SIGHTINGS



Strange Object Crashes
To Earth In Holland -What Is It?
From Ross Dowe <ippoz@eisa.net.au>
8-7-99
 

 
The following message was posted to the DMS Mr. Langbroek on Friday, 6 August.
 
Most postings on this list are in Dutch. I have translated this posting into English for the benefit of those on the meteorite mailing list who are not fluent in Dutch.
 
My own impression of this "meteor something" is that it is more likely to be a hunk of satellite or other space junk than a traditional pre-space age meteorite.
 
_________________
 
Just returned from offices of the Aviation Police at Schiphol East [Amsterdam airport]. While there, together with Dr. Lindner of the earth sciences department of the University of Utrecht and officer Krone who had invited me, examined the object which crashed through the roof of an iron foundry in Weert on 22 July.
 
To make a long story short, it is quite possible, but NOT YET CERTAIN, that we have the fifth recovered Dutch meteorite, and the first iron meteorite.
 
It is a bizarre object. Dr. Lindner and I are both of the opinion that its form doesn,t resemble that of a meteorite at all, but its texture does. A judgment of more or less "definitely not impossible!" A definite conclusion can only be drawn in this case after laboratory testing, and therefore I do NOT say here that it very certainly is a meteorite.
 
Dr Lindner has taken the object with him for analysis in Utrecht. A piece will be sawn off for compositional study and the rest will go into an instrument to measure short-lived radio-isotopes.
 
A photo was already published about two weeks ago in the Telegraaf [Dutch daily newspaper]. I saw it then, but in appearance it absolutely did not resemble anything whatsoever I had ever seen before in the field of meteoritics. Just the same, the texture is very believable if you hold it in your hands, with fusion crust or something that looks a lot like it.
 
It is a slightly tapered, cylindrical piece of metal, with a dark brown-black "fusion crust".
 
Dimensions: maximum length approx. 42 mm (1.65 inches) minimum thickness approx. 14 mm (0.55 inches)
 
Very exceptional.
 
www.over.tospace
Ross Dowe





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