If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its probably not a cow??

November 3, 2005 6:29 AM

A Photo Gallery of Meteorwrongs
posted by anastasiav (17 comments total)

cool...some of them look like old cannonballs
posted by amberglow at 6:49 AM on November 3, 2005

Well, far be it from me to take this sort of thing for granite...
posted by Mike D at 6:54 AM on November 3, 2005

the first one I clicked on turned out to actualy be...
posted by delmoi at 6:54 AM on November 3, 2005

Wow, I know way more about the characteristics of meteorites now than I ever expected to.
posted by antifuse at 7:04 AM on November 3, 2005

Thanks!
posted by grateful at 7:12 AM on November 3, 2005

I like this post even though it was already posted on Metachat by dhruva.

There are umpteen (704) references to "meteorwrongs" in Google. Evidently, every geology department and professor is hounded by people with strange rocks.

One link in Google I was happy to see, Meteorwrongs from Scientific American which said that the asteroid 2004MN4 which had been reported to have a slight (1%) chance of wiping out civilization in 2029 had been downgraded as a threat (to zero).
posted by notmtwain at 7:23 AM on November 3, 2005

I'm no geologist, but even I can see that some of these just ain't meteorites. On the other hand...well, I don't know. Nice link.
posted by OmieWise at 7:23 AM on November 3, 2005

Now, I'm not trying to argue against the scientists here, but they seem pretty confident that "meteorites don't contain x, Y or Z" How do they know this? If Meteorites are fragments of a former planet, couldn't they be made of things found on any planet like Earth?
posted by Pollomacho at 7:25 AM on November 3, 2005

"If Meteorites are fragments of a former planet ..."

Well, actually they're bits of a planet that never came together or stuff that got left over when the planets formed or chunks of other planets that got punched into orbit by one means or another.

Anyway, the page authors state that the minerals that they say don't occur in meteorites sometimes do occur - just rarely and in very small amounts.
The reason for their being so definitive is that no meteorites have ever been found containing large amounts of (for example) quartz.
The reason for that is that quartz isn't found in basaltic rocks, which is essentially what meteorites are.

I'm sure that having said that someone will find a picture of a pure quartz meteorite.

Some nice rocks on that page - some interesting non-rocks as well ...

Oh yes, Not a Meteorite.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:07 AM on November 3, 2005

Remember kids, don't smoke!
posted by aparrish at 8:10 AM on November 3, 2005

Not a meteorite.
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:35 AM on November 3, 2005

That's a meteor. I'd be dipped in shit if that ain't a meteor!
posted by Pollomacho at 8:49 AM on November 3, 2005

Ooo, I think I can guess what's a meteorwrong now! I'm about 99% sure this is a meteorwrong:

posted by cleverusername at 9:23 AM on November 3, 2005

cool post.
posted by StarForce5 at 9:23 AM on November 3, 2005

...I meant the meteorwrong page is a cool post, not the macabre pic cleverusername just posted.
posted by StarForce5 at 9:25 AM on November 3, 2005

The more time I spend on the net the more ignorant I realise I am. Awesome site. The off site link about desert varnish was good too.
posted by Mitheral at 2:25 PM on November 3, 2005

slap my "cheak", i got lots 2 learn about the space rawks too. their loss.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 3:42 PM on November 3, 2005