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| 170 gr Cat Mountain Meteorite Found |
AFTER 32 YEARS...More CAT MOUNTAIN Meteorites Found?!!!
Count Deiro, an IMCA and METSOC Member, announced from Las Vegas, Nevada today, that after repeated and extensive searches at the location of the original serendepitous recovery of the enigmatic Cat Mountain IMB meteorite by a gentleman walking to his local Prescott, Arizona market in 1980, two more individual Cat Mountain meteorites have been found within a few hundred yards of each other near the coordinates given for the original cold find.
The discovery of the 2.7 kg CAT MOUNTAIN created a sensation in the meteorite community due to its almost inexplicable and anamalous presentation, displaying both achondritic and L5 chondritic properties in the same igneous impact melt matrix. This extreme rarity, with its slag-like melted exterior, was nearly discarded as a terrestrial rock. The finder maintained that he had recovered the specimen within 24 hours of it's fall because it hadn't been on his path the day before. The melted grey rock that he placed on his mantle was not discovered to be a meteorite until 1992, twelve years after his demise.
Hypotheses still arise as to CAT Mountain's planetary origin and whether the meteorite was blasted from deep within that body at first impact. The signs of repeated collisions with other planetoids and asteroids during the specimen's cosmic life are evident in the unique impact melt brecciation of it's interior.
The two new finds are respectively 108 gram and 170 gram ovoid-shaped individuals. The smaller meteorite was recovered in March 2011 and the larger in August, both by visual hunting techniques and by different hunters. Both meteorites display the characteristic slag-like, dark grey melt exterior, replete with the pits and vesicles of the original find. Both new finds have had respectively, 22 gram and 5 gram sections removed for analysis by one of Arizona's most respected and experienced professional meteorite scientist.
The low TKW original Cat Mountain was portioned and the main mass has been held by Mr. Bob Haag. Other portions are available for study at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona and on public display at the University's Mineral Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
Count Deiro added that the 164.5 gram individual is offered for sale and that the other individual already resides in an important collection. Persons with a further interest in the museum quality specimen with provenance and certified classification should contact Deiro at countdeiro@earthlink.net
Pictures of the 164.5 Cat Mountain at the link below.http://s1090.photobucket.com/albums/i361/Airmuseum1/Meteorite%20Finds/
