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Did I (Nearly) Stumble Over A Meteorite This Morning?

Ermintruder

The greatest risk is to risk nothing at all...
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
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I found / saw something really odd this morning -

Location: North of Stirling, Central Scotland UK

Date / Time: 12 Mar 2022 / 1145GMT

Sited: On the street pavement/sidewalk beside a row of terraced houses

Description: Large heavy dark stone (or pitch?) mainly ovoid / object, approx 180mm in length along its major axis, approx 150mm across the minor axis.

Whole surface of the object was covered in similar-sized holes, c 8mm in diameter, and there was the appearance within the object of what looked like yellow stones or pebbles inside, but seperate from the holes.

The outer surface was relatively-smooth, except for a more-ragged single end at the extreme limit of the major axis. It was reminiscent of an object that had been eroded by wave-action or tides at the sea-side, but seemed heavier than such items would be.

Although it was dark-coloured like pitch or tar, it was much harder and heavier (ie denser), and on close examination, the surface had many faint white parallel lines right the way around it, suggesting deposited layers.

Situation: I was unable (practically and socionormatively) to pick-up and carry the object away, so I rolled it over the wall into the garden of the house nearest to the street (possibly retrievably...)

So what was it? All suggestions welcome: my principle question is.....can meteorites be substantially-smoothed by their descent, or is this a clear indication that it was NOT a rock from the sky?
 
I found / saw something really odd this morning -

Location: North of Stirling, Central Scotland UK

Date / Time: 12 Mar 2022 / 1145GMT

Sited: On the street pavement/sidewalk beside a row of terraced houses

Description: Large heavy dark stone (or pitch?) mainly ovoid / object, approx 180mm in length along its major axis, approx 150mm across the minor axis.

Whole surface of the object was covered in similar-sized holes, c 8mm in diameter, and there was the appearance within the object of what looked like yellow stones or pebbles inside, but seperate from the holes.

The outer surface was relatively-smooth, except for a more-ragged single end at the extreme limit of the major axis. It was reminiscent of an object that had been eroded by wave-action or tides at the sea-side, but seemed heavier than such items would be.

Although it was dark-coloured like pitch or tar, it was much harder and heavier (ie denser), and on close examination, the surface had many faint white parallel lines right the way around it, suggesting deposited layers.

Situation: I was unable (practically and socionormatively) to pick-up and carry the object away, so I rolled it over the wall into the garden of the house nearest to the street (possibly retrievably...)

So what was it? All suggestions welcome: my principle question is.....can meteorites be substantially-smoothed by their descent, or is this a clear indication that it was NOT a rock from the sky?
Find it and take a photo, then we might be able to comment.
 
Whole surface of the object was covered in similar-sized holes, c 8mm in diameter, and there was the appearance within the object of what looked like yellow stones or pebbles inside, but seperate from the holes.
Did the holes and what you could see of these pebble-like things seem to have the same size? That is, if we were to assume the object's surface was ablating during its putative descent, could these holes have been left by other "pebbles" losing adhesion to their location within the bigger object and parting company with it?

my principle question is.....can meteorites be substantially-smoothed by their descent
Other, more knowledgeable people may yet chip in, but surely the answer to this question is yes - isn't the path traced by the archetypal shooting star actually formed by the latter's substance literally burning away? Presumably this has a smoothing action, and any remaining mass that reaches the ground will appear substantially smoothed. Or am I talking nonsense, as usual?
 
Did the holes and what you could see of these pebble-like things seem to have the same size?
Unsure....I really do need to go back and furtively capture it.... :-/

...the archetypal shooting star actually formed by the latter's substance literally burning away? Presumably this has a smoothing action
This was my highly-uninformed thought too, with the fractured/jagged nature of other meteorites resulting from their impact with the ground...?
 
This confidently-authoritative video appears to state that meteorites do NOT possess holes, nor are they usually very smooth.

So I'm now thinking it probably wasn't a meteorite (but I will try and either capture it, or photograph and magnet-test it.....both sets of actions have a high risk factor when carried-out in a stranger's garden

 
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