Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

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IronKnees
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Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by IronKnees » Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:23 pm

Hi all, I'm new to the forums and wanted to share a couple of things. I just began collecting potential micrometeorites a couple of weeks ago. I purchased a rare earth magnet and a microscope. I seem to have narrowed down a good way to catch them, either in rain or snow, and wanted to share a couple of pictures I took these past two weeks by simply holding my camera up to my microscope. One thing I am curious about between these two pictures is the marked difference in color. My guess is that the iron one (rust colored) and the other which does not have the rust color are of different composition. Do you think the dark one is more nickel than iron??? Thanks in advance. Dave

Image

Image

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RJN
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Re: Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by RJN » Wed Dec 08, 2010 4:04 pm

Welcome to an interesting pastime, IK. In my experience, the vast majority of things that stick to magnets are not micrometeorites. They are dust and rock bits kicked up by local wind, cars, and trucks. In general, though, the larger and more massive the magnetic bit, the less far distance across the Earth the wind could have taken it, and hence the greater the chance it is a true micrometeorite.

My advice, therefore, is to collect lots of stuff for a long time and focus on the largest bits. Of the large ones, those that appear at least partly melted have again an increased chance of being a true micrometeorite. I have found that the really the best test is to take the bit to a scanning electron microscope that can determine composition. There are some compositions that are actually likely to be micrometeorites since they are so rare here on Earth. The problem is this last step might be expensive, as renting time on a good scanning electron microscope might not be free.

I hope this is a help!

- RJN

IronKnees
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Re: Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by IronKnees » Wed Dec 08, 2010 11:39 pm

Thanks RJN for the reply. Let me ask you this. I have had little success at finding photographs of known micrometeorites. Would you happen to know of a website that has pics that I could use simply as a visual comparison? By the way, the method I came up with for collecting is a two quart wide-mouth jar. I had tried a large dish similar to a birdbath laying on the ground in the yard during rain, but it caught way too much "junk". I happened to notice this jar in the basement and set it out during a snow. Obviously it caught much less, but what it did catch was nearly 100% magnetic. There was VERY little non-magnetic "junk" visible to the eye after gathering the catchings on the magnet. Just FYI... Dave

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bystander
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Re: Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by bystander » Wed Dec 08, 2010 11:50 pm

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 32&t=17721

Gorkow has links to many images.
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Céline Richard
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Re: Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by Céline Richard » Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:53 am

Here are two images from:
http://www.institut-polaire.fr/ipev/gal ... s_a_dome_c

There are micrometeorites taken from sands in ice cap... if i understand well the term 'sable glaciaire'.
:D
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IronKnees
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Re: Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by IronKnees » Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:04 pm

Thanks! Here is another candidate I found yesterday while looking at some collected about a week ago during a snow.
Image

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Céline Richard
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Re: Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by Céline Richard » Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:16 am

IronKnees wrote:Thanks! Here is another candidate I found yesterday while looking at some collected about a week ago during a snow.
You found it yourself? It is great! Actually, i just went on the internet... Thank you for your very beautiful image :)

I assume you used a microscope, but how did you realise the picture?

Céline
"The cure for all the sickness and mistakes, for all the concerns and the sorrow and the crimes of the humanity, lies in the word "Love". It is the divine vitality which from everywhere makes and restores the life". Lydia Maria Child

Jon Larsen

Re: Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by Jon Larsen » Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:08 am

Hello everybody interested in micrometeorites - if you are on facebook, you may wish to participate on our new micrometeorite community: "PROJECT STARDUST - Jon Larsen" - lots of photos, discussions, etc. Welcome to show your own catch!
Sincerely yours,
PROJECT STARDUST
Jon Larsen
project.stardust@getmail.com

David Bradbury

Re: Collecting Micrometeorites

Post by David Bradbury » Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:19 pm

I do honestly think that there are a lot of people out there who think that all spherical objects are micrometeorites, the are no, I suggest taking further samples from power station ash , or steam loco fire box and smoke box,also we should also be looking at biological spheres most of which I have found to be spherical and magnetic, some are magnetite or hematite, so be Sure of what you collect is not misleading you into believing all spheres are micrometeorites, they are Not ! .if you care to get involved ,here I am. Davenport Bradbury. Bradbury.arcana@btinternet.com

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neufer
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Re: Collecting Micrometeorites (just starting)

Post by neufer » Fri Nov 25, 2011 8:05 pm

David Bradbury wrote:
RJN wrote:
In my experience, the vast majority of things that stick to magnets are not micrometeorites. They are dust and rock bits kicked up by local wind, cars, and trucks. In general, though, the larger and more massive the magnetic bit, the less far distance across the Earth the wind could have taken it, and hence the greater the chance it is a true micrometeorite.

My advice, therefore, is to collect lots of stuff for a long time and focus on the largest bits. Of the large ones, those that appear at least partly melted have again an increased chance of being a true micrometeorite. I have found that the really the best test is to take the bit to a scanning electron microscope that can determine composition. There are some compositions that are actually likely to be micrometeorites since they are so rare here on Earth. The problem is this last step might be expensive, as renting time on a good scanning electron microscope might not be free.
I do honestly think that there are a lot of people out there who think that all spherical objects are micrometeorites, the are no, I suggest taking further samples from power station ash , or steam loco fire box and smoke box,also we should also be looking at biological spheres most of which I have found to be spherical and magnetic, some are magnetite or hematite, so be Sure of what you collect is not misleading you into believing all spheres are micrometeorites, they are Not !
  • Howard Denker: It's hungry! It has to be fed constantly - or it will reach out its magnetic arm and grab at anything within its reach and kill it. It's monstrous, Stewart, monstrous. It grows bigger and bigger!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnetic_Monster wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
The Magnetic Monster is a 1953 independent science fiction film, directed by Curt Siodmak, and starring Richard Carlson and King Donovan.

A pair of agents from the Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI) are sent to investigate a local appliance store where all of the clocks have stopped at the same time and metal items in the store have been magnetized. The source of this is traced to an office located directly above the store, where scientific equipment is found, along with a dead body. There are also signs of radioactivity, but the cause of the difficulties itself is clearly no longer in the room, or the immediate area.

Investigation and request for citizen input eventually lead to an airborne flight carrying a scientist, who has developed signs of radiation sickness related to something in a heavy briefcase he carries and clutches irrationally. Before dying, he confesses to have developed an artificial radioactive isotope, serranium, which was bombarded with alpha particles for more than eight days. Unfortunately, his so-far microscopic creation has taken on a life of its own, literally: it must absorb energy from its surroundings once a day, and in the process doubles its size each time.

The OSI officials realize that, with its rate of growth, it will be a matter of only days before it becomes large enough to affect the Earth's rotation on its axis and spin it out of orbit. They also discover that the isotope is impervious to any known means of destroying it or even rendering it inert. The only answer appears to be to use a Canadian experimental power generator being constructed in a cavern under the ocean, with the hopes of bombarding the element with so much energy in one surge that it neutralizes itself with its own "gluttony".

The two governments agree on this proposal, and the isotope is transferred to the project, dubbed the Deltatron, but there is a last minute objection from the engineer in charge of the project. With no time to lose, the lead OSI agent commandeers the machine and barely escapes risking his own life to activate it before sealing the cavern-filling, multi-story device off from the rest of the underground operation, which is filled with project workers. The isotope is successfully stopped, as evidenced by the disappearance of the trace magnetism which it has produced following every energy absorption, although the Deltatron is also destroyed in the process.>>
Art Neuendorffer

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