B.C. woman awakes to a hole in her roof and a space rock on her pillow
October 14, 2021 6:54 PM Subscribe
Victoria News reports "On Oct. 4, many were treated to the sight of a fireball lighting up the night sky, with images of a meteor sailing above Lake Louise striking awe. Longtime Golden resident Ruth Hamilton, however, was fast asleep. Or at least she was until she was roughly awoken by the sound of a crash through her ceiling and the sensation of debris on her face." The caption below the picture at the top is "The hole left in the ceiling, and the space rock that created it. (Ruth Hamilton photo)"
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- Brandon Blatcher
“I’m just totally amazed over the fact that it is a star that came out of the sky, It’s maybe billions of years old,” said Hamilton.I wonder how old rocks on Earth are. Thousands of years, I’ll bet.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:26 PM on October 14, 2021 [14 favorites]
Could her quotes be more wholesome-heartwarming-folksy? Gosh darn, I don’t think so
posted by glaucon at 7:41 PM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by glaucon at 7:41 PM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
There are new rocks created on Earth every day, whereas some meteorites are the same material that went into planetary formation. I’d be impressed by the age of such a lump too.
posted by clew at 7:46 PM on October 14, 2021 [13 favorites]
Hamilton says that her insurance company will be doing a walk-through to see if roof holes cause by space debris are covered. Evidently, the company has never had a claim filed quite like this before.Pleasantly down-to-earth.
As for Hamilton, she has no plans to take up astrology or stargazing after her encounter.
posted by clew at 7:46 PM on October 14, 2021 [13 favorites]
If I had a dime for every time I woke up with the sensation of debris on my face...
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:48 PM on October 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:48 PM on October 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
It's a shame she doesn't realize she's the chosen one.
posted by perhapses at 8:02 PM on October 14, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by perhapses at 8:02 PM on October 14, 2021 [10 favorites]
Aren't rocks like this worth a tremendous amount of money?
posted by imabanana at 8:12 PM on October 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by imabanana at 8:12 PM on October 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
I would like us to contemplate, for a moment, the staggering cosmic scale of this saga that has concluded with a sentient, self-aware observer narrowly avoiding the premature end of their sentience by random space rock, delivered while they were unconscious of their self-awareness. This is, without exaggeration, an insanely complicated story billions of years in the making.
The forces that caused that meteor to land on that person's pillow and nott their heads are older than the person, older than the idea of pillows, and are likely older than life on earth.
posted by mhoye at 8:20 PM on October 14, 2021 [58 favorites]
The forces that caused that meteor to land on that person's pillow and nott their heads are older than the person, older than the idea of pillows, and are likely older than life on earth.
posted by mhoye at 8:20 PM on October 14, 2021 [58 favorites]
Oldest dated rocks on Earth. The average age of Earth's crust has been estimated at about 2 billion years. I believe most meteorites originated as asteroids and comets formed along with the rest of the solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago. The oldest known meteorite is the Murchison meteorite, dated to 7 billion years old and predating the formation of our solar system by 2.5 billion years.
posted by biogeo at 8:30 PM on October 14, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 8:30 PM on October 14, 2021 [11 favorites]
I would take this as confirmation that I can never be killed, and my ensuing rampage would deliver a bloodless equity to make the covetous weep and the baneful pine for the world of old.
posted by greenland at 8:33 PM on October 14, 2021 [19 favorites]
posted by greenland at 8:33 PM on October 14, 2021 [19 favorites]
Meteorites aren't especially rare, but ones collected from observed falls are somewhat more rare. As of August 2021, the Meteoritical Bulletin Database recorded 1211 observed falls. If this particular meteorite is valuable, it will probably be because of the unusual story of its fall.
posted by biogeo at 8:35 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by biogeo at 8:35 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Space tried to kill Ruth Hamilton. When she realized it was merely the universe aiming for her head, she was relieved. What a badass.
posted by biogeo at 8:37 PM on October 14, 2021 [13 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 8:37 PM on October 14, 2021 [13 favorites]
Douglas Adams would probably have something to say about the pillow's thoughts on all this.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 8:49 PM on October 14, 2021 [23 favorites]
posted by Hairy Lobster at 8:49 PM on October 14, 2021 [23 favorites]
"If a falling star falls in my yard, I'll pick up the pieces"
posted by bleep at 9:07 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by bleep at 9:07 PM on October 14, 2021
“That’s enough for a lifetime, I think,” she said.
Fair point.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:13 PM on October 14, 2021
Fair point.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:13 PM on October 14, 2021
Insulation: It's not just for heat anymore!
posted by Callisto Prime at 9:22 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Callisto Prime at 9:22 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
If that's a confirmed space-rock, it's dollar-value is wayyyy more than the insurance cost to fix the roof.
posted by ovvl at 9:22 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 9:22 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
I am ashamed to say I thought of the opening scene of The Blob.
posted by effluvia at 9:23 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by effluvia at 9:23 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
...Catch a falling star
and put it by your pillow
Save it for a raining brimstone day
posted by y2karl at 9:38 PM on October 14, 2021 [7 favorites]
and put it by your pillow
Save it for a raining brimstone day
posted by y2karl at 9:38 PM on October 14, 2021 [7 favorites]
Not only would it be a space rock, it'd probably be a piece of Halley's Comet, since we are in the midst of the Orionids, which happen every year about this time as we pass through the comet's debris-filled orbit.
The Orionids are not the most abundant of showers, but at ~148,000 mph, they are the speediest.
Some of the components of Halley are like carbonaceous chondrites, which are old because they condensed out of the rotating nebula which became the solar system very early, and some are even pre-solar, such as the Murchison meteorite mentioned by biogeo.
But I couldn’t find anything which specified the age of Halley's constituents directly.
posted by jamjam at 9:50 PM on October 14, 2021 [7 favorites]
The Orionids are not the most abundant of showers, but at ~148,000 mph, they are the speediest.
Some of the components of Halley are like carbonaceous chondrites, which are old because they condensed out of the rotating nebula which became the solar system very early, and some are even pre-solar, such as the Murchison meteorite mentioned by biogeo.
But I couldn’t find anything which specified the age of Halley's constituents directly.
posted by jamjam at 9:50 PM on October 14, 2021 [7 favorites]
I know there's a "What are the odds...." remark in me somewhere. I can't figure out how to put it into words.
posted by mule98J at 10:01 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by mule98J at 10:01 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
As for Hamilton, she has no plans to take up astrology or stargazing after her encounter.Woman who was nearly murdered by birds has no plans to take up birding.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:05 PM on October 14, 2021 [6 favorites]
I wonder how old rocks on Earth are. Thousands of years, I’ll bet.
everything is everything, after all.
posted by wibari at 10:21 PM on October 14, 2021
everything is everything, after all.
posted by wibari at 10:21 PM on October 14, 2021
In every other plane of the multiverse, this woman was killed. But this one...is special.
posted by The otter lady at 10:37 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 10:37 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
Am I wrong to be sceptical about this? I mean, the thing flies through space, presumably mostly burns off and then explodes, then crashes through her roof at what should have been several thousand metres per second, and then.... lands gently on her pillow with no evident burning?
This feels like a Jesus-on-toast story.
posted by klanawa at 10:55 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
This feels like a Jesus-on-toast story.
posted by klanawa at 10:55 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
Mum! Dad! Don't touch it! It's Evil!
or
Knock knock. SPACE ROCK!
posted by bartleby at 11:02 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
or
Knock knock. SPACE ROCK!
posted by bartleby at 11:02 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
Hospitably soft landing.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:40 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:40 PM on October 14, 2021
Not only would it be a space rock, it'd probably be a piece of Halley's Comet, since we are in the midst of the Orionids, which happen every year about this time as we pass through the comet's debris-filled orbit.
Not only Hans Zarkov, formerly of NASA, has provided any explanation
posted by biffa at 12:01 AM on October 15, 2021
Not only Hans Zarkov, formerly of NASA, has provided any explanation
posted by biffa at 12:01 AM on October 15, 2021
A rock floats alone in space for billions of years, and then in a moment of a moment of a moment it somehow finds itself in a gravity well that takes it to a soft pillow.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:22 AM on October 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:22 AM on October 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
then crashes through her roof at what should have been several thousand metres per second, and then.... lands gently on her pillow with no evident burning?
My understanding is that by the time most meteors reach the surface, they've bled off enough energy to friction that they will be travelling at or near their terminal velocity in atmosphere, not the incredibly high speeds they're moving relative to Earth when they first enter the atmosphere. And while the exterior of the meteor can reach very high temperatures due to that friction, much of the exterior layer can actually ablate off and carry that heat away with it. Furthermore since the meteor starts out in thermal equilibrium with space (and is thus very cold), its thermal mass means that even with quite a lot of surface heating, its temperature by the time it lands as a meteorite is still quite cold even with all the heating from air friction. I'm not enough of an expert on these things to be sure that I haven't been misinformed on this, but it's what I recall learning, and I think it makes sense to me at least.
None of which is to say this couldn't be a Jesus-on-toast sort of situation, just that I don't think the facts about the speed and temperature of the meteorite are necessarily inconsistent. This is certainly a pretty improbable event and it would be more likely to occur due to some human contrivance. However, very improbable things are highly probable to occur, as long as we don't specify which improbable things a priori.
posted by biogeo at 12:30 AM on October 15, 2021 [12 favorites]
a meteorite is still quite cold even with all the heating from air friction.
I believe the vast majority of heat during entry is produced by air compression, not friction.
posted by Pendragon at 1:32 AM on October 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
I believe the vast majority of heat during entry is produced by air compression, not friction.
posted by Pendragon at 1:32 AM on October 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
I've seen this movie. I wonder what her superpowers will be?
If it were me it would be never being able to sleep again.
posted by srboisvert at 3:42 AM on October 15, 2021 [15 favorites]
If it were me it would be never being able to sleep again.
posted by srboisvert at 3:42 AM on October 15, 2021 [15 favorites]
This is all very interesting, hb, but I'm struggling to see what it has to do with Stephen Sondheim.
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 3:55 AM on October 15, 2021 [20 favorites]
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 3:55 AM on October 15, 2021 [20 favorites]
I can't find it because podcast, but I think the memory palace did an episode on a very similar situation from a hundred years ago, and the owners of the home found the meteor was in fact not worth more than the roof, and was only worth the sensation. When they waited for a better offer, the news moved on and no one valued the space rock. Furthermore.... If I remember, insurance didn't cover it.
I wish the memory palace did a better job making their episodes searchable.
posted by rebent at 5:02 AM on October 15, 2021
I wish the memory palace did a better job making their episodes searchable.
posted by rebent at 5:02 AM on October 15, 2021
This report gives a rough estimate of the value of the meteorite at 50,000 to 127,000 dollars
posted by TedW at 5:14 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 5:14 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
As for Hamilton, she has no plans to take up astrology or stargazing after her encounter.More's the pity. She sounds like a Capricorn: dependable and tenacious. You might even say: solid as a rock.
posted by Mayor West at 5:44 AM on October 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
Has anyone considered that maybe the rock was just tired? Winging your way around space at 148000 mph must be exhausting. Maybe her pillow just looked comfy.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:56 AM on October 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 5:56 AM on October 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
Douglas Adams would probably have something to say about the pillow's thoughts on all this.
Oh no. Not again.
posted by schmod at 6:41 AM on October 15, 2021 [14 favorites]
Oh no. Not again.
posted by schmod at 6:41 AM on October 15, 2021 [14 favorites]
I've seen this movie. I wonder what her superpowers will be?
If it were me it would be never being able to sleep again.
Not in that room, certainly.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:58 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
If it were me it would be never being able to sleep again.
Not in that room, certainly.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:58 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Whatever she does, I hope she doesn't pour water on it.
posted by Gelatin at 7:25 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Gelatin at 7:25 AM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
From a follow-up article:
posted by wreckingball at 11:37 AM on October 15, 2021 [3 favorites][Peter] Brown is Canada Research Chair at Ontario’s Western University and has been a researcher in this field for 30 years. He said an opportunity like the one in Golden only presents itself so often.
'When we first heard this story we were pretty surprised, but also pretty convinced that it was a meteorite and we certainly had a pretty good idea of the fireball that was related to it,' he said.
[…] Brown says it’s also not a shock that the rock did not burn the bed when it landed, as meteors stop being luminous at about 18 to 20 kilometres of altitude, giving them plenty of time to cool off in the chilly upper atmosphere.
If it were me it would be never being able to sleep again.
What are the chances of being brained by a second space-rock after being narrowly missed by the first? By this logic crossing a street should absolutely terrify you.
posted by axiom at 1:00 PM on October 15, 2021
What are the chances of being brained by a second space-rock after being narrowly missed by the first? By this logic crossing a street should absolutely terrify you.
posted by axiom at 1:00 PM on October 15, 2021
Exactly the same as the chances of being brained by a space-rock generally.
posted by biogeo at 1:10 PM on October 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 1:10 PM on October 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
I think the Bayesian probability might be a little different:
P(brained by space rock)|(already brained once by space rock) << P(brained by space rock)|(not yet brained by space rock)
However,
P(almost brained by space rock)|(already almost brained by space rock) ~= P(almost brained by space rock)|(no prior)
posted by spacewrench at 1:18 PM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
P(brained by space rock)|(already brained once by space rock) << P(brained by space rock)|(not yet brained by space rock)
However,
P(almost brained by space rock)|(already almost brained by space rock) ~= P(almost brained by space rock)|(no prior)
posted by spacewrench at 1:18 PM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
I can't find it because podcast, but I think the memory palace did an episode on a very similar situation from a hundred years ago, and the owners of the home found the meteor was in fact not worth more than the roof, and was only worth the sensation. When they waited for a better offer, the news moved on and no one valued the space rock. Furthermore.... If I remember, insurance didn't cover it.
This may have changed. Meteors are quite expensive on open market these days, there's a lot more science and space nerds out there willing to pay relatively high prices for confirmed meteorites, especially largish ones any bigger than about the size of a pebble or plum.
And anything with a story like this probably commands a premium.
Hang on, scoping out eBay.
Oh, I guess not. No, you're right. It looks like you can't pay for a new roof with the meteor that wrecked it unless it's a really big one, and, well, then you'd be looking for a whole new house or even neighborhood.
Even the auctions that look legit and verified are going for only a few hundred to thousand per kilo, but the really big ones rapidly climb into the tens and hundreds of thousands.
It looks like there's a few auctions where they've been witnessed or have a story have some crazy high prices per kilo but that doesn't mean they will actually sell and the auctions for those look... ah, kooky.
posted by loquacious at 2:18 PM on October 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
This may have changed. Meteors are quite expensive on open market these days, there's a lot more science and space nerds out there willing to pay relatively high prices for confirmed meteorites, especially largish ones any bigger than about the size of a pebble or plum.
And anything with a story like this probably commands a premium.
Hang on, scoping out eBay.
Oh, I guess not. No, you're right. It looks like you can't pay for a new roof with the meteor that wrecked it unless it's a really big one, and, well, then you'd be looking for a whole new house or even neighborhood.
Even the auctions that look legit and verified are going for only a few hundred to thousand per kilo, but the really big ones rapidly climb into the tens and hundreds of thousands.
It looks like there's a few auctions where they've been witnessed or have a story have some crazy high prices per kilo but that doesn't mean they will actually sell and the auctions for those look... ah, kooky.
posted by loquacious at 2:18 PM on October 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
never sleeping in that room again
Foolishness. You're safe there - it's been pre-disastered! (Literally, even, as in ill-starred.)
posted by bartleby at 2:47 PM on October 15, 2021
Foolishness. You're safe there - it's been pre-disastered! (Literally, even, as in ill-starred.)
posted by bartleby at 2:47 PM on October 15, 2021
Well, from a frequentist perspective I'd argue that if P(brained by space rock within time interval T) is independent and identically distributed for any T, then the relevant probability isn't conditional but joint.
P(brained by space rock | almost brained by space rock) = P(brained by space rock), because "brained by space rock" and "almost brained by space rock" are independent events.
However, P(brained by space rock AND almost brained by space rock) ~= P(brained by space rock)^2 << P(brained by space rock).
So it's a matter of perspective. If you ask a priori what the probability of being almost brained by a space rock and then being brained by a space rock, this is indeed much less probable than just being brained by a space rock in general. But if you ask, having already been almost brained by a space rock, what the conditional probability of then being brained by a space rock is, that's unaffected.
However, from a Bayesian perspective, we ought to use the information about being almost brained by a space rock to update our estimate of the overall probability of being brained by a space rock. However unlikely we think being brained by a space rock is, having observed it to almost happen once we should increase our estimate of how likely it is. That is,
P(brained by a space rock | almost brained by a space rock) = P(brained by a space rock) * P(almost brained by a space rock | brained by a space rock) /P(almost brained by a space rock).
If we think that P(almost brained by a space rock | brained by a space rock) ~= P(brained by a space rock | almost brained by a space rock), which I would argue is a reasonable guess, then because P(almost brained by a space rock) < 1, P(brained by a space rock | almost brained by a space rock) > P(brained by a space rock). Not however that the Bayesian interpretation of this isn't that almost getting brained by a space rock actually increases your chances of getting brained by a space rock, but rather that our estimate of the probability of being brained by a space rock increases following the information that one has been almost brained by a space rock.
Thanks for the opportunity to type the phrase "brained by a space rock" so many times. I was tempted to insert variables but typing "brained by a space rock" was too much fun.
posted by biogeo at 2:58 PM on October 15, 2021 [10 favorites]
P(brained by space rock | almost brained by space rock) = P(brained by space rock), because "brained by space rock" and "almost brained by space rock" are independent events.
However, P(brained by space rock AND almost brained by space rock) ~= P(brained by space rock)^2 << P(brained by space rock).
So it's a matter of perspective. If you ask a priori what the probability of being almost brained by a space rock and then being brained by a space rock, this is indeed much less probable than just being brained by a space rock in general. But if you ask, having already been almost brained by a space rock, what the conditional probability of then being brained by a space rock is, that's unaffected.
However, from a Bayesian perspective, we ought to use the information about being almost brained by a space rock to update our estimate of the overall probability of being brained by a space rock. However unlikely we think being brained by a space rock is, having observed it to almost happen once we should increase our estimate of how likely it is. That is,
P(brained by a space rock | almost brained by a space rock) = P(brained by a space rock) * P(almost brained by a space rock | brained by a space rock) /P(almost brained by a space rock).
If we think that P(almost brained by a space rock | brained by a space rock) ~= P(brained by a space rock | almost brained by a space rock), which I would argue is a reasonable guess, then because P(almost brained by a space rock) < 1, P(brained by a space rock | almost brained by a space rock) > P(brained by a space rock). Not however that the Bayesian interpretation of this isn't that almost getting brained by a space rock actually increases your chances of getting brained by a space rock, but rather that our estimate of the probability of being brained by a space rock increases following the information that one has been almost brained by a space rock.
Thanks for the opportunity to type the phrase "brained by a space rock" so many times. I was tempted to insert variables but typing "brained by a space rock" was too much fun.
posted by biogeo at 2:58 PM on October 15, 2021 [10 favorites]
It is a much, much smaller and possibly more romantic and interesting probability to talk about that this space rock would land on a soft pillow, than in someone's brain.
For one, there are many-fold more humans than pillows with which to collide.
Further, human targets are much more even distributed across the planet than pillows, and also have greater aggregate mass and gravitational pull. /science
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 3:26 PM on October 15, 2021
For one, there are many-fold more humans than pillows with which to collide.
Further, human targets are much more even distributed across the planet than pillows, and also have greater aggregate mass and gravitational pull. /science
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 3:26 PM on October 15, 2021
Am I wrong to be sceptical about this? I mean, the thing flies through space, presumably mostly burns off and then explodes, then crashes through her roof at what should have been several thousand metres per second, and then.... lands gently on her pillow with no evident burning?
Yeah, confirming what biogeo said above. There's a lot of reports of fresh but small meteorites being extremely cold if not solidly frozen to the touch on landing.
In the incandescent phase in the sky they're basically acting like ablative aerobrakes and the heat is being carried away by the plasma and material, then they reach terminal velocity and fall out of the sky like any normal rock would, and there's a ton of thermal mass in a cold iron-nickle rock the same way that metal out of the freezer would react, say, metal whiskey stones, or a frozen ice cream maker barrel.
Another way to think about this is in relation to the re-entry shields or the tiles of the Space Shuttle or similar aerospace technology. The only real reason why they need lightweight exotic materials for those ablative aerobraking and shielding is because of weight to orbit fuel and payload costs. There's no reason why you couldn't use a few tons of plain old iron slab for a heat shield and aerobrake instead of composite materials or ceramics besides the fact that it's extremely costly in the balance of vehicle weight to delta V and all of that fiddly cost per pound to orbit math.
A solid, roughly spherical chunk of iron-nickle alloy has a lot more thermal mass and general mass with the least surface area of any of the exotic materials and shapes used for aerospace re-entry systems, and paradoxically the fact that it enters the atmosphere at higher speeds and transitions to terminal velocity faster than spacecraft means that it has more insulation and a bow shockwave and plasma bubble happening, more material mass being removed per velocity/mass to carry away heat - as well as less time for atmospheric friction and heating to transfer to the core of the meteor.
I have no idea what size or mass of meteorite you would have to have for it to still be heating up on the surface by the time it reached the ground, but it would have to be catastrophically large.
Somewhere between the size of "reaches terminal velocity then falls out of the sky" and "So large it hits the ground at hypersonic speeds still producing plasma and causing an impact event" there's a wide middle ground of meteor sizes and velocities that mean "causes a minor to major bolide explosion and airburst event when it reaches thicker atmosphere, then rains down smaller parts and dust at terminal velocity" and even then parts of a bolide will likely be still cold after contact with the ground, because all of the heat got carried away in the ablative action and/or bolide airburst.
By the way - our atmosphere is basically constantly raining meteor dust. I can't remember the estimate but it's some impressively large number of tons per day or something like that.
You can try to collect it by placing a rare earth magnet, ideally somewhere high up like a roof and in the clear away from trees or blowing dust and leaving it alone for a while. Eventually it will start picking up dust and grains of ferromagnetic iron and iron alloys FROM SPAAAACE and this is a fun experiment to do with kids.
Some major percentage of it will be terrestrial airborne dust or mineral dust from rain, and some other major portion of it will be terrestrial magnetite, some percentage of it will be meteor dust either already landed and airborne - and then some smaller percentage will eventually be direct or nearly direct fall from space.
Another way to hunt for fresh meteorites is to go look for them in fresh or untrod snow and use a metal detector - or put together a strong magnet on a stick and sort of sweep the surface of a large snow field or probe the magnet into fresh holes in the snow.
If you find anything in/on top of the fresh snow bigger than about the pea to pebble size range it has a better than average chance to be a meteorite compared to rocks found on the ground because it's generally too big to be blown up in the air as dust or sand or terrestrial magnetite or iron ore.
There were scientists and meteor hunters and collectors that used this technique to find fragments of the Chelyabinks superbolide event since the region was well covered in snow in many places.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor#Meteorites
More info:
https://geology.com/meteorites/meteorite-identification.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite_hunting
https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/identification/
https://www.meteorites-for-sale.com/meteorite-identification.html
posted by loquacious at 3:29 PM on October 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
Yeah, confirming what biogeo said above. There's a lot of reports of fresh but small meteorites being extremely cold if not solidly frozen to the touch on landing.
In the incandescent phase in the sky they're basically acting like ablative aerobrakes and the heat is being carried away by the plasma and material, then they reach terminal velocity and fall out of the sky like any normal rock would, and there's a ton of thermal mass in a cold iron-nickle rock the same way that metal out of the freezer would react, say, metal whiskey stones, or a frozen ice cream maker barrel.
Another way to think about this is in relation to the re-entry shields or the tiles of the Space Shuttle or similar aerospace technology. The only real reason why they need lightweight exotic materials for those ablative aerobraking and shielding is because of weight to orbit fuel and payload costs. There's no reason why you couldn't use a few tons of plain old iron slab for a heat shield and aerobrake instead of composite materials or ceramics besides the fact that it's extremely costly in the balance of vehicle weight to delta V and all of that fiddly cost per pound to orbit math.
A solid, roughly spherical chunk of iron-nickle alloy has a lot more thermal mass and general mass with the least surface area of any of the exotic materials and shapes used for aerospace re-entry systems, and paradoxically the fact that it enters the atmosphere at higher speeds and transitions to terminal velocity faster than spacecraft means that it has more insulation and a bow shockwave and plasma bubble happening, more material mass being removed per velocity/mass to carry away heat - as well as less time for atmospheric friction and heating to transfer to the core of the meteor.
I have no idea what size or mass of meteorite you would have to have for it to still be heating up on the surface by the time it reached the ground, but it would have to be catastrophically large.
Somewhere between the size of "reaches terminal velocity then falls out of the sky" and "So large it hits the ground at hypersonic speeds still producing plasma and causing an impact event" there's a wide middle ground of meteor sizes and velocities that mean "causes a minor to major bolide explosion and airburst event when it reaches thicker atmosphere, then rains down smaller parts and dust at terminal velocity" and even then parts of a bolide will likely be still cold after contact with the ground, because all of the heat got carried away in the ablative action and/or bolide airburst.
By the way - our atmosphere is basically constantly raining meteor dust. I can't remember the estimate but it's some impressively large number of tons per day or something like that.
You can try to collect it by placing a rare earth magnet, ideally somewhere high up like a roof and in the clear away from trees or blowing dust and leaving it alone for a while. Eventually it will start picking up dust and grains of ferromagnetic iron and iron alloys FROM SPAAAACE and this is a fun experiment to do with kids.
Some major percentage of it will be terrestrial airborne dust or mineral dust from rain, and some other major portion of it will be terrestrial magnetite, some percentage of it will be meteor dust either already landed and airborne - and then some smaller percentage will eventually be direct or nearly direct fall from space.
Another way to hunt for fresh meteorites is to go look for them in fresh or untrod snow and use a metal detector - or put together a strong magnet on a stick and sort of sweep the surface of a large snow field or probe the magnet into fresh holes in the snow.
If you find anything in/on top of the fresh snow bigger than about the pea to pebble size range it has a better than average chance to be a meteorite compared to rocks found on the ground because it's generally too big to be blown up in the air as dust or sand or terrestrial magnetite or iron ore.
There were scientists and meteor hunters and collectors that used this technique to find fragments of the Chelyabinks superbolide event since the region was well covered in snow in many places.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor#Meteorites
More info:
https://geology.com/meteorites/meteorite-identification.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite_hunting
https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/identification/
https://www.meteorites-for-sale.com/meteorite-identification.html
posted by loquacious at 3:29 PM on October 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
For one, there are many-fold more humans than pillows with which to collide.
Are there large non - pillow using cultures out there such that this is true? Because I live alone and I probably have like 10 pillows so I am guessing the difference goes the other way unless a major culture like China or India doesn't really do pillows.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:40 PM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Are there large non - pillow using cultures out there such that this is true? Because I live alone and I probably have like 10 pillows so I am guessing the difference goes the other way unless a major culture like China or India doesn't really do pillows.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:40 PM on October 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Not a hundred years ago but I think it was the meteor that caused Ann Hodges' enormous bruise that features in the story of the disappointed family. It all ended up in a bit of a mess for them. I think there's a metafilter previously about it.
I can never get over how hairy the doctor's hands are in that picture.
posted by glasseyes at 5:06 PM on October 15, 2021
I can never get over how hairy the doctor's hands are in that picture.
posted by glasseyes at 5:06 PM on October 15, 2021
It is a much, much smaller and possibly more romantic and interesting probability to talk about that this space rock would land on a soft pillow, than in someone's brain.
posted by They sucked his brains out!
Well this is the most surprising opinion I've read all day.
posted by biogeo at 5:50 PM on October 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
The rock found the right person. She is beginning to understand. It has a plan. She will help it.
Hey, will you quit it with this nonsense already? I have the Loc-Nar right here and it's perfectly safe!
posted by loquacious at 10:12 AM on October 16, 2021
Hey, will you quit it with this nonsense already? I have the Loc-Nar right here and it's perfectly safe!
posted by loquacious at 10:12 AM on October 16, 2021
"As for Hamilton, she has no plans to take up astrology or stargazing after her encounter."
Am I crazy or did they make a mistake and they meant "astronomy" there? It doesn't seem like it's trying to make a joke...
And yeah, what is it with women lying in beds being attacked by meteorites? It is worth mentioning that Ann Hodges is the only person in human history known to have been hit by a meteorite—and now we have another woman that was **this close** but apparently not quite.
posted by jjwiseman at 12:10 PM on October 16, 2021
Am I crazy or did they make a mistake and they meant "astronomy" there? It doesn't seem like it's trying to make a joke...
And yeah, what is it with women lying in beds being attacked by meteorites? It is worth mentioning that Ann Hodges is the only person in human history known to have been hit by a meteorite—and now we have another woman that was **this close** but apparently not quite.
posted by jjwiseman at 12:10 PM on October 16, 2021
EDIT: oops, wrong thread, carry on
posted by what does it eat, light? at 3:50 PM on October 17, 2021
posted by what does it eat, light? at 3:50 PM on October 17, 2021
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posted by eye of newt at 7:26 PM on October 14, 2021 [10 favorites]