A Roadside Rock Turns Out to be a Meteorite
Department:
Near-Earth Objects
Teaser:
"A seemingly normal rock found in a ditch along a stretch of road in north central Oregon has turned out to be a stone from outer space that travelled across millions of miles and billions of years to reach Earth, according to researchers studying the stone."
Source:
SPACE.com Download time: Jun 3 2010 8:33 AM ET
A seemingly normal rock found in a ditch along a stretch of road in north central Oregon has turned out to be a stone from outer space that travelled across millions of miles and billions of years to reach Earth, according to researchers studying the stone.
The 40-pound, cone-shaped space rock, which is about the size of a beach ball, was picked up by Donald Wesson and his wife Debbie during the fall of 1999 as they drove through Oregon's wheat country on their way home to Washington. It is the fifth meteorite to be found in the northwestern state.
The space rock, which sat anonymously on the planet's surface for a few hundred to a thousand years, remained unidentified for another decade as it rested in Wesson's garden.
Only after spending time beneath a deck barbeque, visiting a county fair and passing through two universities did it receive the official classification as a meteorite.…
See SPACE.com for links to further info.
