Happy Thanksgiving to our American colleagues - and holiday blessing to our international colleagues.
Do not forget that Murchison is thought by some in the community to be a leading candidate as a "dead comet" due to its 98 known amino acids and 13% water by volume. I for one love the smell of my Murchison that I keep under a bell jar - it truly smells like a cognac. All the best, Greg Redfern NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html WHAT'S UP?: THE SPACE PLACE http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=600113&nid=421 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chris Peterson Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 11:23 AM To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Comet Holmes, always the same........ All periodic comets eventually lose their volatiles. The result is an extinct comet, although nobody knows exactly what that means... an asteroid? a loose clump of rocky material? There are asteroids which are believed to be extinct comets (3200 Phaethon, for instance, the parent body of the Geminids). Holmes is a Jupiter class comet, which means it isn't in a particularly stable orbit. It's probably only been in the inner Solar System for a few thousand years, maybe less. It also doesn't seem particularly active in general- the two known outbursts excepted. But anytime it's at all active, it is losing material, and it can't do that forever. It could also be perturbed into an orbit keeping it far from the Sun, in which case it would never be active and therefore wouldn't lose more material, or much closer (or even into) to the Sun, in which case it would rapidly lose its volatiles. Chris ***************************************** Chris L Peterson Cloudbait Observatory http://www.cloudbait.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 9:06 AM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Comet Holmes, always the same........ > Hi, > > I saw the picture of Comet Holmes, listed as 1892. Does it, or will it > ever > dissipatate? > > Ron ______________________________________________ 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
