Hi,
this is me, finding one of my first meteorites. It’s been quite some time ago, but I still remember that rising feeling of anxiety when approaching that black “something” in the sand, and as getting closer it not turning out to be camel poop or just another rusted tin, but actually appearing more and more like a real meteorite.
I’d probably never came up with the idea myself to search for meteorites, if not for my uncle Siegfried Haberer, who is one of most successful meteorite hunters in Germany. Having already gone on many expeditions by that time, he took me on my first search to the deserts of Oman Sultanate.
Delighted by the idea of searching for something else than emeralds (Habachtal) and fossiles (Altmühltal), I immediately agreed on joining Siegfried on the expedition, knewing that I would have the necessary patience and enjoying it a lot.
As a chemist I am naturally fascinated by the scientific aspects of meteorites; the metallic smell, the marks deriving from the flight through the atmosphere, the fusion crust and regmaglypts. However, I have to admit that I’m also drawn in by the esoteric aura of this extraterrestrial materia. It’s as if you can actually feel the energy of this shooting star flashing in the sky, when holding a meteorite in your hands.
Meanwhile, some time has passed since my last search and the beautiful findings are sitting on a shelf. However, it seems, I’m more keen on searching and finding than on collecting, so I decided to offer my meteorites for sale and only keep some of my favourites for myself.
Cheers, Göran
Meteorites – Meaning and Formation
Meteorites have always aroused the interests of mankind. In olden times, a shooting star, appearing as a bright luminous phenomena accompanied by a loud roar, was seen as a sign from heaven, a good omen or even divine warning. Up to today, people still believe that a wish made when seeing a shooting star will eventually become true.
Not all shooting stars find their way to earth. Only bigger fireballs, known as bolides, originate from materia that has enough mass to withstand the way through the atmosphere and arrive on earth as meteorites.
Chondrites
Chondrites are the most commonly found meteorites. They consist of the most premordial materia known to us. This materia condensed simultanously with the sun out of pre-solar fog, forming spherical structures called chondrules. This is where the name chondrites comes from.
Chondrites were compressed with further material to smaller and bigger asteroids. These asteroids stayed for about 4.5 billion years pretty much unchanged in the asteroid belt between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter. From time to time collisions occur in the belt, causing pieces to break apart and getting skidded out of the orbit. These ‘cosmic outliers’ find their way into new, often more eccentrical orbits, which can cross with the orbit of planet earth. Eventually, they are prospective meteorites colliding with the earth or getting caught by its gravity.
Discovery Sites of Meteorites
The meteorites offered on meteorophil.com were mainly found in the desert, and are not like the ones found in the Antarctica, available for sale as well as for scientific purposes. This enables also private collectors to hold a cosmic piece in their own hands and experience the miracles of the universe.
All meteorites offered in the online shop were found by myself and are not purchased from intermediaries. This way I can ensure the authenticity and location where the meteorites were discovered.
Analysis and Classification
All offered meteorites are scientifically analyzed and classified by an independent laboratory. Depending on the type and scarcity of each meteorite, different methods of petrographic analyzation are applied, as for example mineralogical examination by finecut-microscopy, microsonde-analysis of elemental distribution in single minerals, or the analyzation of raregas and isotopes.
The analytical results for each meteorite can be found following the provided link in the product description in the online shop.