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AZ Meteorite

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NASA has used Doppler Radar sites in Flagstaff, Las Vegas and Phoenix, etc; to triangulate the meteors likely strewn field. Larger masses travel farther. NASA believes portions of the meteor will be several pounds each.

Toggle navigationMETEORITE FALLS

PRESCOTT, AZ

DATE/TIME

2/16/2020
14:17 UTC

LAT/LONG

34.717562
-112.747969

This is an estimated landing site map for this fall, color coded according to mass. Red is kg-mass meteorites, scaling down to yellow single-gram stones.

STREWN FIELD

This is an estimated landing site map for this fall, color coded according to mass. Red is kg-mass meteorites, scaling down to yellow single-gram stones.

SUMMARY

This event was a probable meteorite fall that occurred at 7:17:29 AM local time on 16 Feb 2020, or 16 Feb 2020 14:17:29 UTC. Events are recorded as “probable” if they produce well-defined signatures of a meteorite fall in weather radar imagery at the time and place described by eyewitnesses, but no meteorites have been recovered from the event to date. The fireball was an especially loud daytime bolide which left a lingering smoke trail. Sixty-nine eyewitnesses reported it to the American Meteor Society across Arizona. Eight eyewitnesses reported hearing sonic booms from the falling meteorites. Radar evidence of the fall is sparse, but the few radar signatures found provide reasonable evidence that a fall occurred based on velocity and other data product signatures.

Meteorites have not been recovered from this event.

This event is recorded as American Meteor Society event number 795 for 2020. Signatures of falling meteorites can be found in imagery from one nearby weather radar with certainty, and possibly from two more. In the NEXRAD weather radar network operated by NOAA, the KFSX (Flagstaff, AZ) and possibly the KESX (Las Vegas, NV) and KIWA (Phoenix, AZ) radars record signatures of falling meteorites.

The first appearance of falling meteorites on radar occurs at 14:18:58 UTC and 16,400 m above sea level (ASL) in the 1413 UTC data set for the KFSX radar in the 3.12 degree elevation radar sweep. Signatures consistent with falling meteorites appear in a total of possibly seven radar sweeps from the three radars, with a final signature appearing at 14:38:40 UTC. This final return appears a full twenty minutes after the event and may be fine dust.

RADAR & MAPS

This composite image shows all the radar signatures from falling meteorites as blue/gray polygons.

RADAR SUMMARY

This composite image shows all the radar signatures from falling meteorites as blue/gray polygons.

GET DIRECTIONS

Click on the View larger map link that is displayed in the address box above in order to get directions to the strewn field area.

ABOUT ARES

Our mission is to protect, preserve, and distribute samples for study from the Moon, Mars, and nearby space in the support of solar system exploration.

Learn More

DR. MARC FRIES

Dr. Marc Fries, the website manager of Meteorite Falls, is a planetary scientist within the ARES Division at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

CONTACTS

Eileen Stansbery
Responsible NASA Official
Bryan Modders
Website Curator
Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science
  
This website is best viewed in portrait mode on mobile devices.
THANK YOU!
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I thought it was that guy that went up in a steam powered rocket to prove the earth was flat, i guess he proved it.

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47 minutes ago, n2horns said:

I thought it was that guy that went up in a steam powered rocket to prove the earth was flat, i guess he proved it.

Yes when I heard Mad Mike Hughes had crashed I thought MulePackHunter had met his demise.

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I'm a little late on seeing this thread but I saw a flash of light out my back patio doors about 5:30 am on Feb 25th.  Only lasted about half a second but it lit up my whole back yard.  I went out to see if a helicopter was flying over but nothing in the air .  Found out it was on the news and showed up on doorbell cameras in the valley.  (I live in Chandler).  Has anybody heard if there was a debris field?

I found this in my back yard the other day. It was in my rock area by my garden beds and I have never noticed it before despite spending a great deal of time around the garden.  It is pretty heavy for its size (approx. 1 1/2"long and 3/4 " wide.  It weighs 2 oz.  I thought it was lead when I picked it up.  I took some sand paper to the side to see what would happen and it is silver or nickel in color.  It is very magnetic. IMG_1774.thumb.JPG.a08bf152ff4d9236a09baa6c7be77345.JPGIMG_1771.thumb.JPG.ad5478616c9e8ac87333801cf99e8a92.JPGI soaked it in white vinegar to see if it was rust coated but it didn't do anything.  Could be a broken tooth from trenching tool covered in something beside rust?  (I say this because of the shape, it looks kinda man made with flat sides)  What , besides rust, would collect to a piece of metal and be fused on? I'd like to think it's a Meteorite?  I could be all wet on this but I have to find out what it is.

Anyone know someone who is local that could look at it and tell if it is a meteorite?

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1 hour ago, bigbuckfever said:

I'm a little late on seeing this thread but I saw a flash of light out my back patio doors about 5:30 am on Feb 25th.  Only lasted about half a second but it lit up my whole back yard.  I went out to see if a helicopter was flying over but nothing in the air .  Found out it was on the news and showed up on doorbell cameras in the valley.  (I live in Chandler).  Has anybody heard if there was a debris field?

I found this in my back yard the other day. It was in my rock area by my garden beds and I have never noticed it before despite spending a great deal of time around the garden.  It is pretty heavy for its size (approx. 1 1/2"long and 3/4 " wide.  It weighs 2 oz.  I thought it was lead when I picked it up.  I took some sand paper to the side to see what would happen and it is silver or nickel in color.  It is very magnetic. IMG_1774.thumb.JPG.a08bf152ff4d9236a09baa6c7be77345.JPGIMG_1771.thumb.JPG.ad5478616c9e8ac87333801cf99e8a92.JPGI soaked it in white vinegar to see if it was rust coated but it didn't do anything.  Could be a broken tooth from trenching tool covered in something beside rust?  (I say this because of the shape, it looks kinda man made with flat sides)  What , besides rust, would collect to a piece of metal and be fused on? I'd like to think it's a Meteorite?  I could be all wet on this but I have to find out what it is.

Anyone know someone who is local that could look at it and tell if it is a meteorite?

Simple... Turn your toilet lid over and do a long hard scratch on it with suspected space rock. If it leaves a color streak behind of any color, it's not a meteorite.

The event over Mesa at 530am you witnessed was actually 26 Feb.

https://nuggetshooter.ipbhost.com/

https://www.wdrb.com/weather/wdrb-weather-blog/fireball-a-meteor-streaking-in-the-sky-over-arizona/article_6d4a3a58-5907-11ea-86ae-7f492ad38118.html

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I have had luck just calling the geology dept at ASU.  they have been great when diagnosing stuff like this.

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18 minutes ago, PhxDT said:

I have had luck just calling the geology dept at ASU.  they have been great when diagnosing stuff like this.

How long ago was that?

 Folks.on my meteorite forum say they no longer test the public's samples, too many meteorwrongs.

Simply do the streak test. If it passes that, file a window into it looking for the Widmanstatten pattern.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widmanstätten_pattern

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hmmm  7-8 years ago, maybe. 

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4 minutes ago, PhxDT said:

hmmm  7-8 years ago, maybe. 

Ahhh. I guess it's worth a shot. Since the filming of Meteorite Men, the public is obsessed.

Here's a pic of my 2.5g meteorite from the Sikhote fall.0328201448.thumb.jpg.daf214aa1b727d6564b51670161fde96.jpg

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2 hours ago, bigbuckfever said:

I'm a little late on seeing this thread but I saw a flash of light out my back patio doors about 5:30 am on Feb 25th.  Only lasted about half a second but it lit up my whole back yard.  I went out to see if a helicopter was flying over but nothing in the air .  Found out it was on the news and showed up on doorbell cameras in the valley.  (I live in Chandler).  Has anybody heard if there was a debris field?

I found this in my back yard the other day. It was in my rock area by my garden beds and I have never noticed it before despite spending a great deal of time around the garden.  It is pretty heavy for its size (approx. 1 1/2"long and 3/4 " wide.  It weighs 2 oz.  I thought it was lead when I picked it up.  I took some sand paper to the side to see what would happen and it is silver or nickel in color.  It is very magnetic. IMG_1774.thumb.JPG.a08bf152ff4d9236a09baa6c7be77345.JPGIMG_1771.thumb.JPG.ad5478616c9e8ac87333801cf99e8a92.JPGI soaked it in white vinegar to see if it was rust coated but it didn't do anything.  Could be a broken tooth from trenching tool covered in something beside rust?  (I say this because of the shape, it looks kinda man made with flat sides)  What , besides rust, would collect to a piece of metal and be fused on? I'd like to think it's a Meteorite?  I could be all wet on this but I have to find out what it is.

Anyone know someone who is local that could look at it and tell if it is a meteorite?

Let us know what happens...

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Thanks Edge, I did the scratch test and it leaves a colored mark when scratched on the dark part but not really when scratched on the inner silver part that is exposed from sanding.

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8 minutes ago, bigbuckfever said:

Thanks Edge, I did the scratch test and it leaves a colored mark when scratched on the dark part but not really when scratched on the inner silver part that is exposed from sanding.

So the oxidation is coming off...?

I don't think a meteorites fusion crust would leave a mark... But you might want to file a window into it and look for the crystal matrix. They're huge on space breccia.

 

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56 minutes ago, bigbuckfever said:

This is what the file shows inside.IMG_1784.thumb.JPG.dbdf40b8fc054e76338fea8a53147bb9.JPGIMG_1785.thumb.JPG.b21737180103365cf8d8ca0b4012955f.JPGInteresting how the file left north south cuts when I pulled the file east west

Interesting but you need a better window. Read these instructions and post pics. It's on the forum I sent you a link too. The idea is to etch a window but you don't want to destroy its value in the process.

https://nuggetshooter.ipbhost.com/topic/7933-secrets-to-cutting-etching-and-preserving-iron-meteorites/

 

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