custom fit -- a very professional job. The base is solid steel. The posts and arms are of solid steel and expertly welded together. The arms are covered with heat shrink tubing at the weight bearing contact points. The arms and posts are anodized black and the base is coated with a textured paint. The bottom of the base is covered by felt. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341337 - 04/20/08 10:52 PM Attachment (15 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Three meteorites happily resting on their armatures. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341338 - 04/20/08 10:53 PM Attachment (12 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   That leaves one Campo del Cielo left in the box. The box is still very heavy. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341341 - 04/20/08 10:56 PM Attachment (17 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Arriving at a higher elevation near Gran Chaco, Argentina than other meteorites from this area, this "new" specimen was not susceptible to incursions of ground water and other oxidants and appears very similar to when it first arrived on Earth thousands of years ago; the tell-tale evidence being the presence of fusion crust, the outermost surface of the meteorite at the time of impact. The "thumb-prints" (regmaglypts) that make this piece a wonderful specimen are created from the intense levels of heat that the meteorite goes through on its journey through the earth's atmosphere. This specimen weighs 23.814 kg (52.5 pounds). -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341343 - 04/20/08 10:57 PM Attachment (12 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The other side of this Campo. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341346 - 04/20/08 10:59 PM Attachment (12 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   This Campo needs a heavy duty armature. I almost crushed my finger trying to set this 52 pound rock on the stand. It's heavier than handling an AP-1200 mount. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! Edited by half meter (04/23/08 11:14 PM) Post Extras:       half meter Postmaster Reged: 05/05/04 Posts: 12517 Loc: Great Lakes Re: Some Collection Centerpieces [Re: half meter]       #2341351 - 04/20/08 11:01 PM Attachment (17 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Now for a family portrait of my four centerpieces. -------------------- Gary Collins I3 (Thin Film) Image Intensifying Eyepiece Coronado Maxscope DS 90 <0.5A w/BF30 152 mm f/8 TMB/A&M Carbon Fiber APO; f/5 with 4" Borg ED Field Flattener/Reducer 20" Obsession/OMI Mirror/Servocat/Argo Navis First Light for the 30" Obsession at BEOTS! 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