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1. The Geoff (_thegeoff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 15:42:46 UTC The Geoff

   Note that the "don't find meteorites with a magnet" advice doesn't really apply to amateurs hunting micrometeorites in rooftop dust. There are so common, and so small, that you're not going to destroy any research-worthy magnetic fields. (Although if you can come up with an efficient non-magnet method for that, I'd like to hear it. I've had some success in a "gold panning" style to filter out all the lightweight stuff before using a magnet.)

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 15:42:46 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     @_thegeoff Wait what

   • The Geoff (_thegeoff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 15:44:05 UTC The Geoff

     in reply to

     • Robert McNees

     @mcnees What as in micrometeorite hunting methods, or my opinion on magnets?

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 15:56:52 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     @_thegeoff Rooftop dust micrometeorites! I've never heard of this!

   • The Geoff (_thegeoff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 16:01:26 UTC The Geoff

     in reply to

     • Robert McNees

     @mcnees There's some debate as to contaminating sources (say, grinding/welding fragments etc), but there's peer reviewed work on confirming they're real. I brushed up about a square metre of rooftop dust from the school (highest flat roof for tens of miles), autoclaved it because bird crap, "gold panned" it in a petri dish, then pulled off fragments with a paper-wrapped magnet. Ten minutes under a microscope showed ~10 metallic spheres...can't guarantee they're all micrometeorites, but a chance.

   • Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 16:06:39 UTC Robert McNees

     in reply to

     @_thegeoff well that is very cool.

   • The Geoff (_thegeoff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 16:06:40 UTC The Geoff

     in reply to

     • Robert McNees

     @mcnees Original post from a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to use this in our "learning to use a microscope" classes for first year (~12yrs) cos the grains are easy to get focus on, and they need to scan around looking for a target. Plus, y'know, meteorites on the roof of the school! https://mastodon.social/@_thegeoff/110277441977302628

   • The Geoff (_thegeoff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 16:08:43 UTC The Geoff

     in reply to

     • Robert McNees

     @mcnees I thought so 😎
     Other people have tried it by filtering gutter run-off from house roofs.

   • The Geoff (_thegeoff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-May-2023 22:18:18 UTC The Geoff

     in reply to

     • Robert McNees

     @mcnees Claiming this as a particularly good Ten Thousand Moment, given your job and all 🤣😎
     https://xkcd.com/1053/