Mitch’s Universe

Once in a blue moon, someone reaches for the moon, steals it, and feels over the moon. This is the story about Thad Roberts and his girlfriend, Tiffany Fowler, who stole moon rocks and Holbrook specimens from NASA. In 1990, the lunar 19 gram fusion crusted whole stone, Calcalong Creek was discover in Australia. This was the first lunar meteorite […]

I never imagined that the Vatican would have an observatory and meteorite collection. In 1543, Polish astronomer, Nicolas Copernicus, wrote “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” about the Heliocentric theory laying the foundation that the Sun is the center of the solar system and the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. Others had theorized this way before

Years ago, I had a conversation with a meteorite collector friend of mine. I mentioned the “Meteorite Farm,” and he did not know what I was talking about. I was surprised. I thought just about everyone knew about the “Meteorite Farm,” but I was wrong to assume this. Therefore, I am sharing with my friends the story about the “Meteorite

Throughout the arc of time, there have been stories of meteorites that have hit things, such as, a mailbox (Claxton), car (Peekskill), house (Kobe, Park Forest, and many more), etc. Then there are meteorites that have hit or supposedly hit animals and humans. Nakhla (hit and supposedly vaporized a dog), Valera (cow killer), Sylacauga (struck Ann Hodges) and Mbale (hit

George Frederick Kunz (1856 – 1932), was arguably the world’s foremost gemologist and mineralogist to ever live. At the age of 23, he was hired by iconic Tiffany and Co. in 1879 as its chief gemologist, and became a vice president from 1907 until his death in 1932 at the age of 75. Kunz was America’s first gemologist. He was

In a CBS news article, it listed Mbale as one of the top five strangest meteorites you can buy. The others were Valera (cow killer), Almahata Sitta (only asteroid/meteorite tracked to Earth), Peekskill (striking a Chevy Malibu car), and Ensisheim (chained up in a church to keep it Earth-bound). On 14 August 1992 at around 3:40 pm, a meteorite fell

Dr. John Lawrence Smith (17 December 1818 – 12 October 1883) was an American medical doctor, chemist and mineralogist. Smith also studied civil engineering and geology, which led to his first job as a civil engineer. He did not like it, so he studied medicine. After graduating with a medical degree, he went to study in Europe. Smith was in

In 1825, George Cuvier, a zoologist deemed the “founding father of paleontology,” first observed a mass extinction of animals between the Mesozoic and Cenzoic eras. In the rock records, there was no evidence of dinosaurs above the K-Pg boundary, formerly known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary layer. The K-T boundary is the transition and abbreviation for the Cretaceous period and

American James Maxime DuPont (7 April 1912 – 1 July 1991) was an industrialist and passionate meteorite collector. His father was Jean Rene Claudius DuPont, a chemist. James DuPont was the founder and chairman of Thermoplastics Inc., a producer of plastic materials for various products. Plastic means pliable and easily shaped. DuPont did not invent plastic. In 1869, inspired by

  Dedication to Dr. Carleton Moore I dedicate this article to my good friend, Dr. Carleton Moore. For those of you who were fortunate enough to know Carleton, I need not write anything more about him. For the others, Carleton was a pioneer in meteorite research and assisted with training the NASA Apollo astronauts on what type of samples to

UCLA Meteorite Museum In August 2017, I scheduled a visit to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Meteorite Gallery (Museum) and a meeting with my friend, Dr. Alan Rubin, Curator of the UCLA Meteorite Museum. It had been decades since I stepped foot on the campus of UCLA. I remember it being a large beautiful campus when I

Recently, I was talking with my friend Dr. Carleton Moore, and he suggested that I write an article about Oscar Monnig. I had always planned to write an article about him, but my discussion with Carleton moved up the timetable of when I was going to do it. Carleton mused that most collectors know who Ninning was, but many new

As I write this article, the tragic events of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas unfolded. Two teachers and nineteen students died needlessly. Unlike the media, I choose not to concentrate on the shooter and his name. I prefer to remember the antithesis of the murderer from a different school shooting. I choose to remember Sandy Hook

In August 2014, I purchased a tektite from my friend, Norm Lehrman. It was a 137 gram Rizalite tektite. Norm enclosed a letter with my tektite. I bought the tektite because it was transitional and instructive. In the letter, Norm wrote, “You might appreciate a note explaining why I termed the 137.0 gram Rizalite “Instructive”. Philippinites are noted for several

Since this is Meteorite Times twentieth anniversary, I am including this bonus article. Congratulations Paul and Jim on twenty wonderful years! A small ancient coin with a big wonderful story! On one side of the coin is Apollo seated on the sacred Omphalos stone. Omphalos is a religious stone artifact or Baetylus. In Hebrew, meteorites were called “Betyls” the equivalent