METEORITE-EXTREMELY RARE-DATIL, New Mexico - 0.28g

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*The Name and Classification are pending, but should be approved soon. This is an L type chondrite. ONLY- 22 grams of fragments will be made available. In fact that is all that there is! Here is a 0.28 gram, fusion crusted fragment of The DATIL Meteorite. After nearly three years of interviews, triangulating and actual meteorite hunting, I finally found meteorites from the September 13th 2007 fireball seen and heard near Socorro, New Mexico. The actual trail led west of Socorro and my final witnesses put the fireball more between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, which are slightly west of Socorro. To date, after nearly 400 to 500 hours of field time, I have recovered 4 specimens. Specimen #1- 372 gram complete stone, Specimen #2 - 51 fragment, and Specimen #3 -14 gram complete stone, and specimen #4- 43 gram fragment. Making the total known weight extremely low, at only 481 grams. However, Specimen #3, the 14 gram stone was lost in the field and has not been recovered. Making the actual in hand total known weight 467 grams. The 52 gram fragment is being used for classification purposes which should be done in the very near future. The large stone and main mass is sold and in a serious collection. I decided to put an end date on my searching the strewn field and the time to submit a specimen for research and classification is now here. After nearly 500 hours, I can call it finished on my end. The area is immense with mountains, canyons, wilderness and very difficult terrain to search. It is a mix of private ranch land, state, BLM, and National Forest. Also, Wilderness (which is off limits to searching) borders one part of the strewn field. Essentially, a next to impossible strewn field for searching! The suggested write up for the Meteoritical Bulletin on my part will be: DATIL or MAGDALENA, NEW MEXICO, USA L type, Possibly an LL type. Total Known Weight 481 grams ( 372g, 14g, 52g and 43g) The weathering of the stones is very indicative of the possibility that these recoveries are from the Fireball of September 13th, 2007, which was seen and heard over the area. Interviewed witnesses confirm the fireball and the end point, under which these stones were found. Michael Cottingham’s Meteorite Collecting History and (Mini) Bio… I first started my cosmic journey with meteorites in 1996. I have always been interested in Natural History and ever since I was very young, I have collected rocks, fossils, artifacts and the like. In fact, I have been pretty darn good at finding unusual Natural History objects. However, I had never found a meteorite and I didn’t even know where to begin. So, I first started by buying a few specimens to see what they actually looked like. Then I would take these specimens out into the desert area where I live and I would place them on the ground. I was trying to train my “eye” to see differently. Sometimes, I would take my meteorite specimens and throw them as far as I could into the desert, and then I would go search for them. I started to search dry lake beds and dune areas in the Southern part of my state. In Jan/1997 I was searching an area East of Columbus, New Mexico and I finally did what most people though was impossible (especially my wife) … I found a NEW Meteorite! This was the Columbus , New Mexico , H5. There were seven small pieces of this chondrite and the total known weight at the time was only 184 grams. Since then I have recovered about 2 kilos of fragments. On an interesting note, it only took me about 300 hours to find my first meteorite! My wife and I had a bet going at the time of the Columbus find. She said, “If, If you find a new meteorite, then you can go anywhere in the world and go hunt!” Well, I did. I next took our bank savings and headed out to search the Imilac strewnfield in the Atacama Desert of Chile. This area had produced many meteorites, but was remote and difficult to search. I went there and found 20 kilos of Imilac Pallasite individuals. I sold most, bought more meteorites and continued to hun... read more

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