Yesterday marked the annual summer solstice. It also happened to land on Father's Day, and I was kind of torn about the fact that I was more excited about the solstice. It happens, I'm a nerd.
Anyway, in order to celebrate I went on a meteorite hunt on saturday with the astronomy and geology clubs. Oh. My. What. A. BLAST!
We went to the middle of nowhere - about an hour south of Delta - to some dry lakebeds called the playa. Meteorites are easier to find there because the lake beds are flat and white, and meteorites tend to be round and black - a very nice stark contrast for our eager little eyes.
In the lakebeds we found other interesting things - scorpion skeletons, beetles, grasshoppers, meteor-wrongs (little rocks like chirt, limestone and even obsidian), and other random things.
Chirt really got me mixed up a lot. I kept thinking that I had found a meteorite, only to discover that it was a boring piece of chirt.
Life is like that sometimes, I guess. All that glitters is not gold, and all that is black and round is not a meteorite.
We searched for a good while, and actually found 2 very good candidates. They passed all the tests that we could do on the spot, and now the teachers are going to send them away to make sure that they are actual meteorites. There are only 13 reported meteorites found in Utah... and we may have found 2 more! SO. EXCITING!
P.S. 2 months, 1 day, 20 hours.
Yes, I too, am having trouble containing my excitement!
ReplyDeletewow, cynthia, wow. when your findings go into the museum with a sign that says your name, i'm going to tell everyone that i know the famous cynthia knight. :)
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