We had a nice month of letters to the Editor. I responded at length to all of them. Here are three of the most interesting. I think these illustrate the diversity of our readership. We have serious students of meteorites and we have interested individuals just starting to investigate the topic, as well as people at every point in between. We enjoy hearing your opinions. Your letters are of great value as we plan for what to offer in the future. Keep them coming
Dear Sir,
I am enjoying your new online meteorite magazine and read the latest issue soon after it appeared today :) I hope you do not mind a little bit of constructive criticism though, in that for an international magazine, it does (in the nicest possible way!) seem to be a teensy-weensy bit biased towards the USA dealers/collectors/contributors/experts/market so far.
I live in Great Britain and we are lucky enough to have the likes of top-notch researchers Grady, Pillanger, Russell, Hutchinson etc. and the team at the Open University, plus a whole bunch of private collectors and mega-meteorite-dealers like Elliot. Few if any of them shout from the rooftops and "announce" themselves boldly, so how about tapping into the UK meteorite database once in a while for an insight into the Brits? :)
Best regards,
Gary
Dear Sir,
After searching the web I came across your website hoping that you can answer my question about a meteorite.
I had woke up early about 3:00 AM to go do what older people do in the middle of the night. Back in bed looking out the window, I saw this bright blue-green light crossing the night sky heading southward here in Northern California. Just as it had appeared into the window, I followed the light almost falling out of bed as it faded so quickly back into the night sky. It was as large as looking at a half moon shape, the light appeared to just skip on the outer edge of the Earth's atmosphere. My question is: The light given off by the meteorite was as large as the moon, so what size would a meteorite be?
Thank you
Bruce Petty
Dear Editor,
I would like to comment on last months article in the Accretion Desk. I have been collecting meteorites for about 2 years and think that reducing specimens to minute size pieces is really a shame. Although I would be the first to agree that it is great to have a "look under the hood " to see what is inside, the most important part of having a meteorite is lost in slicing it up. Just as having a couple of lug nuts or a door handle of a Ferrari does not impart the same feeling as having the whole car.
In trying to make the hobby affordable for the masses, the very essence of the object is lost forever. Gone is the shape and fusion crust that make these specimens so unique and the story of their trip to earth from space. Lets hope that dealers will not be overcome by market pressures and reduce these wonderful objects to fragments for the sake of a few extra bucks.
I really enjoy the magazine and would like to thank all the contributors for their great articles.
Thanks,
Stan Szalkowski
As always if you send me a letter be sure to include a message in the subject line of the email. I am sorry but I do not open message without a subject. Thanks