Is This a Meteor? My Arrowhead Hunting Find in Southeast Missouri

[Xain2015]

TL;DR Summary

I was arrowhead hunting the other night and came across what im pretty certain is a meteor. The bottom of it was even still warm when I picked it up. I'm finding it difficult to find a place to take it to get tested here in southeast Missouri. What are yalls thoughts?

was arrowhead hunting the other night and came across what I am pretty certain is a meteor. The bottom of it was even still warm when I picked it up. I'm finding it difficult to find a place to take it to get tested here in southeast Missouri. What are yalls thoughts

 

[berkeman]

So you didn't see it fall from the sky, but it's still warm from atmospheric heating? Wow, that is so amazing. Could you please post less fuzzy pictures including closeups? Is it magnetic?

 

[russ_watters]

Looks big. A fresh meteorite that big with no crater seems unlikely.

Still warm...how long after sunset did you find it? Also, it appears broken and rolled into place. What type of site, exactly, is that?

We have an expert or two here, so if you post some quality close-ups they'll probably be able to identify it.

 

[Baluncore]

The bottom of it was even still warm when I picked it up.

Welcome to PF.
It is so similar to all the other rocks there, that it really must be terrestrial. It even has the same weathering on the surface.
How long since sunset?
What evidence is there that it is not terrestrial?

 

[davenn]

Summary: I was arrowhead hunting the other night and came across what I am pretty certain is a meteor. The bottom of it was even still warm when I picked it up. I'm finding it difficult to find a place to take it to get tested here in southeast Missouri. What are yalls thoughts?

was arrowhead hunting the other night and came across what I am pretty certain is a meteor. The bottom of it was even still warm when I picked it up. I'm finding it difficult to find a place to take it to get tested here in southeast Missouri. What are yalls thoughts

Greetings @Xain2015
welcome to PF :)

A meteor, no ... meteors are the bright flashes of light in the sky
Rocks that make it to the ground are called meteorites

OK to dispel one of the BIGGEST myths ... meteorites are not warm on the ground, unless heated whilst on the ground by the sun or some other direct or indirect heat source.
The Hollywood depiction of fiery hot and smoking rocks hitting the ground is just that ... Hollywood
The ONLY time they would still be hot is if they were really huge 100's to 1000's of metres across.

Consider the asteroid that helped wipe out the dinosaurs 66 millions years ago ... whilst the lower edge was just reaching the ground,
the other side was still 10 - 15 km up in the sky ( 10km = ~ 32,000 ft ... the height an airliner flies )

The avg sized meteor goes into cold and dark flight some 25 - 50 km above the Earth's surface.
Fresh fall meteorites have actually been found with a frost layer on them because it's just so damn cold at 25km or so up there,
it can be greater than minus 40C.
Your photos are not very good and don't give any close-up detail. What is certain is that the rock is obvious not fresh on the ground

Here's one of my meteorite threads on the forums ...
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/adding-more-meteorites-to-my-collection.986095/

Regards
Dave

 

[Vanadium 50]

The bottom of it was even still warm when I picked it up.

Then it's not a meteor.

Oops...I see @davenn beat me to it.

 

[DaveC426913]

The avg sized meteor goes into cold and dark flight some 25 - 50 km above the Earth's surface.
Fresh fall meteorites have actually been found with a frost layer on them

TIL!

 

[Vanadium 50]

Have any of the "is this a meteorite?" threads actually had a positive answer?

 

[Vanadium 50]

I was actually serious =- have any?

It seems we have a couple things pushing the answer to 'no'. The biggest is probably that most rocks aren't meteorites. But there's also the "Hollywood factor" - they aren't glowing from heat (or because they are kryptonite). Maybe stir in some urban legends too?

 

[Bystander]

I was actually serious =- have any?

How many have there been? The search function isn't working too well for me lately, so my inclination to agree with you can't really be backed up.

 

[Vanadium 50]

How many have there been?

I duinno...half a dozen?

 

[davenn]

Have any of the "is this a meteorite?" threads actually had a positive answer?

Not that I am aware of

People just don't realize how difficult it is to find a meteorite
They would have better chance of winning the lottery than randomly finding a rock that is a meteorite.
But if they were to search in a known strewnfield ( an area where it is known that meteorites were known to have fallen)
then those odds improve substantially and could be anything from 40 - 70% chance.
And for a new/recent fall up to 100% chance.

The latest observed fall was mid August ( as of the time of writing this) and was over Salt Lake, Utah
even with a known strewnfield some of my fellow collectors found nothing, another came home with over
500grams ~ 1 lb.

here's a YT video of some of the meteorite

 

[Vanadium 50]

known strewnfield

Or Antarctica. If you find a rock on top of three miles of ice, odds are good that it came from the sky.

 

[DaveC426913]

My paleo-biologist ex-girlfriend used to go meteorite hunting on the rock walls of farm fields - where the farmers (over the centuries) have already done the heavy lifting of clearing the fields and collecting the rocks in nice neat rows.

 

[davenn]

Or Antarctica. If you find a rock on top of three miles of ice, odds are good that it came from the sky.

Yes, for sure
Antarctica is still leading the found meteorite count ( as far as I am aware) NW Africa must be soon overtaking that. But interestingly, tho it's the high count, the meteorites are pretty small and the larger finds go elsewhere

 

[davenn]

My paleo-biologist ex-girlfriend used to go meteorite hunting on the rock walls of farm fields - where the farmers (over the centuries) have already done the heavy lifting of clearing the fields and collecting the rocks in nice neat rows.

Yes, that is a great idea ... now who has the most rock walls ? The British Isles, I would guess

 

[Vanadium 50]

Something like 75-80% of the meteorites are from Antarctica. NWA of course has the advantage of more people looking. Sand is not ice, but the idea is similar.

The fact that lots of small meteorites are discovered in Antarctica tells us something about the selection bias outside Antarctica.

 

[pinball1970]

I duinno...half a dozen?

The few checked were all no.

Yes, that is a great idea ... now who has the most rock walls ? The British Isles, I would guess

Never thought of that, I could have lifted one without knowing it (I used to do dry stone walling in the 1980s but I was pretty rubbish at)

Next ramble, I am on the lookout!

 

[DaveC426913]

Yes, that is a great idea ... now who has the most rock walls ? The British Isles, I would guess

Indeed, that is where we were.

 

[Strato Incendus]

@DaveC426913 : I think you wanted to quote @davenn, rather than me.

 

[DaveC426913]

@DaveC426913 : I think you wanted to quote @davenn, rather than me.