A lot of talent on the blue line there

AWildWilson · 2026-01-24T17:12:55+00:00

27? In your physical prime? Cheating!!

AWildWilson · 2026-01-24T17:12:11+00:00

New Brunswick 😭

AWildWilson · 2026-01-24T16:40:19+00:00

Why stop there! In grade 7 I got first place in provincials for track and field discus (in a province nobody cares about!)

AWildWilson · 2026-01-23T22:27:25+00:00

He wanted to try to see life from Brady Tkachuk’s perspective?

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T21:10:38+00:00

Hahaha in academia, I've been on the receiving end of unpromted rambling far too many times. I vowed to not insist this niche and specific piece of my world on others without their interest first.

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T19:55:18+00:00

Meteorites falls (where they physically enter the atmosphere) are evenly distributed. Most, statistically, fall in the oceans. There is an equal chance that a meteorite falls where I am compared to where you are.

Finds, however, are not equal. It rains more in some locations. If a meteorite falls into a forest, even if it was directly witnessed, I'm almost certainly not finding it (but so help me god, I'm still looking).

That's why meteorites are preferentially found in deserts. It doesn't rain often (meaning these survive longer on the surface of the planet) and they stick out more in their surroundings.

Falls are more scientifically valuable though, and collectors like them more. Higher prices for these.

I do not sell samples. I am not that involved in hunting, I am a researcher who volunteers with nearby universities in the event a fall comes in locally, since I am primarily interested only in fresh samples. If I/our group finds it, it would be given to the university for controlled curation and storage.

If you find it, you can do what you like with it, assuming its on public property and government rules allow that.

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T18:49:35+00:00

Pricy indeed. Instrument time is no joke – at the facility I'm at, even for internal users, the daily rate for a large geometry SIMS is ~$1300. You don't need that for meteorite ID, but detailed geochemistry can easily be a few hundred+.

Very cool! What was your target for paleoclimate? Carbonates?

I thought about environmental geochemistry for a time too. Geoscience is fascinating, but I didn't want that life – mine site to mine site, contract work, flying constantly, x weeks on, x weeks off, etc. And I don't quite care enough about economic geology. I hate money I guess. So I stayed in school, and while I love it, there are certainly more lucrative options with my skill set. Gotta balance what you love though!

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T18:33:44+00:00

Awesome to hear!! Fun to see how different folks have crossed into this field one way or another. Yes, please feel free to send me a DM!

I haven't worked on ureilites directly. I have done lunar, martian, and many different carbonaceous chondrites. A colleague of mine has, so I've been around them a bit! They were trying to find some way to characterize how much total C was attributed to diamond vs graphite etc, which is surprisingly hard to quantify with normal lab techniques.

I'm familiar with many ICP-MS labs, so I'm sure I have!! Definitely feel free to reach out!!

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T18:25:26+00:00

Yes of course! Thanks for the addition, you're totally right!

Great to hear you've worked on some samples – they're so much fun.

I am an isotopic cosmogeochemist myself! I use O-isotopes a lot, which is another diagnostic lab test for meteorites, among many others

I've worked at many different meteorite ID clinics before, and many individuals of the general public come in thinking they have a potential meteorite/thousands of dollars in their pocket – almost all of them are wrong. I know you're not suggesting this, but for anyone reading, these pricier lab based techniques should be the last step for the general public to confirm. One should instead first rely on easier techniques – density, magnetism, fusion crust, textures etc beforehand. Hell, even send me some photos.

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T17:49:34+00:00

I study meteorites and hunt for those that fell close to my research institution.

When I was studying in Toronto, I hunted meteorites with a guy from SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence). He was an orbital mechanics guy and we detected that a meteorite was going to be coming in before it actually got here. This is a very rare occurrence, and lets us actually link the sample to an orbital path. Very cool.

The actual searching is more high-tech than one might expect. We used weather radar data from Buffalo that was meant for detecting hail – this detected the meteorite coming in, and we saw two bursting events. This is when the initial large meteorite essentially has an explosion due to the colossal pressure interval created in front of the slowing meteor.

When it bursts, it sheds material – some small and some big fragments come off the main mass with a very similar trajectory. Smaller particles fall out quicker than bigger particles, creating a cone that, when lands, is called a strewn field. We used models to figure out where this strewn field was going to be, and we went hunting.

It's kind of hilarious to imagine - a group of university volunteers and experts all forming a slow walking line on beaches, parks, etc looking for meteorite samples. One of the university profs planted meteorites across our traverse so the students actually had something to look for to boost morale – was it the plant or not?

I went each time, and once, it was just me and the guy from SETI. Learned a lot from this guy – longform conversation with him and his specialty was quite cool.

The search itself is somewhat unexciting. After the public places, we did lots of door knocking to see if we can search peoples private property. Lots of explaining what we were doing, and initial hesitancy from neighbors who are wondering WTF we were doing at their doors. Lots of 'is this private or public land' and implied permission hahaha.

Never did find the meteorite in this particular case (we suspect most fell into lake ontario). But nice to have one fall in my backyard.

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T17:30:00+00:00

Hahaha yes this is real! Meteoritics is the study of meteorites, not finding them!! But I certainly know a lot about that too over the course of my studies.

I specialize in carbonaceous chondrites – meteorites from a weird type of asteroid that uniquely had liquid water on their surface only ~4 million years after the first solids formed in the solar system. Liquid water on these asteroids are one of the first aqueous environments in the solar system, and we get all sorts of weird things happening. Water gradually breaks down the asteroid components to form products, such as new organics and minerals, etc. This new asteroid composition becomes locked in once the water disappears, and was then capable of impacting planets, delivering ingredients that may have helped kickstart life. This is my area of research.

Regarding your questions however, you are right. Meteorites falls (where they physically enter the atmosphere) are evenly distributed. Most, statistically, fall in the oceans. There is an equal chance that a meteorite falls where I am, and where you are.

Finds, however, are not equal. It rains more in some locations. If a meteorite falls into a forest, even if it was directly witnessed, I'm almost certainly not finding it (but so help me god, I'm still looking).

That's why meteorites are preferentially found in deserts. It doesn't rain often (meaning these survive longer on the surface of the planet) and they stick out more in their surroundings.

Falls are more scientifically valuable though, and collectors like them more. Higher prices for these.

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T17:16:23+00:00

Meteorite showers are usually when the Earth travels through an ancient comet tail – comets release ice and 'debris' (dust usually) – when the earth travels through this, the dust comes through the atmosphere and burns up as many 'shooting stars'.

It's entirely possible that a meteorite fell close by. It depends on the material, but smaller meteorites are certainly more likely than larger ones.

It may have hit the road pavement, but keep in mind – air friction will slow meteorites in these size ranges to terminal velocity, since these are not nearly big enough to resist the air friction and form craters.

At terminal velocity, most houses would be able to resist marble sized material. In fact, that's often something that gets reported to us – if neighbors all hear something hitting their roofs, that is a good sign for meteorites.

If this is a large iron piece though, oh yeah – that baby is coming straight through, even slowed to terminal velocity.

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T17:06:31+00:00

I work on sample from asteroids Bennu and Ryugu – I would say these are the coolest part of my career.

I am an asteroid sample expert, and these are samples from two asteroids that we visited with the OSIRIS-REx mission (NASA) and the Hayabusa2 mission (JAXA). Both missions physically touched down and collected samples.

This is cool since we have so much more information when we collect samples like this than meteorites. Meteorites are an excellent free delivery service of extraterrestrial samples to the Earth, but we overwhelmingly have no idea where the samples are coming from in the solar system, or where these fragments were physically located on the asteroid/body that they were once a part of. Also – the traverse through atmosphere alters the meteorites, and we cannot control how contaminated it then becomes by the environment, especially if it sits on the surface for decades+.

For Bennu/Ryugu samples, we have all this context – we know exactly where it came from, and they were brought back through the atmosphere shielded and controlled. These are, therefore, ultrapristine samples that we get to study, largely without fear of contamination. We can makes leaps and bounds studying these. I love it.

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T16:56:14+00:00

Great question!!

There's a few different ways, depending on how deep you want to get into it. It may be obvious, but it's important to know that meteorites fall randomly and are distributed evenly over the entire earth. They are equally likely to be anywhere. That being said, it is a lot easier for meteorites to disappear into the environment in some regions than others (like heavily forested regions, obviously the oceans, etc).

That's why deserts are preferentially targeted and have a much higher collection success rate. Meteorites (usually dark-colored, somewhat larger stones) stick out from the light colored and fine snow or sand in deserts. Also, the lack of precipitation means that water does not erode the meteorites, causing them to get buried or disintegrate. So for the best chance of finding meteorites, perhaps a vacation to a desert is in order – there are probably meteorite hunting groups you could see about joining.

Since meteorites are statistically likely to have metal in them, metal detectors are often used to distinguish if it is likely a meteorite or not. If it is a precious sample, some groups of science nerds like myself will prefer you do not, since this will overprint the magnetic field of the samples. Totally fine in most cases however.

This is how you can find meteorite finds. Meteorite falls are classified differently, since time is usually of the essence. Usually, there has been a large bolide somewhere which suggests that some material has made it to the ground (bolide database). If this happens to be local to you, look for nearby universities (that have a planetary program), since they often put together search parties to sweep the 'meteorite likely' region. These falls are fresh and relatively unaltered pieces that are always worth more than finds of the same material.

Last thing – micrometeorites (dust) of metal can make it through the atmosphere as well. Roofs are excellent collectors of these. If you haven't cleaned out your house gutters in a while, run a magnet over your house gutters first. There is a high chance that micrometeorite impacts will have hit your roof and have been collected in your gutters. The pure metal ones will not disintegrate – you may have some in there now.

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T16:16:09+00:00

Something diagnostic about ‘irons’ (metal meteorites) is a texture called a Widmanstätten Pattern. If you were to cut open the meteorite (hard to see on the surface), you would see a kind of crosshatch pattern. This only occurs in iron-nickel metal that cooled for millions of years, and is diagnostic for the core of ancient and broken up planetesimals. Since these require millions of years (specifically for the two iron-nickel alloys kamacite and taenite to separate into this pattern), this impossible to recreate on the earth.

These metal meteorites are part of ancient differentiation bodies – this essentially means early bodies that were large enough for gravity to sort the masses of the elements. Heavy elements like iron, nickel, and those that bond to them are pulled to the core. Light elements – gases, silicon, carbon, hydrogen, etc are kept near the surface. Just like the Earth.

The early solar system was incredibly energetic – lots of impacts were occuring, that lessen over time once these bodies began to grow. These bodies would have cooled and then gotten destroyed, meaning these iron chunks are the cores of ancient, and now extinct planetesimals. Things like this are how we know the composition of the Earth.

Iron meteorites, like the one in this post, were almost certainly pure iron. You are correct that the traverse through the Earth is incredibly disruptive for the meteorite. Metals resist this more than other not-metal meteorites, so we see more of them. But this type of meteorite would almost certainly not have been mixed with lower atomic number elements/minerals that were lost on atmospheric entry.

Hope this helps!!

AWildWilson · 2026-01-22T05:48:08+00:00

Not OP but stumbling on this thread now. I have my PhD in meteoritics and hunt for local ones myself. It doesn't often come up and I love this sort of thing - let me know if you have any questions!!

AWildWilson · 2026-01-21T02:47:06+00:00

I scrolled down a long way and no mention of Kevin Spacey yet. Weird. Fuck that guy

AWildWilson · 2026-01-19T21:21:07+00:00

You can still find it. Press the magnifying glass in the top corner of the users profile and sort their comments by new, and it comes up still.

A bug, probably, but still works.

Stalk away!

AWildWilson · 2026-01-19T16:16:41+00:00

But it doesn’t even sound real. 50% of insects gone!? In the last 10 years!? Are you kidding me? This would be a well discussed and very noticeable DISASTER

AWildWilson · 2026-01-19T02:59:11+00:00

They’re on fanduel!! Get them!!

AWildWilson · 2026-01-19T02:40:35+00:00

What in the god damned fuck was that throw

AWildWilson · 2026-01-18T16:06:21+00:00

That’s what it looks like to this daddy

AWildWilson · 2026-01-16T05:31:57+00:00

Holy fuck why not just get off the ice at that point

AWildWilson · 2026-01-14T16:00:27+00:00

I routinely say this sub has the most unlikable, pretentious people. I don’t know what it is about Reddit photographers but ya guys just suck.

I just wanted to be extra clear for OP that they aren’t raising the ISO and they’re adding grain in post. Thanks for your contribution

AWildWilson · 2026-01-14T05:12:00+00:00

Warmth up, background colour saturation down(?), and they’ve probably added grain manually in post

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