California fireball was/is a chondrite

Remember that California fireball that made the news a couple of weeks ago?   Turns out it was a carbonaceous chondrite, the rarest kind, one that has lots of stone and carbon in it, rather than the usual run-of-the-mill iron nickel metallic kind.  This is the kind of thing that gets scientists excited, because of what they can learn from it, and meteorite hunters excited, because of how much then can sell it for.

Fireball remnants likely in California after meteor

"Robert Ward, who lives in Arizona and has been hunting and collecting meteorites around the world for more than 20 years, said he found the first piece about 10 a.m. Tuesday in between a baseball field and park on the edge of the town of Lotus.

Ward said he "instantly knew" it was a rare meteorite known as "CM" — carbonaceous chondrite — based in part on the "fusion crusts from atmospheric entry" on one side of the rock.

"It was just, needless to say, a thrilling moment," he said.

"It is one of the oldest things known to man and one of the rarest types of meteorites there is," he said. "It contains amino acids and organic compounds that are extremely important to science." "