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'Doorstop' turns out to be $100,000 meteorite

By T.K. Randall
October 6, 2018 · Comment icon 5 comments

This is not just any ordinary doorstop. Image Credit: YouTube / Central Michigan University
A rock used to prop open a door for more than 30 years has been identified as a rare type of meteorite.
The owner of the space rock, who wishes to remain anonymous, originally acquired it from the previous owner of a farm that he had purchased back in 1988.

It had reportedly fallen on to the property during the 1930s and, according to the story, had still been warm when it was dug out of the crater.

It wasn't until he asked Mona Sirbescu - a geology faculty member in earth and atmospheric sciences at Central Michigan University - to take a closer look that he realized just how valuable it actually was.
After examining the rock under X-ray fluorescence, De Sirbescu immediately realized that it was something special - a rare meteorite consisting of 88% iron and 12% nickel.

"It's the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically," she said. "Just think, what I was holding is a piece of the early solar system that literally fell into our hands."

The space rock has been named the Edmore meteorite after the place at which it was found.

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC is now looking to purchase it for a sizable sum.



Source: BBC News | Comments (5)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Eldorado 6 years ago
Thank you, Caspian! https://www.cmich.edu/news/article/pages/CMU-prof-examines-meteorite.aspx
Comment icon #2 Posted by DieChecker 6 years ago
When I was a young man, I was running one of those magnets on a stick, used for picking up nails, through a pile of river rock that was going into a garden area, and pulled out a hunk of rock that was about the size of my fist and had a lot of iron in it. I kept it for a long time, but now I don't know where it went, and I'm now wondering it maybe was a meteorite.
Comment icon #3 Posted by Nnicolette 6 years ago
I used to do that with a magnet too! Amazing how much metal bits are in the dirt.
Comment icon #4 Posted by Merc14 6 years ago
Almost a century as a doorstop!  Great story and wonderful find. 
Comment icon #5 Posted by TripGun 6 years ago
Everybody in the house has had a form of cancer...


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