Greetings from the Kuiper Belt

[galacticstone]

Hi Rockhounds!

My name is Mike and I am new to this forum. I am a meteorite collector/dealer and long-time rockhound. I started out collecting rocks and crystals and then moved to meteorites about 4 years ago.

I still buy a lot of minerals from my wholesale sources, but my knowledge of meteorites is greater than my knowledge of Earth rocks, so sometimes I need help identifying obscure minerals. I'm glad I found this board, because maybe I can help identify some meteorites here and have some of my weird unknown minerals identified as well.

I attached a photo that shows one of my meteorite displays - with a few terrestrial rocks thrown in for good measure.

Feel free to ask me any meteorite-related questions. (tektites also)

Or see my website. In addition to selling specimens, I have some info resources on the website, such as an introductory article about meteorite collecting and a definitive list of all witnessed falls in the 21st century - www.galactic-stone.com

Best regards,

MikeG

Attachments:

[scott]

MikeG,

Welcome to the board. I myself have always been fascinated by meteorites and have always wanted to hunt them myself. I've never gotten the opportunity to search a strewn field but would do it tomorrow if I had maps of one near me. I have perused your website and it appears that you would be the man to ask when it comes to meteorites. Great website and welcome!

Scott

[Tin Star]

Helo Mike nice collection.

[galacticstone]

Thanks gang!

Sorry for my late reply. I've been away and distracted.

[colorshapetexture]

Well tighten up your kuiper belt and jump right in.
You are exactly what this group needs. Somebody with with direct contact with ETRockHounds.

[rockshine]

Who'da thunkit. We trip over rocks,dig rocks and now we gotta worry about rocks falling from the skies! I have seen a couple of daytime meteors in the past. About four or five years ago,I was waiting at the intersection of hwy 28 and Cowee, about 6 pm , when a huge (about the apparent size of a grapefruit) Green (not quite emerald green) fireball sloooooowly crossed the sky, taking maybe 5 or 6 seconds to traverse the arc from 10 oclock to 5 oclock as it silently disappeared due west. It left a glowing greenish trail behind that persisted a few minutes. And several years ago, maybe in the eighties, I had witnessed a similar fall (or passage) while near Ooltewah, Tn also in the afternoon. I was working in my garden when a crackling-whooshing noise made, or enticed me to look up. Actually, the first indicator was a sensation in the hearing you get when taking a hearing acuity test. (It feels like your eardrums are vibrating without you really hearing any sound). Then, as the fireball, again a beautiful green, passed sloooowly from east to west, an almost air escaping from a balloon/static electricity combo that was almost in synch with the passage, which implied the speed was less than sonic? There was no explosion heard in my vicinity. The greenish trail also persisted for a short time. And, no, the next day, my cornstalks were not forty feet tall, the radishes were not the size watermelons (the largest were only 7 inches in diameter) and the cows did not give chocolate milk.