Bishopville, aubrite

Bishopville was the first meteorite acquired by Charles Upham Shepard, an important early American meteoriticist and collector.  Dr. H. H. Nininger compiled a thorough account of the fall, though it was written almost 150 years after the fall.

From the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System:

Sadly, aubrites grossly resemble many Earth rocks and usually don’t contain much iron, so it’s probably not worth looking for more pieces of the fall today, either visually or with a metal detector.  But, much of the meteorite was preserved in institutions, and at least a few kilograms are still available for future study.

 

The above excerpts from the Lee County Observer are used with the paper’s permission.

In addition to having passed through the hands of Dr. John Davis Buddhue of UNM, this specimen comes via the Monnig Collection at TCU.  This particular specimen appears to have been used in research — see here.  It’s hard to find a specimen with better provenance, though it’s nice when they’re a little less ‘used.’

Thanks to Dr. Arnaud Mignan for making this specimen possible.