How Classifications Work (with input from Dr. Agee)

How Classifications Work (with input from Dr. Agee)

Today, I had a wonderful opportunity to speak with Dr. Carl Agee himself!  I wanted to better understand how all of this stuff works.  I strive to make sure any information I put out there for others is accurate.  Who better to ask than one of the world's top scientists in the field?  I am very grateful that a busy man like him could give me some of his precious time.  He's been classifying meteorites since 2009 and has completed over 750 classifications as of 2022.  In this blog entry, I will go over how to get meteorites classified, the reasons behind it, and what not to do.

How do I get a meteorite classified?

In order to get a meteorite classified, you almost have to know someone in the business or someone who works for one of the universities that does it.  There are very few universities on the planet that do this to begin with.  Geology is the study of Earth, the materials of which it is made, the structure of those materials, and the processes acting upon them. It includes the study of organisms that have inhabited our planet.  Not outer space.  So, you have to find a university with a meteoritics program.  This falls under the planetary science category.  Anything else is a waste of your time and theirs. 

Now, why do you have to know someone or have an "in" to get something classified?  Universities that do classifications get overwhelmed with people trying to get their rocks classified.  Imagine what it must be like to have your phone and computer blowing up with calls and messages day and night.  People from all over the world are seeking you out because they think they have a meteorite, and they want you to tell them they are correct.  Know that 99.9999999% of the time, it's a common Earth rock.  This means you will spend your entire day for the rest of your working life answering the same questions and giving the same explanations over and over again.  It isn't just a handful of people trying to get their rocks looked at.  It's thousands of people all over the planet and it's every single day.  You just can't!  If the few universities that do classifications were open to taking in "unsolicited rocks," they'd never get to the actual space rocks.  For a scientist, that is a complete waste of time and expertise.  The machines that they use to analyze rocks are multimillion dollar pieces of equipment.  As they are used, they go through the same normal wear and tear process that your car does.  After a while, they need to be repaired just like anything else.  Maintaining these machines is very costly too.  So, to waste them on Earth rock just isn't worth it.  There is only one place in the world that I know of that does take unsolicited rocks from anyone.  You do not have to be a meteorite dealer to get their attention.  That is New Mexico Meteoritic Services.  You can find their information on my page.  Before you do, keep reading.

If you want to get a meteorite classified, and you go through NMMS (or a different university), they require 20 grams of your rock, or 20%.  If the total weight of your rock is over 100 grams, they require 20 grams of it for classification.  If your rock is less than 100 grams, they require 20% of it.  You do not get your sample back.  It is a required donation.  They need a sample of it so that they can work their magic and find out what it is.  They are required to keep this sample in case it is ever needed for further research.  Every single classified meteorite has a sample of it stored safely at one of these facilities.  Another thing that people do not realize is that you have to pay them to classify your rock.  This is not a free service.  They use multimillion dollar machines that these universities pay for in order to get.  They must also pay for the repairs that are needed when these machines start to break down.  Normal wear and tear happen and for these machines, it's costly.  So, you want to be absolutely sure that you have a space rock because if you don't, you do not get your money back.  They still put the time in and did all of the work.  It isn't the scientist's fault if your rock turns out to be terrestrial.  

One thing you can do to help yourself out is to find someone with an XRF gun (X-Ray Fluorescence).  The XRF gun uses x-ray technology to analyze samples.  To buy one from a reputable company, you are looking at spending $18,000.00 - $50,000.00.  It's not an affordable toy for most people.  Some meteorite dealers do have them and for a small fee, they will zap your rock and tell you if it's potentially a meteorite.  This is not how you get your rock classified.  This is just a helpful tool that you can use to figure out if your rock is worth the trouble.  Most dealers that have them will charge a small fee which is a lot cheaper than sending your rock in and paying a university.  The XRF will give you a printout of its findings.  All it does is tell you what minerals it detects and what percentages of those minerals are there.  So, if you do not know the scientific breakdown of minerals, you won't know what it is.  You will still need someone who does know to assist you in understanding the readings.  These toys are fun and helpful, but they are subject to normal wear and tear too.  A buddy of mine has one.  He needed to replace some of the readers inside.  He's a pretty handy guy and thought he'd just do it himself.  Well, you can't.  The gun shuts itself down when it detects that it's being tampered with.  Unless you know how to build these yourself, and you can get the replacement parts, you cannot do it yourself.  You have to ship it back to the company and pay them to replace the parts for you.  This is why the dealers who own these often charge a small fee.

Still with me?  Almost done.

Once you have located a scientist who is willing to work with you, you send them your sample and payment.  This person will analyze the sample you sent in.  Once they have finished, they will submit their findings to a panel of scientists known as Nomenclature Committee or Nom Com.  This committee is responsible for establishing the guidelines for the naming of new meteorites and for overseeing the publication of what they find to Meteoritical Bulletin in Meteoritics and Planetary Science (MAPS).  Nine members are appointed to 3-year terms by the President for a maximum of two consecutive terms.  You can find this website in community links on my page.  This panel of experts will review the findings of your rock and they will vote on it.  As long as everything checks out, you will have a classified meteorite in the Meteoritical Bulletin.

What will your meteorite officially be called?  If I found a meteorite in my yard, I would get credit for being the finder of the stone and the classifier if I pay to have it classified.  However, it will not be called the "Ashley Rose Humphries" meteorite.  They base it off of where it was found.  Should I ever find one where I live, it would be called "Tombstone" meteorite.  If there are several different meteorites found in the same area, they get numbers added to them.  So, in the Metbull, they would be classified as "Tombstone 001, Tombstone 002," and so on.  Most of the meteorites found in the Sahara Desert are called "NWA" and then given a number.  This is because the Sahara Desert is so vast.  It goes on seemingly, forever.  There aren't any cities, small towns, or landmarks nearby to name it after.

 FAQ's with Dr. Carl Agee

Who actually owns/runs the Meteoritical Bulletin?

The Metbull is owned by the Meteoritical Society.  The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization that was founded in 1933.  Its purpose is to promote research and education in planetary science with an emphasis on studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of the origin and history of the Solar System.  Dr. Jeff Grossman is a scientist in the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters.  He is the one who updates the Metbull with all of the new classifications once they are complete.  (Pat Brown, that made me think of you!)

Do the universities have to buy all of the machines/equipment they need to study meteorites?  What are some of the costs involved? 

Yes!  They often must apply for grants to be able to afford things like the electron microprobe.  The National Science Foundation and NASA assist with the equipment funding.  These machines that they use such as the electron microprobe do come with a factory warrantee but once it runs out, the university will have to buy the extended warranties or service contracts to cover the cost of repairs.  This costs the university about $60,000 per year for that one piece of equipment.  This is just to maintain the equipment when parts need to be replaced!  This is one reason why they charge a fee to get meteorites classified.  The normal price (at this time) is around $300.  This doesn't even come close to paying for one of these machines since they run about $1,000,000+ to buy but, it does help cover some of the other costs involved.  If universities couldn't get funding to help pay for these machines and they had to rely on charging for classifications alone, the cost to get a meteorite classified would be around $2000+ for each sample.  At that point, very few meteorites would ever get classified.  Dealers would not be able to afford to get meteorites classified to sell.  I can tell you that if I personally had to pay $2k to get a meteorite classified so I can sell it, plus pay for the material in the first place, meteorites in general would become so unaffordable that as dealers, we'd probably all go out of business.  With costs that high, scientists wouldn't get to study much of anything because not much would be submitted.  Lastly, they charge a fee to help slow the amount of Earth rock that is brought in.  If meteorite classifications were done for free, they would be so overwhelmed with submissions, most of which would be Earth rock.  

Side note:  Dr. Agee also mentioned that back in 1950-1960 (this was during the Apollo missions), NASA funded a lot of equipment development.  The electron microprobe was only a prototype back then.  Thank you, NASA and the National Science Foundation!  You do more for us than we know!

What is in it for the scientists?

Outer space is the final frontier.  Meteorites are pieces of the puzzle.  The more we find and study, the more we learn about life, the solar system, where we came from and what to expect in the future.  The list goes on and on.  Scientists are always hungry for more.  Discovering new things and understanding it is what they're all about.  To be the one who found something new and literally out of this world is a dream come true for some!  Aside from the glory, having successful programs that are making progress is what keeps them alive.  It's hard to get funding for failing programs or ones that just aren't producing enough to justify the costs. 

As a scientist, do you get bombarded with messages like hunters and dealers do?  

When I first got into this world, I got slammed with messages from strangers from all over the planet every single day and night.  I have to keep my phone on silent when I sleep because of this.  It only gets worse as time goes by.  I was not surprised at all to hear scientists get it too.  Every scientist that does this is constantly getting messages and calls day and night.  Sadly, they cannot answer them all.  There just isn't enough time in a day to answer everyone and most of the time, they don't actually have meteorites.  Most of the pictures that are sent to them are just unusual looking terrestrial rocks.  This last question we talked about leads us to the last topic of this blog post, "what not to do."

What NOT to do...

What I'm about to tell you next is a huge reason why scientists, hunters, dealers and collectors do not respond to messages from people they don't know.  I hate to say it like this but there's no way around it.  There are some seriously crazy people out there who do not take "no" for an answer.  It's dangerous.  Personally, I've been cussed out and called every name in the book.  I've even had people threaten me.  Sadly, most of us have.  I've spoken with some of my dealer buddies about their experiences as well.  Every story starts out the same.  Someone reaches out asking about their rocks.  It appears innocent.  This person believes they have meteorites, and they are looking for someone who knows better to agree with them.  Most of the time, it's not a meteorite.  All it takes to make some people go completely off the deep end is to say, "I'm sorry, but this is not a meteorite."  That's it.  All of a sudden, you find yourself being cussed out by this person.  They threaten to hunt you down and kill you and maybe even your family.  They start dragging your name through the mud all over the internet.  You try to be nice and help someone out (free of charge) and this is how they thank you.  I know dealers who have had people search for their personal information.  Next thing they know, they have people showing up at their house or calling them on their personal cell phone without permission.  I have spoken with several people who work at different universities.  They have actually had to call the police and go as far as getting restraining orders against people because they didn't get the answer they wanted.  So, they thought it would be a good idea to start stalking and berating the university and its employees!  Some of the people who chose to behave like this, found themselves in prison.  So, this is why you may not get a response when you send unsolicited pictures.  It's not to be cold.  We don't know if the person reaching out to us is unstable or not and it isn't worth all of the drama to find out.  Don't show up at someone's house or call their personal phone without permission.  Just because you can find someone's personal information doesn't mean you're welcome to use it.  It's not a good thing.  It's a little creepy and we don't like it.  Don't try to force your way in by mailing anyone a box of rocks.  They will not accept it and usually just send it back without any analysis at all.  These tactics have been tried by many and they don't work.  If you don't get the answer you were hoping for, take the experience and learn what you can from it.  It never hurts to get a second opinion either but conduct yourself in a professional manner.  I find that being humble and willing to learn will get you a lot further with people.

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