Rocks From Space!

On the evening of Jan 16th, 2018, a meteor entered the earths atmosphere over southeast Michigan and exploded over Livingston County.  Dozens of fragments of the meteor were found scattered on the lakes below in Hamburg Township and there are many more are waiting to be found. The General Motors Astronomy Club has received permission to hunt for meteorites at an undisclosed location near Pinckney.  Join us on November 6 and you can help find a meteorite.

After a day of hunting on a frozen lake for meteorites from the recent Michigan bolide, Todd Slisher and team point to their finds. The crew found them in an afternoon hunt on a frozen lake. From left: Sandra Macika, Todd Slisher, Tony Licata, and Brian Wolff. Not pictured but also on the team is Buddy Stark. From Sky & Telescope article, picture from Todd Slisher

Hunt schedule:

• 9:00 AM – Samir Hariri, a Professor of Geology from Schoolcraft College, will present a short lecture on meteorites.  Coffee and donuts will be provided.
• 9:30 AM – Split up into search teams and coordinate hunt locations
• 10:00 AM – Self-guided hunt begins
• 12:00PM – Meet back at the staging area for lunch and to review finds.  If you are unable to join us at 9AM, you may meet up with the group at this time.

Details and Recommendation:

• Be sure to eat a good breakfast, so you will have energy for walking!
• There is a restaurant on-site for lunch, or you may venture out to other local restaurants.
• Participants will be given magnet sticks, clipboards, and buckets as supplies last.  If you have a good strong magnet at home, please bring it along, just in case we run out.
• You be given a gridded map, which we will review with you before the hunt.  Most of the search area is wooded and terrain varies, but all levels of physical ability will be accommodated, so don’t worry if you don’t feel like walking far.  That’s the best part about meteorite hunting, anyone can do it and the rocks could be ANYWHERE, including in the parking lot.
• If you plan to search in the woods, you should wear long sleeves and sturdy footwear and keep and watch out for poison-ivy.  Optionally, you may want to wear waterproof boots and search in swampy areas, but it is purely up to you.  Our goal is to cover as much ground as possible, and there is plenty of area available to search, so don’t worry about that!

Reasons for Secrecy:

1.  There are professional meteorite hunters still looking for fallout from the Hamburg meteor and we want to be the first to hunt this location.
2.  If we are successful in our hunt and folks enjoy it, we may want to search again in the future, as an annual club activity.
3.  It’s fun to have a secret!  We thought it would be fun for adults and kids alike to join in a “top secret mission” 😊

You Must RSVP:

Contact Jim Goodall to RSVP for this event, at james.a.goodall@gm.com or 586-709-5888.  On the day before the hunt, the exact location of the hunt will be sent out via email to the group.

You may track this event on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1123982327758941/

For more info on the Hamburg Meteorite and the picture shown above, visit the Sky & Telescope Article from January 22, 2018.