Reaching for outer space

Marisa O’Neil

Rick Gorski has been between a rock and a hard place ever since the

December evening he saw what he thought was -- and what he still

thinks is -- a meteorite that fell from the sky.

He found it the next day, lying in the brush behind his home near

the Back Bay. It was about the size of a human skull, weighed around

15 pounds and looked tantalizingly alien compared to other objects

nearby.

It had marks that looked like it could have gone through the

Earth’s atmosphere. It had funny pockmarks. It even had some metallic

flakes embedded in it.

But could it be an extra-terrestrial visitor?

Gorski read up on meteorites at the library and sought expert

opinion to confirm that his find wasn’t just another hunk of rock.

Based on visual inspection of a sample, a University of Arizona

expert declared it an igneous rock made of quartz, feldspar and

biotite. Earthling quartz, feldspar and biotite, that is.

But, Gorski said, the Mars Rovers just found those minerals on

Mars. Maybe, just maybe, it was a Martian rock.

“They land on Mars in January and Mars lands on Earth in

December,” he marveled.

Next, Gorski sent it to UCLA. Still, they said, an Earth rock -- a

“meteorwrong,” not a meteorite.

At Griffith Observatory, someone offered him $5 for it.

“I read in a book that the rarer the meteorite, the harder it is

for anybody to look at it and figure it out,” Gorski said. “Every

time, instead of getting upset, I thought: ‘That means it’s just that

much more rare.’”

Enter Caltech. And Orange Coast College and Irvine Valley College.

All took a look. All declared it terrestrial.

“It’s a well-rounded, river-type boulder rock,” said Irvine Valley

College President Glenn Roquemore, who is a registered geologist.

“The composition seems to be fairly standard to local formations.”

The rock was likely formed millions of years ago from intense heat

and pressure along the intersection of the North American and Pacific

tectonic plates. Similar rocks, he said, can be found in the hills

near Portola and Bake parkways.

Undaunted, Gorski asked Orange Coast College geology professor

Eric Bender to do some further analysis.

After thin section tests, mineral identification and textural

analysis, he came to his conclusion.

“It’s very typical of the rocks we have around here in the San

Joaquin Hills,” Bender said. “It’s a piece of fine-grain granite. The

tests just verified what I already thought. But he was pretty adamant

that it was a meteorite.”

The rock, he said, probably rolled down a hill into the river

channel and got deposited behind Gorski’s house.

It’s made of quartz, feldspar and some mica, he said.

“He was telling me there was some metal in there,” Bender said.

“As far as I can tell, it’s from when he cut it open with a saw.”

But Gorski is still optimistic.

“You have to look at specific things,” Gorski said. “It tells you

right in the books. It’s the same materials you’re going to find on

Earth. That’s why meteorites are so hard to find. Everyone thinks

it’s a terrestrial rock.”

Next, he’ll get his samples back from Bender and send them to

Caltech expert Don Burnett for a closer look.

“I think the buck will stop there,” Gorski said. “He actually

looks at meteorites. He’s looked at 800 and found two of them. He has

a trained eye. I’ll have to accept the fact of what he says.”