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(meteorobs) FW: Museums Turns Down Meteorites Found In Spain
-----Forward Message-----
From: Ron Baalke
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 9:50 AM
Subject: Museums Turns Down Meteorites Found In Spain
http://www.guardian.codot uk/spain/article/0,2763,1130228,00.html
It came from outer space and we don't care, say
museums
Giles Tremlett in Madrid
The Guardian (United Kingdom)
January 24, 2004
A home was yesterday being sought for two fragments of
rock from outer space which fell to earth in Spain two
weeks ago and which museums there have turned down.
The meteor fragments were found by a Spanish
journalist, Abel Tarilonte, after a flaming ball of
rock was seen shooting across the skies of northern
and central Spain.
Villagers in the mountains of northern Spain reported
hearing and feeling explosions after the bright white
fireball passed overhead on January 4.
But a search by police failed to find any remnants of
the meteorite.
Scientists said it had probably been destroyed and
that the chances of finding any part of it were so
slim that it was not worth trying.
Then Mr Tarilonte came across two lumps of blackened
rock lying on a country track in the mountains in the
northern province of Palencia.
The rocks, weighing just 41 grams (1.4oz) and 22
grams, were tested by a Spanish laboratory, which
confirmed they were from the meteor.
But now Mr Tarilonte cannot find a museum or
university science department in Spain prepared to
give them a home where they can be properly examined,
El Mundo reported yesterday.
"No one from any public body has shown the least
interest in the find or in its scientific
implications. This is despite the fact that these are
the only meteor remains to have been found in Spain
for six decades," he complained.
Mr Tarilonte has now offered to send them to the
United States - or anywhere else that might be
interested in finding out more about them.
However, he did not say whether he was prepared to
give them away or just lend them.
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