Mike's Astro Photos

Thanks to the article in the Lancaster newspaper I’ve been getting lots of emails with great new leads, information and a bunch of new meteorite hunters too. If you have information, think you found something or want to help with the search please email me at mike.hankey [AT] gmail.com.

Meteor Wrong But What

Yesterday, I got a call from Susan in Quarryville. Susan had found three rocks on her front lawn that were odd and just showed up one day. Quarryville was a hot search area six weeks ago and is under the flight path so the report was credible. The description Susan gave me over the phone also sounded like a meteorite. I went out to her house to inspect the rock. It was definitely interesting and a rock that I have never seen before. After looking it over and testing it with a magnet I concluded it was probably not a meteorite. While it had a crust and looked burnt, it had crystals on the outer shell and I could see layers inside the stone. It was very heavy and very odd. I’m not sure what it is and I’ve searched on google images for purple crystallized rock and a few other keywords. Please leave a comment if you know what this rock is. Thank you Susan for calling me and letting me know about this, I’m sorry it didn’t turn out to be a meteorite, I really thought it was going to be one.

Dan Michaels Search September 2nd, 2009

A bunch of new meteorite hunters have joined the search which is great. Guys lmk if you have any questions. The best next thing to do is get out to the target area, start talking to farmers and telling them about what happened. Encourage them to search for meteorites on their own. Explain to them that the meteorites are black and magnetic. Tell them to keep an eye out for these that they are worth a lot of $$$. Every farmer I have talked to has been very interested in the story and will be willing to look for them when he cuts his fields — this is our best chance of recovery! But while you are at it, also ask him if you can search some of his fields. Tell him you will hand over anything you find and he will 99% of the time let you search right on the spot. Just don’t go on Sundays. Try to keep track of what fields you searched. If you want specific satellite zoom maps send me the coordinates that you want and I will email you a map.

One of the new meteorite hunters, Dan Michaels who contacted me has already been out in the field and is marking his territory. Dan is an amateur astronomer too and knows about meteorites. Great to have you on board Dan! We have over a dozen hunters who are currently working the area or will be working the area very soon.  The area Dan choose to search and the way he documented his search is a perfect example to follow. In Dan’s map C represents corn fields and T represents tobacco.  Dan mentioned that the corn field he was searching was cut the day before and the farmer was already laying manure! I thought they usually waited a couple of weeks. Dan said it is common for a lot of farmers to fertilize the land right after cutting the corn. It is critical that we talk to each and everyone of these farmers before they cut their crops so we can let them know what happened and to be on the lookout.

Here are a few pics Dan took out in the field. Nice work Dan! You are da man!

Dan Michael's Search Field September 2nd, 2009

Dan, horse shoes are good luck right? Are you suggesting something here? I take this as a another very positive sign.

Dan Michael's Horse Shoe - September 2nd, 2009

This search is picking up serious momentum. This thing is out there and we’re going to find it.