Meteorites don't need to curry favor among humans. They've been falling to earth for just about as long as there's been an earth and they'll keep doing so way into the future. (Actually, add about 17,000 more "ways" onto that sentiment.)
But those bits of straight-from-space rocks have a funny way of appearing on all our radars from time to time. Oh, it might be a summer blockbuster that gets us to thinking how hot, fiery cosmic matter constantly connects, here and there, with the surface of the planet on a regular basis.
It's true.
Or we might start to again think about meteorites when a mammoth fireball streaks across the Siberian sky. Or, hours later, an asteroid fly-by.
If you didn't get your fill of 2012 DA14 as it took the scenic route by our home planet, you can swing by the Natural History Museum's Gem and Mineral Hall for more communing with various space rocks. There are a trio of impressive specimens on display at the Exposition Park institution. Where to find them? Near the entrance to the hall, near the Native Gold.
What else is there to know about this cosmic threesome that sit just a short, across-the-park walk from another space favorite, Endeavour? All three meteorites were found in Los Angeles County. So call them local meteorites, we suppose. Like almost everyone, they wanted to make a new start in LA.
The museum also participates in an "Adopt-A-Mineral" program. Currently up for adoption? A lunar meteorite and a Martian meteorite found in the Mojave Desert. Yep, that sounds like the start of the next Hollywood blockbuster pitch meeting to us.
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Regardless, the Gem and Mineral Hall is filled with wonders, both of the terrestrial and extraterrestrial sort. Haven't been since you were a kid on a field trip? It's time. Don't wait for the next asteroid flyby to go.
