This page is for internal use and limited sharing with our discussion partners. We are in the early stages of working through our ideas.

The Meteorite club

The Meteorite Club welcomes members who share a vision for building a meteorite collection for eastern Maine that will contribute to a growing regional interest in astronomy. The collection will evolve over time to become ever more interesting for both hands-on teaching purposes, self-study, and entry-level research purposes.

We are seeking new members who are interested in learning about meteorites, as well as personally collecting and trading them, with the goal of participating in research about them. Meteorites that are goup-purchased can be sectioned on our 16" diamond saw and shared.

The collection, the astronomy center, the 360° view

The meteorite collection at this time consists of just a few meteorites, but it will surely grow over time. ... Photos pending.

The meteorite collection and the setting ... The collection is envisaged as an integral part of the Astronomy Center, which is planned for the summit of Eagle Hill.

Imagine being inspired by the meteorite collection, e.g., by being able to see and touch something not of this Earth, and then climbing up to the Center's observation level.
Imagine the 360° unobstructed ultra-dark sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy, looking discreetly down over the tallest trees of the only inhabited peninsula summit of the eastern Maine coast and out for a wide sweeping view south over the Gulf of Maine between Schoodic Head of Acadia National Park and Petit Manan National Wlidlife Refuge.
Imagine how you will feel looking up into the night sky and wondering about the streaks of light you are seeing, while musing about the collection of meteorites below you. Are you seeing an iron meteorite, a stony-iron meteorite, or a stony meteorite as it passes through Earth's atmosphere as a streak of light?
Inspiring curiosity. Every meteorite that is found is unique and can reveal many things about where in the Solar System it came from.
Unprecedented. The composite experience of being able to transition from a meteorite collection up to a 360° unobstructed ultra-dark sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy is unprecedented.
Imagine how the experience will ease you into a deeper awareness of your own place in the universe and how troubling, humbling, and thus ultimately helpful this will be, especially knowing that many meteorites have amino acids and other building-block organic molecules of life and that all life on Earth is ultimately really not of this Earth.

We are seeking donations (tax deductible) and loans of meteorites.

So you think you found a meteorite! ... Pending

The Meteorite Advisory Board

We are seeking mentoring from experts in meteorites who share interests in eastern Maine. We are cordially inviting them to join our Meteorite Advisory Board to play an active role of their choice.

Link

Special events during meteor showers

The astronomy center is looking forward to hosting extended evening receptions during meteor showers, with optional overnight accommodations. Briefly quoting from the American Meteor Society ... "The meteor showers [listed] below recur each year. In some cases, they have been recognized for hundreds of years. The name of the shower in most cases indicates the Constellation from which the meteors appear." Each streak of light in a shower event is caused by debris that was shed by a comet as it swings by the Sun on its orbit around Earth. Comets are amalgamations of rock, dust, water ice, and frozen carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ammonia. Most particulates that enter Earth's atmosphere are smaller than a grain of sand. They enter it on parallel trajectories and at extremely high speed, so most burn up before they reach Earth's surface.

Quadrantid - maximum, January 3/4
Lyrids - maximum, April 22/23
Eta Aquariids - maximum, May 7/8
Delta Aquariids - maximum, July 29/30
Alpha Capricornids - maximum, July 27/28
Perseid - maximum, August 12/13
Orionids - maximum, October 21/22
Taurids - maximum, October 18 and November 12
Leonids - maximum, November 17-19
Geminids - maximum, December 13/14
Ursids - maximum, December 22/23

For more details about these meteor showers, click ... Here.