[meteorite-list] Meteorite Picture of the Day
Today's Meteorite Picture of the Day: Stewart Valley XXX Contributed by: Michael Mulgrew http://www.tucsonmeteorites.com/mpodmain.asp __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a Contact Binary
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/07150633-quick-rosetta-update.html Quick Rosetta update: Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a contact binary! Posted by Emily Lakdawalla (Blog) July 15, 2014 I'm just back from vacation and struggling to catch up but I could not wait to post these amazing new images of comet Churymov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta. The nucleus of the comet is clearly a contact binary -- two smaller (and unequally sized object) in close contact. The CNES page where this photo was released says the whole nucleus measures 4 by 3.5 kilometers, in good agreement with Hubble and Spitzer estimates. Philippe Lamy is quoted as estimating that the two components would have come into contact at a relative speed of about 3 meters per second in order to stick together in this way. [Image] Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta on July 11, 2014 As Rosetta approached its target comet, the shape of the nucleus was revealed to be a contact binary -- two unequal-sized objects in contact with each other. All together, the object is about 4 by 3.5 kilometers in size. Wow, wow, wow. I can't wait to get closer! This unusual shape could present a navigational challenge for the Philae lander team. The CNES release quotes Philae navigator Eric Jurado as saying that navigation around such a body should not be much more complex than around a nucleus of irregular spherical type, but landing the Philae probe [scheduled for November 11], however, could be more difficult, as this form restricts potential landing zones. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Meteorite collection survey
Hi Paul - 1. What or who got you interested in meteorites and how old were you when you got your first meteorite? Impacts got me interested in meteorites. I was trying to see if anyone had any fragments from the Joshua impact event. 2. What was your first meteorite? Slices I bought from Ann Black at Tucson. I had gotten snowed in on my return from the American Institute of Archaeology annual meeting in San Diego, so I ended up at Tucson. 3. Do you still have it? Yes - I use them for education purposes for young people giving my Rocks from Space show, along with my other specimens from the Tucson show. 4. Do you have special areas of interest that you focus on in regards to meteorites (thin sections, photography, chemistry, age dating.. etc)? All of the above. From formation to distribution to tektites and shock features.. 5. Does your Family share in your interest in meteorites? No. 6. Do you have any special approaches to collecting? (Type collection, only stones, only irons, only by aesthetics, etc. or any and all that you like.) Artifacts and impactites 7. Do you mind saying how many locations your collection represents? Global now. 8. Is your collection displayed or kept in a dry box or both? I keep part with me for the Rocks from Space show. Carry them around in an Ojibwe leather bag 9. In what ways do you use your computer for meteorites. (met-list, Social Media, meteorite research, shopping, etc) Follow the news via the meteorite list. 10. Do you ever hunt for meteorites? Ahem. cough cough. They seem to find their way to me... 11. What is your favorite meteorite in your collection? This is a tough one. You have the artifacts made from meteorites, and the meteorites. I like the Allende, but the little piece of the Moon thrills the young people. Have you ever seen how big their eyes get? 12. What is your favorite overall if it is not the one above? 13. What makes these of special interest? Calcium aluminum inclusions. My little piece of the Moon is right up there with the fossilized dinosaur poop in terms of crowd reaction. 14. What meteorites are currently on your wish list? A very small slice of Brenham for my Rocks From Space talk. Just enough to see the olivine and iron. 15. What methods have been most successful in building your collection? (Buying at shows, from dealers by mail, auctions on the web, trading... etc) Trades and gifts. For example, I have a nice Meteor Crater, which is not a Canyon Diablo. 16. Which Shows do you attend? Powwows, but I really would like to get back to Tucson again. 17. Do you also collect related materials like impact glasses, breccias, melts, tektites, shocked fossils, native iron rocks etc? Yes. 18. Do you prepare any of your own specimens? (cut, polish, etch, etc.) No. 19. Have you had to take any special measures to protect them from the environment? I pack them as well as I can, but they have to be used for the purposes I mentioned earlier. The copy of Nininger's pamphlet that Bob Haag lined me up with stays on my desk. PS - I am sorry that Adreas did not like my book. I would have given him money, but he had destroyed his copy. My lesson from this is that my book is best for native English speakers. PS2 - It is now widely acknowledged that Homo Heidelbergensis was indeed the first hominid our of Africa. good hunting, everyone, Ed __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Curiosty Rover Finds Iron Meteorite on Mars
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/?ImageID=6433 Curiosity Finds Iron Meteorite on Mars Jet Propulsion Laboratory July 15, 2014 [Image] This rock encountered by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is an iron meteorite called Lebanon, similar in shape and luster to iron meteorites found on Mars by the previous generation of rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Lebanon is about 2 yards or 2 meters wide (left to right, from this angle). The smaller piece in the foreground is called Lebanon B. This view combines a series of high-resolution circular images taken by the Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) of Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument with color and context from rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam). The component images were taken during the 640th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (May 25, 2014). The imaging shows angular shaped cavities on the surface of the rock. One possible explanation is that they resulted from preferential erosion along crystalline boundaries within the metal of the rock. Another possibility is that these cavities once contained olivine crystals, which can be found in a rare type of stony-iron meteorites called pallasites, thought to have been formed near the core-mantle boundary within an asteroid. Iron meteorites are not rare among meteorites found on Earth, but they are less common than stony meteorites. On Mars, iron meteorites dominate the small number of meteorites that have been found. Part of the explanation could come from the resistance of iron meteorites to erosion processes on Mars. ChemCam is one of 10 instruments in Curiosity's science payload. The U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, developed ChemCam in partnership with scientists and engineers funded by the French national space agency (CNES), the University of Toulouse and the French national research agency (CNRS). More information about ChemCam is available at http://www.msl-chemcam.com . The rover's MastCam was built by and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGNantes/CNRS/IAS/MSSS __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] AD-NWA 8059 unequilibrated chondrite of unequaled freshness
Aloha meteorite lovers, The Big Kahuna would like to announce NWA 8059. A single, fusion crusted 54g stone was found in the hot deserts of North West Africa in August 2013 and purchased the following month. This meteorite is an exquisite unequilibrated chondrite consisting of closely-packed, mostly medium-sized chondrules. Olivine exhibits a moderate range in fayalite content (Fa0.4-39.4), but based on multiple analyses the ferroan olivines are distinctly enriched in Cr2O3 (0.13-0.69 wt.%, mean 0.43 wt.%, s.d. 0.14 wt.%, N = 22). Other minerals are orthopyroxene (Fs1.1-42.8Wo1.1-0.9), pigeonite (Fs13.2Wo19.2), subcalcic augite (Fs10.4Wo27.9), sodic plagioclase, chromite, stained kamacite and troilite. On the basis of the distribution of chromium in ferroan olivines, this specimen meets the Grossman and Brearley (2005) criteria for a Type 3.00 ordinary chondrite. The oxygen isotope data for NWA 8059 are much closer to the Terrestrial Fractionation Line (TFL) than even H chondrites. Carl Agee and Karen Ziegle r of the University of New Mexico Institute of Meteoritics are discovering that low type 3's have oxygen isotopes all over the map. They have observed this in L3.00 NWA 7731 and 8276. Many data points plotted near the TFL and scattered elsewhere. Semarkona LL3.00 has this too. Therefore, scientists cannot use the traditional OC trends for deciding H,L,LL in these UOC. The best way is to record many apparent chondrule size measurements to get the mean value, or use the traditional bulk iron content analysis. So anomalous these meteorites can't be determined with oxygen isotopes. Informal magnetic susceptibility tests indicate that NWA 8059 is an L chondrite. Besides Semarkona, NWA 8059 is without a doubt the freshest 3.00 available to the collector and scientific communities. Meteorite comes in a quality labeled display box for protection and years of viewing pleasure, along with a Big Kahuna Meteorites Certificate of Authenticity / Identification card and would make a splendid addit ion to any collection. http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/NWA8059.html Mahalo for your consideration and have a wonderful day! Gary Fujihara Big Kahuna Meteorites Inc. PO Box 4175, Hilo, HI 96720 (808) 640-9161 http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/ http://www.ebay.com/sch/fujmon/m.html __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] New Geological Map of MArs
A Beautifully Detailed New Geologic Map of Mars by Betsey Mason, Wired July 14, 2014 http://www.wired.com/2014/07/new-geologic-map-mars-usgs/ ASU, USGS project yields sharpest map of Mars surface properties, Arizona State University https://asunews.asu.edu/20140715-thermal-map ASU, USGS Create Sharpest Map Ever of Mars Surface Properties, united States Geological Survey http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3936 The geological map is at: Tanaka, K. L. J. A. Skinner, Jr., J. M. Dohm, R. P. Irwin, III, E. J. Kolb, C. M. Fortezzo, T. Platz, G. G. Michael, and T. M. Hare, 2014, Geologic Map of Mars. Scientific Investigations Map no. 3292 United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3292/ Supplementary data is at: Mars Global Data Sets, Mars Space Flight Facility http://jmars.asu.edu/maps/?layer=thm_ti_100m_8bitz=6greenlabels Mars THEMIS-Derived Global Thermal Inertia Mosaic http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/maps/mars-themis-derived-global-thermal-inertia-mosaic Yours, Paul H. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
