[meteorite-list] Rocks from Space Picture of the Day - October 3, 2008
http://www.rocksfromspace.org/October_3_2008.html **Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators. (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall0001) __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 29 - October 3, 2008
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES September 29 - October 3, 2008 o Hebrus Vallis (Released 29 September 2008) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080929a o Landslide (Released 30 September 2008) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080930a o Faulting (Released 01 October 2008) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20081001a o Candor Chasma (Released 02 October 2008) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20081002a o Landslide (Released 03 October 2008) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20081003a All of the THEMIS images are archived here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Astronomers Discover Dusty Remains of Two Terrestrial Planets
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/worlds-in-collision-astronomers-63891.aspx Worlds in collision Astronomers discover dusty remains of two terrestrial planets By Stuart Wolpert UCLA September 23, 2008 Two terrestrial planets orbiting a mature sun-like star some 300 light-years from Earth recently suffered a violent collision, astronomers at UCLA, Tennessee State University and the California Institute of Technology will report in a December issue of the Astrophysical Journal, the premier journal of astronomy and astrophysics. "It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other," said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and a co-author on the paper. "Astronomers have never seen anything like this before. Apparently, major catastrophic collisions can take place in a fully mature planetary system." "If any life was present on either planet, the massive collision would have wiped out everything in a matter of minutes - the ultimate extinction event," said co-author Gregory Henry, an astronomer at Tennessee State University (TSU). "A massive disk of infrared-emitting dust circling the star provides silent testimony to this sad fate." Zuckerman, Henry and Michael Muno, an astronomer at Caltech at the time of the research, were studying a star known as BD+20 307, which is surrounded by a shocking 1 million times more dust than is orbiting our sun. The star is located in the constellation Aries. The astronomers gathered X-ray data using the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory and brightness data from one of TSU's automated telescopes in southern Arizona, hoping to measure the age of the star. "We expected to find that BD+20 307 was relatively young, a few hundred million years old at most, with the massive dust ring signaling the final stages in the formation of the star's planetary system," Muno said. Those expectations were shown to be premature, however, when Carnegie Institution of Washington astronomer Alycia Weinberger announced in the May 20, 2008, issue of the Astrophysical Journal that BD+20 307 is actually a close binary star - two stars orbiting around their common center of mass. "That discovery radically revised the interpretation of the data and transformed the star into a unique and intriguing system," said TSU astronomer Francis Fekel who, along with TSU's Michael Williamson, was asked to provide additional spectroscopic data from another TSU automated telescope in Arizona to assist in comprehending this exceptional binary system. The new spectroscopic data confirmed that BD+20 307 is composed of two stars, both very similar in mass, temperature and size to our own sun. They orbit about their common center of mass every 3.42 days. "The patterns of element abundances in the stars show that they are much older than a few hundred million years, as originally thought," Fekel said. "Instead, the binary system appears to have an age of several billion years, comparable to our solar system." "The planetary collision in BD+20 307 was not observed directly but rather was inferred from the extraordinary quantity of dust particles that orbit the binary pair at about the same distance as Earth and Venus are from our sun," Henry said. "If this dust does indeed point to the presence of terrestrial planets, then this represents the first known example of planets of any mass in orbit around a close binary star." Zuckerman and colleagues first reported in the journal Nature in July 2005 that BD+20 307, then still thought to be a single star, was surrounded by more warm orbiting dust than any other sun-like star known to astronomers. The dust is orbiting the binary system very closely, where Earth-like planets are most likely to be and where dust typically cannot survive long. Small dust particles get pushed away by stellar radiation, while larger pieces get reduced to dust in collisions within the disk and are then whisked away. Thus, the dust-forming collision near BD+20 307 must have taken place rather recently, probably within the past few hundred thousand years and perhaps much more recently, the astronomers said. "This poses two very interesting questions," Fekel said. "How do planetary orbits become destabilized in such an old, mature system, and could such a collision happen in our own solar system?" "The stability of planetary orbits in our own solar system has been considered for nearly two decades by astronomer Jacques Laskar in France and, more recently, by Konstantin Batygin and Greg Laughlin in the U.S.A.," Henry noted. "Their computer models predict planetary motions into the distant future and they find a small probability for collisions of Mercury with Earth or Venus sometime in the next billion years or more. The small probability of this happening may be related to the rarity of very dusty planetary systems like BD+20 307." "There is no question, however," Zuckerman said, "that major collisions have occurred in our solar system's past. Man
[meteorite-list] Mars Exploration Rover Update: September 19-24, 2008
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Road Trip Gets Under Way - sol 1655-1660, September 19-24, 2008: Opportunity has embarked on the next great challenge -- a journey of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) southeast to a huge hole in the ground nicknamed "Endeavour Crater." Measuring 22 kilometers (14 miles) from rim to rim and plunging 300 meters (1,000 feet) below the surface, Endeavour Crater is significantly larger than "Victoria Crater," which is 730 meters (almost half a mile) wide and 70 meters (200 feet) deep. Because it is so much deeper, Endeavour promises to expose even more rock layers going further back in time. Opportunity's trek began on sol 1659 (Sept. 23, 2008), as the rover backed away from a slippery ripple and advanced 10 meters (30 feet) toward its destination. The journey to Endeavour will be long. Opportunity is sure to encounter many interesting science opportunities along the way. During the previous week, Opportunity's wheels slipped excessively while trying to cross a ripple to reach a patch of dust on the ripple's downwind side. After two tries on sols 1652 (Sept. 16, 2008) and 1654 (Sept. 18, 2008), rover operators decided to resume driving and look for other deposits of Martian dust in more accessible locations. Opportunity remains healthy. All subsystems are performing as expected as of Martian day, or sol, 1660 (Sept. 24, 2008). Power is on the rise, with sunlight generating 623 watt-hours of solar energy -- enough to light a 100-watt bulb for more than 6 hours (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour.) Sol-by-sol summary: Besides measuring daily, dust-related changes in atmospheric clarity with the panoramic camera, Opportunity completed the following activities: Sol 1655 (Sept. 19, 2008): Opportunity acquired full-color images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of a target dubbed "Velvet." Opportunity took images of the tracks made by the rover's wheels with the navigation camera. Sol 1656: Opportunity acquired a 5-by-1 panel of images with the navigation camera and a 10-by-1 panel of images with the panoramic camera. After relaying data to NASA's Odyssey orbiter as it passed overhead for transmission to Earth, Opportunity measured atmospheric dust at sunset with the panoramic camera. The rover measured argon gas in the Martian atmosphere with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer. Sol 1657: In the morning, Opportunity monitored dust on the panoramic-camera mast assembly. The rover took panoramic-camera images of its tracks and, after sending data to Odyssey, measured atmospheric argon with the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer. Sol 1658: Following several measurements of atmospheric dust at different times of day, Opportunity relayed data to Odyssey and used the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer to determine the amount of atmospheric argon. Sol 1659: In the morning, Opportunity took thumbnail images as well as spot images of the sky for calibration purposes with the panoramic camera. Opportunity then began the trek to Endeavour, driving almost 10.5 meters (34 feet). The rover acquired images of the surrounding terrain with the navigation camera just before and just after ending the drive. After sending data to Odyssey, the rover measured atmospheric argon. Sol 1660 (Sept. 24, 2008): Opportunity surveyed the morning horizon with the panoramic camera and acquired six, time-lapse movie frames in search of clouds with the navigation camera. At high Sun, Opportunity surveyed the sky with the panoramic camera. Before relaying data to Odyssey, Opportunity took images of the rover's wheel tracks with the panoramic camera. Odometry: As of sol 1659 (Sept. 23, 2008), Opportunity's total odometry was 11,808.39 meters (7.34 miles). __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Up and running
Oh Happy Day! My never ending gratitude to Paul Harris (co-host of Meteorite Exchange, co-editor of METEORITE TIMES and A true prince among friends) for bringing an end to my Exile from the List! The man is a genius and his generosity is unsurpassed In my entire life experience. Here's to you, Paul! My never ending thanks, Michael Important info on Govnt. Spending (BEFORE current "Bail Out proposal): http://www.michaelbloodmeteorites.com/GvntSpending.htm __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] freebies...A Chicago thing
HaHaHa, NOT Funny!! I have not stopped crying since the second inning of last nights game. Joe K On Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 12:59 AM, Frank Cressy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Steve, > > I finally understand all your give-aways after watching the last two > Dodgers/Cubs games. It's just a Chicago thing ;-) > > Dodgers in three! > > Cheers, > > Frank > > > __ > http://www.meteoritecentral.com > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Name 'em Mark and Anthony
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/081002-seti-dogbone-asteroid.html Two Companions Found Near Dog-bone Asteroid By Franck Marchis Principal Investigator, SETI Institute, UC Berkeley posted: 02 October 2008 06:57 am ET A team of astronomers led by F. Marchis, PI, at the SETI Institute and at UC-Berkeley, and P. Descamps from Paris Observatory announced recently the discovery of two moons around an intriguing asteroid. The main-belt asteroid 216 Kleopatra has two companions. When Marchis observed this asteroid for the first time in October 1999 with the 3.6m telescope at ESO-La Silla in Chile, he did not know that he was starting a lengthy quest. The first data recorded with an adaptive optics system, which improves the angular resolution of the image on ground-based telescopes, reveal that the asteroid was made of two components. One year later, Steve Ostro, astronomer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, published an article in Science that summarized the analysis of radar observations that revealed that the mysterious shape of this M-type, main-belt asteroid. Since then, Kleopatra has been called the "dog-bone" asteroid. Its weird shape is probably the outcome of an impact event. The two lobes could be fragments resulting from the disruption of a parent asteroid that later gently collided to form a dumbbell-shaped body with overall dimension of 135 miles by 58 miles by 43 miles (217 km by 94 km by 81 km). To reexamine this interesting scenario and better determine the size and shape of this fascinating asteroid, Marchis led a team that obtained telescope time to observe the asteroid in September 2008. The observing schedule allowed the team to take advantage of the asteroid's position when it was close to Earth at 1.2 AU. They used the Keck-II telescope, the largest optical telescope in the world located on the top of Mauna Kea, in Hawaii. The Keck Adaptive Optics system was recently improved and its large 10-m aperture produces images with an incomparable quality in sharpness (resolution up to 0.035"). Using the time-zone difference, Marchis' collaborator, Pascal Descamps, located in Paris, France, participated remotely in the observations. Shortly after the first images were recorded and processed, they realized that the dog-bone shape model obtained by radar inversion agreed with the direct images recorded at the telescope. Descamps also pointed out that a tiny 3.1 mile- (5 km-) sized moon was seen on the first images of Kleopatra. Additional data taken during this eventful night revealed a second fainter satellite (2.9 mile- or 3 km-sized) that was closer to the primary. Because of its elongated and bilobated shape, the team expected to detect companions around 216 Kleopatra. They predicted that the rubble-pile structure of the primary, linked with its fast rotation (~5 h), could result in ejection of fragments from the primary after an oblique impact that formed satellites. It is also possible that these moons are remnant of the catastrophic disruption of the parent asteroid, which were subsequently captured. In 2005 the same team discovered in the asteroid belt the first triple system composed of two moons around 87 Sylvia. Two years later, a second triple system (45 Eugenia) was discovered in the main-belt also using an adaptive optics system. These three systems are strikingly similar since all of them are composed of a large primary (diameter larger than 54 miles or 100 km) and their km-sized moons orbit very close to the primary. Without the improvement in image quality provided by the adaptive optics systems installed on Keck's telescopes, these multiple asteroid systems would have remained unnoticed. The team announced its discovery in an IAU circular 8980 on September 24. If more data are collected over the next few weeks, it will be possible to estimate the mutual orbits of the satellites and then infer the bulk density of this interesting M-type asteroid. __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Rocks from Space Picture of the Day - October 3, 2008
Greg, what a special find. - Original Message - From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 5:36 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] Rocks from Space Picture of the Day - October 3, 2008 http://www.rocksfromspace.org/October_3_2008.html **Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators. (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall0001) __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
