Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Sikhote-Alin Meteorite discovered in Brackettville...... inside my mailbox.

I seem to talk about Bob at Blackholes and Astrostuff every other blog now. Which is fine with me! Ten days ago he held a Celestial Image Race, the first person to send him notice of someone's birthday occurring that week and send him a current celestial image would win a Sikhote-Alin Meteorite from his own private collection. I won I won! First race I've ever won, I guarantee.

I received the meteorite in the mail Saturday, thank you Bob! It's awesome! I'm shocked by the weight of it. We had family in this weekend and everybody got to oooh and ahhh over it.

The following images of the meteorite were snapped by Bob using his Celestron LCD Digital Microscope. Pretty, isn't it? And so cool that he can do that.






On Bob's Blog, there's a very informative (and wayyy retro) video about the Sikhote-Alin Meteorite. I've embedded it here for your viewing pleasure. It's quite interesting.





I used my camera's macro features to show you the meteorite as I see it, no micro images from me. Oh, and by the way, I used my Styrofoam plate diffuser for these macro shots. It worked great. The first image shows the meteorite next to a pair of Miley Cyrus 3D glasses in order to give you an idea of its size. Bob sent me those fly shades, by the way. To enlarge images, just click on them.





















The meteorite wasn't the only surprise waiting for me in our post office box on Saturday. I had a package from my friend Bo-Yin in Taipei! She's an artist and a seamstress and had sewn me a couple of tarot bags. You can see more of her whimsical sewing creations on her blog. I feel bad, I promised to make her some Mountain Laurel seed bracelets and have yet to do it. I'd better get a move on that! Thank you, Bo-Yin! They're DARLING! I am delighted to have them. Click on any image to enlarge it.




























The bag with the robed woman just kept opening and opening and opening and I was delighted to find the many ways Bo-Yin had drawn her as she makes her way up from one corner of the cloth to the other. First she lights herself a candle to guide her path. Halfway up she seems to enjoy an icy latte then tosses the cup aside. When she reaches the top of her climb she lights up a star in the sky. Absolutely adorable! Bo-Yin's Very First Blog Entry shows the original drawing and she talks about how the drawing came to be.

12 comments:

Pat said...

Wow !!
How lucky are you?
Is it part of the same meteorite from 1956 ?
Don't know how anyone would get a meteorite but it has to feel pretty cool to have something from sooo far away in space.
A lot of work went into your gifts from Bo-Lin.
Love the little girl with the candle guiding her way...very pretty.
Heavenly gifts from some special people...
lucky you.
Patsi

Genie said...

Hi Patsi! The Sikhote-Alin struck in 1947. The piece Bob Johnson sent me is one of the many fragments from it.

You can buy meteorites from many sources these days, including Ebay! I don't know where Bob acquired this one, but I love it.

Bo-Yin is one of the kindest, gentlest souls you could ever meet.

Yeah, I really did get some heavenly gifts. Lucky me, indeed!

Bob Johnson said...

Congrats again Genie!! and thanks for all the mentions, I just love your little tarot bags, so cute!! I 'm glad everyone liked the meteorite and your macro shots of it are awesome, I'm going to have to learn how to do that if I want to take anymore close up shots of my meteorites, works excellent.

Jean Levert Hood said...

I love everything in this post!! Wow on all accounts! Very cool stuff.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you like them! I'm going to post them on my blog since you've received (no worry to spoil the surprise.)See my first post yet? It's the original drawing of these small figers.
By the way, the speed of shipping was so fast that it surprised me. It took only six days to reach the other hemisphere!

Genie said...

Yes, Bo-Yin, I like them very much!

No, I hadn't seen your first blog entry. I'd missed it entirely. I'm tickled to see the original drawing: http://oronemoredream.blogspot.com/2009/03/first-post-small-march.html

I put the stuff out to make your bracelets today, I've been looking everywhere for some of the beads I need for it and finally found them today. I'd nearly given up. Glad to know that once I ship it, it will get to you rather quickly. Well, I hope so anyway.

Genie said...

Thank you so much Bob! I can't imagine why you'd want macro shots of your meteorites when you can make your wonderful micro-shots of them! Your turn them into vast and fantastical landscapes when you do that. Amazing!

Thank you Jean! I'm still digging the pen work on your latest watercolor. I just love that!

RW said...

Wow it was just like Christmas day at your place! :D

Anonymous said...

Wow. Lucky Genie!!! :-)

I love the tarot bags the best, although the meteorite is very cool.

Genie said...

Roger, it WAS like Christmas! Such a treat!

Michelle, I do loves my tarot accessories! Can't get enough of that, and from Taiwan no less! The meteor, wow, that's .... it's millions of years old and came from outer space. I mean, WOW! More precious than diamonds as far as I'm concerned.

Anonymous said...

Hi Genie,
It has been way to long since I wrote you.
I love the tarot bag. Too Awesome.
The Meteor is out of this world!!!
hugs

Genie said...

ANN!!! You darling, it's so good to see you! Thanks so much for stopping by. I had a sudden pang of guilt for not checking your LJ in so long. I hope all is well!