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Thursday, December 23, 2010

Hunting for "ET" to turn a Profit

Hunting for ET:

Several years ago Steven Spielberg produced a movie that’s title was “ET” in the movie the ET was an extraterrestrial being there for all the world looked like a mud turtle that had been defrocked frrom his shell. In this case the ET is a visitor from outer space that impacted the surface of the earth. They are more commonly known as meteorites that are usually particles of matter from outer space most of which have their origin in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Other meteorites have their origins in impacts on the surface of Mars or the moon. These are much rarer than just run-of-the-mill outerspace bodies.

Stony and Iron Meteorites

Ifyou may wonder why in a Blog devoted to mining and prospecting that we include meteorites; the reason is because they're worth quite a bit of money there are thousands of people on the earth that collect them. Some of the better specimens have been known to fetch prices exceeding $30 per gram, and it is not unusual for a 1 pound meteorite to demand $1 million. This makes seeking meteorites worthwhile, and there are some people in the world who make it a full-time business. There are plenty of other people that buy and sell meteorites that can be found on the Internet. Going further, there is even a TV program on the Science Channel about meteorite hunters.

A Lunar Meteorite knocked off the moon by a meteorite impact.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Meteorite_Recovery_Antarctica.jpg/90px-Meteorite_Recovery_Antarctica.jpg 

To locate meteorites you're going to have to have some specialized equipment notably a deep penetration metal detector and a rare earth magnet that can be found by querying the Amazon search box at the bottom of this article.

It is estimated that approximately 50,000 tons of extraterrestrial material reaches the surface of the Earth per year. Ninety-six % of this material is stony meteorites that are not detectable with a metal detector, and are usually found by accident. Three % of this material is composed of iron nickel, and the last 1% is a special type of meteorite called as stony iron. Other than the stony meteorites the other two types are detectable using a metal detector. The other piece of equipment that you will need is a shovel used for digging a hole to retrieve your find.

A team recovering meteorites in Antarctica

The best place to go looking for meteorites is in open fields or even better desert. You can expect to find just about every piece on iron ever dropped onto the surface of the earth whether it comes from outer space or from the hand of man. Some of these iron artifacts that are man-made may also have value as antiques, but the real prize is when you find a genuine honest to gosh meteorite.

1 comment:

  1. Fascinating article! I wonder how many meteorites we have overlooked or ignored out in the wilds?

    ReplyDelete