Meteorites

Meteorites are rocks that have fallen to Earth from space. Some have lain on Earth for many thousands of years; others arrive all the time. Those observed to traverse Earth's atmosphere, and recovered based on those observations, are called meteorite falls. Those with no record of arrival are meteorite finds when recognized. Meteorites are named for where they fall or are found. Over 25,000 meteorites are known worldwide: 18,000 are from Antarctica, and a few thousand from deserts in Africa and Asia. The best general reference on meteorites is Rocks from Space by O. Richard Norton, 2^nd Edition, Mountain Press, 1998.

Often there is confusion about when and where meteorites may fall or be preserved, and about what they are and look like. All are significantly different than Earth rocks. Samples sent to experts for identification, even by other scientists, are usually "meteor wrongs" - terrestrial rocks or minerals, man-made slag, metals, alloys or concrete- that rarely resemble meteorites. Less than 60 identified meteorites are known in Canada.



The Willamette Meteorite, officially named Willamette, is an iron-nickel meteorite discovered in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the largest meteorite found in the United States and the sixth largest in the world. No impact crater was preserved at the discovery site; it is possible that the meteorite landed in what is now Canada and was transported to where it was found by moving ice sheets. It is currently on display at the American Museum of Natural History.

The Willamette Meteorite weighs about 32,000 pounds or 15.5 tons. It is classified as a type III iron meteorite, being composed of over 91% iron and 7.62% nickel, with traces of cobalt and phosphorus. The approximate dimensions of the meteorite are 10 feet (3.05 m) tall by 6.5 feet (1.98 m) wide by 4.25 feet (1.3 m) deep.

Tuscan Ring
It was a blacksmith named Ramon Pacheco, who recovered the slab-like mass on or about 1850, and put it to use as an anvil in Tuscan. In 1856, the other blacksmith anvil, the Ring, was abandoned leaving all the blacksmith's duties to Pacheco and his anvil. In 1862, Colonel James Carleton confiscated the Pacheco anvil and had it shipped to San Fransisco where permission was obtained to saw off a specimen for analysis. The mass remained on display at the Society of California Pioneers until 1939 when it was purchased by the Smithsonian to be displayed alongside the Ring mass.

My Thoughts
I don't think i personally have seen a meteorite fall. I have seen a falling stars. They look like a light shooting through the sky for less than 5 seconds with a certain color. At first when you see one you think it's an alien or something then you realize it's a falling star then you want to tell someone and your all excited that you actually seen a shooting star. I know i was.
I watched a show where they talked about the Tuscan Ring Meteorite and there were these two guys that tried to find the inside piece of the Tuscan Ring, but they didn't have much luck until they were on they're thirtieth day of the hunt and they found two little pieces of rock and they brought it in to be examined to see if it was the missing piece but it wasn't, but they did have a lil bit luck because they did find New Iron. They might be known as the first two people who discovered, New Iron.
I remember on the movie Joe Dirt, he thought he found a meteorite but it was really a big chunk of turd. He didn't know that till someone told him, and i felt bad for him because he was happy he had something somebody didn't, but he was really carrying around a big piece of poo. He even ate food off of it and touched it. Poor Joe Dirt.


Outside Article
Shooting Star's
A shooting star is another name for a meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere. So, a shooting star isn’t a star at all.
 Most of the shooting stars that we can see are known as meteoroids. These are objects as small as a piece of sand, and as large as a boulder. Smaller than a piece of sand, and astronomers call them interplanetary dust. If they’re larger than a boulder, astronomers call them asteroids.