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The owner of the red Chevy Malibu struck by the meteorite was 18-year-old Michelle Knapp. Within a week of the meteorite mishap, Knapp sold the car for 25 times the $400 she paid for it when buying it from her grandmother. Above, meteorite dealer Ray Meyer standing beside the damaged car.
On Oct. 14, pieces of asteroids, the moon and Mars that have landed on Earth go up for sale in a public auction in Manhattan.
These meteorites may have originated in space, but many create tantalizing tales — or hint at future calamity — when they collide with Earth. From the more than 125 meteorite pieces and related material going up for sale at Heritage Auctions, here are five with the strangest space-rock stories.
On the evening of Oct. 15, 1972, farmhands in Trujillo, Venezuela, heard a sonic boom. The next morning, a large rock was found alongside a dead cow with a crushed neck and clavicle. Years later, scientists confirmed the rock, which in the meantime had served as a doorstop, was a meteorite, according to the catalog description of New York City's Heritage Auctions for a partial slice of the Valera meteorite. [See Photos of Meteorites for Sale]
This is the only known meteorite responsible for a fatality, at least to date.
"It is going to happen, and it's going to be a very sad day. It is inevitable that people will be killed by a meteorite," said Darryl Pitt, the meteorite consultant for the auction. He added that when he speaks to children, this is the first thing they ask about. He said he tells them to "worry about the things they have control over."
The only asteroid tracked to Earth
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The black fragment of Almahata Sitta meteorite number 15 shows up black against the lighter coloured rocks of the Nubian desert in northern Sudan.
(Image credit: Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute/NASA Ames))
On Oct. 6, 2008, Richard Kowalski, at the Catalina Sky Survey, spotted a new asteroid, dubbed 2008 TC3, on a collision course with Earth. For the first time, astronomers around the world tracked the asteroid's approach for the day before it hit Earth. The asteroid exploded upon entering Earth's atmosphere, and as predicted, it fell in the Nubian Desert of Northern Sudan, where 35 pounds (15.9 kilograms) of meteorites were eventually found.
Much of its mass is believed to have been vaporized or to have disintegrated when it hit Earth's atmosphere. It was renamed Almahata Sitta, Arabic for "station six," a railroad stop on the line to Khartoum near where the meteorites were found, according to the auction catalog description. [Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth]
An 'accident' with a Chevy
Almost 20 years ago, on Oct. 9, 1992, video cameras at Friday night football games in the northeastern United States caught the fiery descent of a meteorite that would end its fall by punching through the trunk of a red Chevy Malibu parked in Peekskill, N.Y. The owner of the car, 18-year-old Michelle Knapp, sold the car within a week for 25 times the $400 she paid for it when buying it from her grandmother, according to the catalog.
Not only are two pieces of this meteorite for sale, collectors also have a chance to purchase the original title to the Malibu and the bulb from the rear tail light, which exploded when the car's trunk was punctured by the meteorite.
Chained to Earth
In 1492, a stone fell from the sky outside the walled city of Ensisheim, located in the Alsatian region of France, preceded by "a great thunder clap, then a long noise that was heard far around," the auction catalog quotes a 16th-century document. The stone's descent was seen as a sign from God; the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites would not be accepted for another 300 years. The Ensisheim meteorite was brought into the city and chained up in church to keep it Earth-bound. It is Europe's oldest preserved meteorite.
The Ensisheim meteorite that was chained up in church to keep it Earth-bound.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions)
Hopes for a cure
On Aug. 14, 1992, residents of the Nigerian city of Mbale heard a loud explosion that became a rumbling, accompanied by a white smoke trail in the sky. Then rocks rained down, pelting an area of about 1.9 by 4.3 miles (3 by 7 kilometers). One small meteorite even struck a young boy after ricocheting off a banana tree. Because the region was being ravaged by AIDS, Mbale residents believed the meteorite shower brought a cure from God, and they ground up the stones into a paste that was eaten or applied topically, the auction catalog recounts.
Within several months, 426 stones weighting 238 pounds (108 kilograms) had been recovered from this large meteorite shower.
The auction, held by Heritage Auctions, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, Oct. 14, at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion at 2 East 79th Street in Manhattan.
Wynne was a reporter at The Stamford Advocate. She has interned at Discover magazine and has freelanced for The New York Times and Scientific American's web site. She has a masters in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Utah.
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