Why this rock is probably not a meteorite:
I haven't found any good reasons.
(The squares in the pattern of the fabric background at right are
a quarter inch in size.)
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What is it?
This might be a piece of an iron meteorite. It is a rusty piece of
metal that is strongly magnetic and gives
a positive test for nickel using a simple Ni allergy
test kit. The finder found it surrounding a flower bed in a piece
of property she bought in Texas.
This piece from a protruding knob is clearly quite rusty; only the
shiny center section is still metal (with saw marks). (It was probably
watered frequently, along with the flowers!)
The irregular shape of the whole object (below right) is consistent
with an iron meteorite.
Note added later: We analyzed the metal. It contained 200
ppm Ni, 127 ppm Co, 1 ppb Ir, and 66 ppb Au. These values are all
inconsistent with any iron meteorite, all of which have >40,000
ppm Ni. This is a man-made object.
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