[meteorite-list] Ghubara...

[Dave Harris]

Hullo,
FWIW... I live right on the coast, and god only knows we all know how crappy
the weather is here in the UK my Gub slice has kept perfectly!
I still rate this meteorite as one of the most underestimated space rocks -
lovely stuff and cheap too - sort of like a 'pre-NWA 869' rock - cheap,
plentiful and beautiful!

Ciao!


dave
IMCA #0092
Sec.BIMS
www.bimsociety.org
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Re: [meteorite-list] Science Loses When PR Becomes Top Priority(Brenham Meteorites)

[Rob Wesel]

Man is this guy bitter, here's his email address if you wish to send him an 
e-hug.


[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Rob Wesel
http://www.nakhladogmeteorites.com
--
We are the music makers...
and we are the dreamers of the dreams.
Willy Wonka, 1971


- Original Message - 
From: "Ron Baalke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: "Meteorite Mailing List" 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 9:57 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Science Loses When PR Becomes Top Priority(Brenham 
Meteorites)





http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061106/OPINIONS02/611060326/1006/OPINIO

Science loses when PR becomes top priority
Kevin Evans
Voice of the Day
November 6, 2006

In the last couple of weeks, there has been tremendous media attention
given to the Houston Museum of Natural History and NASA scientists'
"discovery" and recovery of a 154-pound Brenham meteorite fragment in a
Kansas wheat field. Their use of ground-penetrating radar was touted for
its potential in exploration of the planet Mars.

What the world doesn't know is that Katie Click, an 18-year-old high
school senior from Springfield, working on a project in conjunction with
her earth science teacher and Missouri State University scientists, made
a similar discovery just two miles away from the Kansas site, using the
same GPR technology, two weeks earlier.

The difference - aside from the reported $50,000 the museum paid for
their discovery - is that Katie was conducting her research for the
Ozark Science and Engineering Fair. Science teachers train young
scientists to formulate multiple working hypotheses, to test hypotheses
by making observations and collecting data, to integrate and interpret
the data, and to present the results in scientific meetings or
literature, where it is subject to critical review and discussion among
the scientific community. Unfortunately, in the course of conducting her
science fair project, she has just learned an important new step in the
scientific method - contact the media first.

There are also some factual issues related to the discovery that need to
be addressed. In the first place, this is not the first or biggest
Brenham meteorite found. Second, it is not the first use of GPR to image
buried impact craters or meteorites. In fact, it is not even the first
Brenham meteorite to be imaged using GPR. Katie did that two weeks
earlier when she pushed a GPR over Haviland crater, the only known
impact crater associated with the Brenham meteorite, and a short
distance away from the "discovery" locality.

It is ironic that two teams converged with the same ideas to determine
the age and image the impact horizon with GPR, since the last major
scientific effort to examine the Haviland crater and its
meteorite-strewn field was in 1933. Initial reports from the last
expedition mentioned the possibility of the largest meteorite fragment.
It turned out to be cable from an oil rig. Some later reports are also
in error. The precise age of the impact is unknown. The Earth Impact
Database estimate an age of 1,000-2,000 years, but these are only
estimates. Scientists in the 1960s confirmed that American Indian beads
made from the Brenham meteorite were found in burial mounds of the
Hopewell Culture, which lasted from 200 B.C. to 400 A.D., so the age of
the impact has to be at least 1,600 years old.

The bottom line is: you can't look at sediments and determine their ages
in the field. It requires careful laboratory analyses and collection of
samples from locations that are conducive to preserving carbon, such as
along a horizon rich in meteoritic material. The meteorite hunter who
guided the Houston science team clearly wasn't interested in gaining
contextual information on the fragmentation and impact of the Brenham
meteorite when he dug up meteorites over the last two years, including
the 650 kg specimen that was the second largest recovered.

The commercial meteorite market has a seamy underside. "Meteorite
hunter" may sound like an auspicious-sounding title, but it can be akin
to tomb raiding. Archeologists and paleontologists are all too familiar
with commercial collectors in their fields. Meteorites provide the same
opportunity. At best, meteorite hunters can provide rare or exotic
specimens for scientific study, but more often than not, vital
information is destroyed or specimens wind up in the hands of private
collectors.

When public institutions and government agencies partner with commercial
enterprises to hunt for meteorites and then publicize undocumented
claims, it short-circuits science methods and it sends the wrong message
to students. This concerns me both as a geologist and as a teacher of
future scientists.

In the last couple of weeks, there has been tremendous media attention
given to the Houston Museum of Natural History and NASA scientists'
"discovery" and recovery of a 154-pound Brenham meteorite fragmen

[meteorite-list] Seeking Out Meteorites (on the moon)

[Darren Garrison]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Seeking_Out_Meteorites_999.html

Seeking Out Meteorites

by Staff Writers
London UK (SPX) Nov 07, 2006
Monica Grady, a professor of planetary and space science at the Open University
in the UK, is one of the world's meteorite experts. In addition to studying the
finer details of these rocks from space that fall to Earth -- such as learning
the geochemistry of meteorites originating from Mars -- she is also interested
in the broader implications of her findings, and uses her research to learn more
about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

In part one of this interview with Astrobiology Magazine, Grady talks about why
we need to search for meteorites on the moon. She also explains why it took so
many years to find a martian meteorite on Earth.

Astrobiology Magazine (AM): Rumor has it that the astrobiology community has
given you the title, "Reigning Queen of Meteorites."

Monica Grady (MG): Oh, that is completely unfair! (laughs) I don't know where
this title came from. It's not so much unfair as it's undeserved, because I
don't do anything that other people don't do. I research a subject that has an
astrobiological import and I enjoy talking to other people about it. But there
are loads of people in the astrobiology community who do work that is higher
profile than mine.

AM: Apparently you're doing something that's getting the attention of a wide
audience. For instance, making the case to go back to the moon to search for
meteorites.

MG: We know that meteorites have been falling on the Earth for 4.5 billion
years, but the oldest age of terrestrial meteorites is about 2 million years.
Those meteorites were found in Antarctica. For meteorites that fall in hot
deserts, their oldest age is about 100 to 200 thousand years. For meteorites
that have fallen in temperate zones, their oldest age is about a thousand years
-- a very short period of geological time.

Now if you go to the moon, you're going to be looking at rocks that fell
anywhere from 100 million years ago to 10 million years ago. The moon is an
airless body, so there's very little environmental change to objects there. So
we have a chance of looking at meteorites that fell a long time ago.
Theoretically, they shouldn't be much different from meteorites that fell
yesterday, because they all come from the same place in the solar system, but we
don't know. The orbits of asteroids evolve with time and populations of
asteroids evolve with time. So meteorites that fell 100 million years ago could
be slightly different in composition than those today, or there may be a greater
preponderance of one type over another that we don't have now.

Meteorites on the moon also could tell us about the flux of meteorites in
antiquity, so we might be able to fill in the gap between what we call the Heavy
Bombardment period and the average rate of bombardment. But that depends on
whether we are able to get an age for the lunar meteorites. We get a cosmic ray
exposure age when things are in space, and we get an exposure rate for
meteorites on Earth by looking at isotopes like chlorine-36. I've no idea if
we'll be able to get a lunar exposure age. I don't know how that would work.

AM: Can you explain why there are older meteorites on the moon? Does it have to
do with the moon being tectonically inactive, and so the surface is always the
same?

MG:Yes, the reason we don't have ancient meteorites on Earth is because the
surface of our planet is always changing. Meteorites that fell a long time ago
are now gone. But on the moon you've got a very stable, ancient surface. So the
idea of collecting ancient meteorites there is valid.

Just to illustrate, I was fortunate to be part of a team that looked for
meteorites in the Nullarbor region of Australia. One day we found four
meteorites in an area less than a square kilometer in size. I think the
Nullarbor Plain is 60 million years old. Those four meteorites were all
different -- they were from different parent bodies, different asteroids.

In Antarctica, the movement of ice brings meteorites together. But the Nullarbor
has no concentration mechanism for meteorites -- it's just a flat plain. The
meteorites might get blown a bit by the wind, but they essentially remain where
they land. So four meteorites from four separate parent bodies hit that square
kilometer over 60 million years. That's staggering. That square kilometer wasn't
calling out to be hit; it's completely representative of the Earth's surface.

That indicates the potential number of meteorites on the moon. It has a nice
flat surface like the Nullarbor, with no concentration processes other than
time, and no removal processes.

AM:I've heard that looking for meteorites on the moon is like looking for a
needle in a haystack. How hard would they be to find?

MG: The Mars rovers have found meteorites, so it's not unreasonable to search
for meteorites on the moon. It's going to be, not a difficult task, but a time
cons

Re: [meteorite-list] Brenham Instability Myth

[Bob Evans]

I agree Matteo,
I have never bought a Brenham. It would be a waste of money.
I have cleaned and sealed my Canyon Diablos, Sikhotes and Campos in exactly 
the same manner.
The Cd's and Sikhotes held up well but my Campo continues to disintegrate no 
matter what I do.

Those desiccant bags are useless.
The sad thing is it was my first meteorite. The reason for my obsession.
Here it is, and it isn't pretty :
( New Collectors beware. Viewing this may cause you to collect only stony 
meteorites )

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/spacerox2001/album?.dir=/8a8fre2

Bob

- Original Message - 
From: "M come Meteorite Meteorites" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Brenham Instability Myth



my Brenham slice its go totaly destroynever buy
another

Matteo

--- McCartney Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ha
scritto:


As long as Ghubara stability is being knocked
around, I'd like to
address Brenham.  I'm currently writing a paper on
the stability of
Brenham, and thought I reveal a quick peek here on
how this pallasite is
actually stable.

Brenham has acquired a bad reputation on stability.
This reputation is
more myth than fact.  The myth really began with the
'meteorerodes'
Nininger excavated from the alleged 'Haviland
crater'. These meteorites
were soaked in a nickle-leaching, electrolysis
accelerating soup for
10,000+ years. Corrosion had already advanced to a
point of leaving
shale balls. Nininger then shared these rotten
pallasites with other
institutions. So the myth began...

 Yet, a few hundred yards away, rock stable Brenhams
were found (the 750
pounder). Hint-don't buy water logged pallasites.

Several collectors have stable Brenhams, some with
and some without
sealing. So empirical evidence supports this
conclusion.

My paper will address the fundamental corrosion of
all iron meteorites,
including Brenham. In a nutshell, its all about
water and oxygen.
Brenham is not a chloride attacked meteorite. It is
complicated by
sulfides that induce an electrolytic effect.
Brenham has a higher
porosity between the olivine and metal. If the
natural soil moisture
water is not removed effectively, they will rust.
If it is removed,
then properly sealed from Oxy and water, it's rock
stable.  Even the
unaltered core of a badly eroded 'meteorerode' will
be stable after
being desiccated by vacuum then impregnate sealed
with Opticon.

Anyone who doesn't seal their irons from Oxy and
water is playing dice
against time. You will lose eventually. Be it Esquel
or Canyon Diablo.
Just don't blame the iron for rusting because you
didn't seal it.  We
have enough myths in this business as it is.

McCartney Taylor, IMCA 2670

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M come Meteorite - Matteo Chinellato
Via Triestina 126/A - 30173 - TESSERA, VENEZIA, ITALY
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sale Site: http://www.mcomemeteorite.it
Collection Site: http://www.mcomemeteorite.info
MSN Messanger: spacerocks at hotmail.com
EBAY.COM:http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/mcomemeteorite/

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Re: [meteorite-list] Brenham Instability Myth

[M come Meteorite Meteorites]

my Brenham slice its go totaly destroynever buy
another

Matteo

--- McCartney Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ha
scritto: 

> As long as Ghubara stability is being knocked
> around, I'd like to
> address Brenham.  I'm currently writing a paper on
> the stability of
> Brenham, and thought I reveal a quick peek here on
> how this pallasite is
> actually stable. 
> 
> Brenham has acquired a bad reputation on stability.
> This reputation is
> more myth than fact.  The myth really began with the
> 'meteorerodes'
> Nininger excavated from the alleged 'Haviland
> crater'. These meteorites
> were soaked in a nickle-leaching, electrolysis
> accelerating soup for
> 10,000+ years. Corrosion had already advanced to a
> point of leaving
> shale balls. Nininger then shared these rotten
> pallasites with other
> institutions. So the myth began...
> 
>  Yet, a few hundred yards away, rock stable Brenhams
> were found (the 750
> pounder). Hint-don't buy water logged pallasites.
> 
> Several collectors have stable Brenhams, some with
> and some without
> sealing. So empirical evidence supports this
> conclusion.
> 
> My paper will address the fundamental corrosion of
> all iron meteorites,
> including Brenham. In a nutshell, its all about
> water and oxygen.
> Brenham is not a chloride attacked meteorite. It is
> complicated by
> sulfides that induce an electrolytic effect. 
> Brenham has a higher
> porosity between the olivine and metal. If the
> natural soil moisture
> water is not removed effectively, they will rust. 
> If it is removed,
> then properly sealed from Oxy and water, it's rock
> stable.  Even the
> unaltered core of a badly eroded 'meteorerode' will
> be stable after
> being desiccated by vacuum then impregnate sealed
> with Opticon. 
> 
> Anyone who doesn't seal their irons from Oxy and
> water is playing dice
> against time. You will lose eventually. Be it Esquel
> or Canyon Diablo.
> Just don't blame the iron for rusting because you
> didn't seal it.  We
> have enough myths in this business as it is.
> 
> McCartney Taylor, IMCA 2670
> 
> __
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
>
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
> 


M come Meteorite - Matteo Chinellato
Via Triestina 126/A - 30173 - TESSERA, VENEZIA, ITALY
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sale Site: http://www.mcomemeteorite.it 
Collection Site: http://www.mcomemeteorite.info
MSN Messanger: spacerocks at hotmail.com
EBAY.COM:http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/mcomemeteorite/

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Re: [meteorite-list] Ghubara

[edward moore]

I have a 300+ gram end slice of Ghubara that I got many years ago. It " sweats" etc but then I live in Maine, about 1/2 mile from the coast, so the salt air does it no good.     Ed[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:  Hello Berndt and list,I too would like to come to the defense of Ghubara. I have two beautifuland fascinating Ghubara slices which show two lithologies and which arequite stable over several years( though I do store and display myspecimens at a low relative humidity).It seems that there is considerable heterogenity in most meteorite findsin terms of stability. I would speculate that a large part of thisvariability is due to local variation in exposure to moisture and saltsand to some extent to fracturing of the indiviual specimen which seems tocreat an avenue for the
 penetration of moisture.Does that make sense?It seems to me that the gold standard for buying a stable specimen,especially from a locality that has a reputation for instability, is areport from a reliable dealer that they have owned the specimen andobserved it to be stable over time.Cheers,Jim Baxter> harlan trammell wrote:>> "they sweat and ooze liquid">> Hello All,>> My thick slice that I got from Mike Martinez in 2000 is still stable, no> ooze, no sweat!>> My large, thin 36-gram slice from Ivan Koutyrev that I purchased about> two or three years ago (EBay) is still perfect - no ooze, no sweat! This> super-thin slice is one of my most beautiful and most interesting> meteorites and one of its main features is an oval, "multi-banded"> chondrule - something I've never seen again in any other chondrite! It> has troilite, abundant
 chondrules, different chondrule types and sizes,> even melt veinlets meandering along the outer edges of my slice, and, of> course, the well-known dark matrix that is studded with several> lighter-colored patches, well, a beautiful regolith breccia :-)>> Cheers,>> Bernd>> __> Meteorite-list mailing list> Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list__Meteorite-list mailing listMeteorite-list@meteoritecentral.comhttp://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list 


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Re: [meteorite-list] COMET SWAN (C/2006 M4)

[Gerald Flaherty]

Hey Sterling, I fially got a faint glimpse of Comet Swan!
Thanks for not "giving up on it" for the team!!
Jerry Flaherty
- Original Message - 
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

To: "Meteorite List" 
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 2:52 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] COMET SWAN (C/2006 M4)



Hi,

   This beautiful little green comet has just made its
fourth appearance in the Astronomy Picture of the Day:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

   If you miss catching the photo today, it will still 
be in the APOD archives under today's date. The 
three previous APOD images were all in the past 
thirty days, on October 4th, 19th, and 28th.


   The comet was discovered independently by List 
member Rob Matson and Michael Mattiazzo (of 
Austrailia) on Solar Wind ANisotropy images, which 
is why it isn't called Comet Matson-Mattiazzo, which 
would have been a euphonious name.


   You can catch the now-fading comet with biggish 
binoculars or a small telescope. It's in the middle of the 
constellation Hercules right now. A chart of its positions

by date can be found at:
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2006M4/2006M4.html

   The other thing you need is a good view of the sky.
(I've had nine straight days of overcast and cloud cover.)


Sterling K. Webb
-


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[meteorite-list] Monacensia - Munich 2006

[Martin Altmann]

Griassdi list!

The Munich show is over, the caravan moves on and, I guess, most who
attended, agree on the fair having been a highlight of the meteoritical
year.

This year I was bound to our booth, so that I couldn't be on my beat as
usually, thus I'm able to tell only my very incomplete impressions and will
leave it to others to report more comprehensively here on the list.

Well, as always, it was a great meeting of old and new faces and stones,
stones, irons and stones.
Where to start - perhaps with some general trends.

The vanishing of desert material accelerated again. The Moroccan tables were
almost empty, often one could find not more than five or six nicer
chondrites there. Only at a few specialized Moroccan dealers a little more
was exhibited. Tiny weathered chondrites and a few well crusted ones, like
e.g. at Mohammed Sbai.
Achondrites, rare types, oriented ones? Almost nil return!
Some Moroccans even switched to little Sikhote-Alins.
So again Dean Bessey with his bulk amount was the King among Queens
and only Senior&Junior Hmani and Ahmed Pani presented the high-end of the
Maghreb finds.

At Hmani's stall we met first Mike Farmer and Jim Strope, Jim was busy in
rolling around a huge plastic ton, the contents must have been heavy as it
should be to expect from Jim. Mike brought along some slices of his amazing
new iron with the greenish silicates and sold them all, later he showed us
an enormous chunk of a Moon-look-alike.

And here we are at the irons:
Trends:
Gibeon is definitely over.
Even at the Sprichs there were only marginal cuts left.
Sikhote is over. The amounts available were ridiculous to those only 2 or 3
years ago.
Brahin was rare on the show too.

The new Gibeon is called "Muonionalusta"!   
Very heavy whackers were available at Hans Koser's place beside his
well-known Campos (I ask myself, whether Hans did move during the last 5
years more Campos than the official tkw??),
as well as at a table of a moldavite dealer, whose name I always forget,
help! There a heart-shaped fullslice I remember, which had a troilite vein
running through - it was a broken heart.

Mr.Muonionalusta himself - Thomas Österberg
(http://www.muonionalustameteorites.com/)
was visiting the show too!
Also from Scandinavia Morten and the Moss-crew one could met.

Inexpensive Seymchan was available at a fossils dealer. Thick cuts and
slices for tinkerers.
What for an aestethic potential inheres in Seymchan, there the proof could
be viewed at the Egers. Huuuge highly polished slices, some longer than 50cm
and all only 4mm thin, where mounted in black masks illuminated from behind.
Two had a fine olivine-free vein running through. Truely superb. Uwe Eger is
a master of his art.

A last larger Gibeon, dish-shaped and the only remarkable large and
regmaglypted Sikhote, leaping to my eye on the show, were exhibited on the
much-loved cosmic chaos tables of Erich Haiderer. 
Erich's booth is always a mixture between a flea-market table and a candy
shop. The collector has to work to find the astonishing and rare types and
specimens between the more common stuff, he has to dig and to grub, but
then, if his treasure hunt was successful, he always will be rewarded for
his work, with an excellently fair price.

Badly missed this year was the display of the French Mahatma Alain Carion,
Sigh - decades ago little Martin was acquiring meteorites from him almost
every year on the Munich show

and of course we all missed Norbert&Heike Kammel's goodies from Down-Under!

Only a single Australian showed up, with suitable Camel Dongas and very good
Millbillillies, but with that price level he asked it would have been
cheaper to invite Norbert to Munich at collector's costs!

Bruno&Carine's place I missed twice, I guess because I overlooked it, as
they displayed a lot of fossils and Chinese china (I mean porcelain),
But collectors reported me, that they had a similar assortment like on the
fairs before, their exquisite exotics and some historic falls.

The Eislers were there, had some good "names", additionally Miles and
translucent Imilac slices.
Prokopec I saw running around, but not his table, though he filled his show
case with his lunaites, I heard.
A lot of moldavites were available on the show, here as the best example
I'll only mention our neighbour Thomas Dehner, with a huge variety of
shapes, qualities - from grab-ware to museum pieces and of course his
excellent assortment of moldavite jewellery.

And of course the Russian hunter crew sent a delegation with always smiling
Dima and the more corpulent Serge (for not mixing up with the slim Serge,
whome we missed again on the show). They offered a lot of CR3-slices and we
were often asked on our stall: Did you see the Dho 007s at the Russians?
They do have complete little individuals and also Dho 700 and s cheap!
Will you buy some too?

I heard furthermore, that Chladni's Heirs had this year their Munich
premiere
We confined our assortment to historic falls, some rare o

[meteorite-list] Comet Plunges into the Sun

[Ron Baalke]

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/061106_comet_sun.html

Comet Plunges into the Sun
By Robert Roy Britt 
space.com
06 November 2006

A comet made a death plunge into the Sun on Friday, 
disintegrating as its icy chemicals vaporized on the way in.

An animation

showing the comet's plunge was made with images from the Solar and
Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO.

All comets orbit the Sun, and most do so on elongated paths 
that can pass through the inner solar system before winging 
out well beyond Pluto.  Solar radiation heats a comet and burns
off some of the ice and dust that it is made of, creating a 
cloud of material and sometimes a tail. The dust and gas 
scatter sunlight, making the comet bright.

Those comets that come very close to the Sun are called 
sungrazers.

A few get too close.

SOHO images have been used to discover more than 1,000 comets,
and the craft has identified many comets in their dramatic 
final hours before being swallowed by the Sun.

Other comets discovered without SOHO, such as one named 
Kudo-Fujikawa, have at times been watched in real time
by web surfers as they dramatically sliced across SOHO's 
field of view. In 2003, a comet named NEAT, whose path in 
front of the SOHO cameras was well predicted, was smacked 
by a solar storm, the first such event ever recorded.

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[meteorite-list] SALE - Seymchan 458 grams

[Timothy Heitz]

Hello List,

I have a beautiful slice of Seymchan for sale, I'm accepting offers
http://www.meteorman.org/Seymchan_458g.htm

Its polished on both sides and sealed with a clear coating. 


Thank You,
Tim Heitz

MIDWEST METEORITES - http://www.meteorman.org/
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[meteorite-list] Astronomers Optimistic Despite Recommended Cuts for Arecibo

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Nov06/arecibo.funding.html

Despite significant recommended cuts from NSF for 
Arecibo, Cornell astronomers are optimistic about 
observatory's future

Nov. 6, 2006

By Lauren Gold ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Chronicle Online

On Nov. 3, the Senior Review, an advisory panel 
to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) 
Division of Astronomical Sciences, recommended a 
24 percent cut in funding over the next three 
years for Arecibo Observatory, which Cornell 
manages as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere 
Center (NAIC). The panel also advised NAIC to 
find outside partners to cover another 
recommended 40 percent funding cut by 2011 or 
risk closure.

Despite this news, Cornell astronomers remained 
upbeat about the long-term future of the 
telescope.

Joseph Burns, Cornell vice provost for physical 
sciences and engineering, issued a statement in 
response to the report:

"...Cornell supports the NSF's overall plan to 
find funds to carry out new initiatives, but we 
are disappointed with some of the Senior Review's 
specific recommendations into the next decade. We 
remain dedicated to the core scientific programs 
of the Arecibo Observatory and, accordingly, we 
are pleased that the review recognizes the 
facility's significant contributions today and 
its potential for important discoveries well into 
the next decade. Our staff will be working with 
our astronomy community to identify cost savings 
... (and) we are confident that Arecibo's 
remarkable research and educational programs will 
be kept strong into 2011 and beyond."

The Arecibo Observatory's 305-meter diameter 
antenna, the world's largest and most sensitive 
radio-radar telescope, attracts more than 250 
scientists to northwestern Puerto Rico from 
around the world every year and has been the 
source of pivotal discoveries about pulsars, 
planets, distant galaxies, near earth objects and 
the interstellar medium, as well as key findings 
about gravitational physics, atmospheric sciences 
and more.

Arecibo has received several major upgrades in 
recent years. The Arecibo L-Band Feed Array 
(ALFA), which began operation in spring 2005, for 
example, allows researchers to survey large 
swaths of sky and search for such time-variable 
phenomena as pulsars seven times more efficiently 
than in the past.

"You could very well say it's a new phase for 
Arecibo," said Cornell professor of astronomy Jim 
Cordes. "We're doing things that are pretty 
unique to what Arecibo can do -- playing on its 
strengths."

Arecibo is also one of only two telescopes in the 
world with radar capability (the other is the 
Goldstone NASA tracking telescope in California). 
Radar research has yielded some of the most 
detailed imaging of the surface of the Moon, as 
well as a much more accurate characterization of 
the surfaces of other planets and near earth 
objects. It remains a vital tool for a wide range 
of studies in planetary science.

In addition, the observatory hosts Angel Ramos 
Foundation Visitor and Educational Facility, a 
self-supporting educational center, which 
receives over 100,000 visitors annually and is 
the major outreach facility for Hispanic 
Americans.

Cornell has operated Arecibo as a national 
facility since 1971, and in 2005 was awarded a 
cooperative agreement to continue operations 
until 2010.

The Senior Review's report was based on an 
assumption that the NSF's overall budget would 
not increase in the next five years. It 
considered ongoing and future projects within 
three major branches of astronomy: optical and 
infrared astronomy; radio, millimeter and 
submillimeter astronomy; and solar astronomy.

"The idea of this exercise was to put us in a 
good position to move forward with a very 
exciting scientific program," said Wayne van 
Citters, director of the Division of Astronomical 
Sciences. "We have to look at it as a very 
positive step toward a bright future for 
astronomical sciences."

Citing Arecibo's unique strengths, Burns said he 
is confident that Arecibo will continue to prove 
its usefulness. "The refocusing of scientific 
programs is something we can handle very 
adequately," he said. "We're very optimistic for 
a scientifically exciting future."

##

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[meteorite-list] SALE - Seymchan 458 grams

[Timothy Heitz]

Hello List,

I have a beautiful slice of Seymchan for sale, I'm accepting offers
http://www.meteorman.org/Seymchan_458g.htm

Its polished on both sides and sealed with a clear coating. 


Thank You,
Tim Heitz

MIDWEST METEORITES - http://www.meteorman.org/
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Re: [meteorite-list] NEOs, Tsunami, Meteors, Comets, Astronomy, ice falling ......and insanity

[E.P. Grondine]

Hi Dirk - 

Oh yeah. Eric Julien. Popular delusions and the
madness of crowds.

He claimed a vision of an impact, thus appealing to
the late night radio psychic phenomenon crowd.

He claimed that next aliens came to visit him,
appealing to late night radio the alien vistation
crowd.

He claimed that a crop circle did not show the Earth,
appealing to the late night radio corp circle crowd.

He claimed this impact would occur on 666, appealing
to the late night radio numerology crowd

He claimed the US would be hit, because of its
intentions on Iran, appealing to late night radio
listerners scared by the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli
war, which is all of them.

Well, SW3 did not hit the US on May 25, but Julien
trashed the late night airwaves for me as a way of
promoting my book "Man and Impact in the Americas",
and has killed the topic for a while.

I ended up speaking to only 3,200,000 listeners,
instead of the 12,000,000 or so I had hoped for.
But the listeners couldn't order my book anyhow, since
Adventure Unlimited Press's online ordering system did
not work.  

Its always nice to have something to take your mind
off your troubles. Sympathy meteorites may be sent to,
E.P. Grondine
P.O. Box 158 
Kempton, IL 60946

good hunting,
Ed





--- drtanuki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Dear List,
>   Here is a somewhat interesting site with some
> information about meteorites, etc.
> Best, Dirk Ross...Tokyo
> 
>
http://neverknwo.gnn.tv/blogs/14534/Former_Military_Air_Traffic_Controller_Claims_Comet_Collision_with_Earth_on_May_25_2006
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> 




 

Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com
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Re: [meteorite-list] AD: One of my rare sales

[Dave Carothers]

Congratulations to Mike on successfully geting rid of his Brahin specimens
(or as he refers to them... crap).  Also, thanks to Mike for proving that
through an honest sales strategy, he proved yet again the old saying that
one person's crap is another person's treasure.

Dave

- Original Message - 
From: "tett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 9:35 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] AD: One of my rare sales


List,

You may enjoy reading this EBay offering.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=017&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=270048360946&rd=1&rd=1

Bid seldom and bid low.

Cheers ;>)

tett

Mike Tettenborn
Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada






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[meteorite-list] Brenham Instability Myth

[McCartney Taylor]

As long as Ghubara stability is being knocked around, I'd like to
address Brenham.  I'm currently writing a paper on the stability of
Brenham, and thought I reveal a quick peek here on how this pallasite is
actually stable. 

Brenham has acquired a bad reputation on stability. This reputation is
more myth than fact.  The myth really began with the 'meteorerodes'
Nininger excavated from the alleged 'Haviland crater'. These meteorites
were soaked in a nickle-leaching, electrolysis accelerating soup for
10,000+ years. Corrosion had already advanced to a point of leaving
shale balls. Nininger then shared these rotten pallasites with other
institutions. So the myth began...

 Yet, a few hundred yards away, rock stable Brenhams were found (the 750
pounder). Hint-don't buy water logged pallasites.

Several collectors have stable Brenhams, some with and some without
sealing. So empirical evidence supports this conclusion.

My paper will address the fundamental corrosion of all iron meteorites,
including Brenham. In a nutshell, its all about water and oxygen.
Brenham is not a chloride attacked meteorite. It is complicated by
sulfides that induce an electrolytic effect.  Brenham has a higher
porosity between the olivine and metal. If the natural soil moisture
water is not removed effectively, they will rust.  If it is removed,
then properly sealed from Oxy and water, it's rock stable.  Even the
unaltered core of a badly eroded 'meteorerode' will be stable after
being desiccated by vacuum then impregnate sealed with Opticon. 

Anyone who doesn't seal their irons from Oxy and water is playing dice
against time. You will lose eventually. Be it Esquel or Canyon Diablo.
Just don't blame the iron for rusting because you didn't seal it.  We
have enough myths in this business as it is.

McCartney Taylor, IMCA 2670

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Re: [meteorite-list] Ghubara

[jbaxter112]

Hello Berndt and list,

I too would like to come to the defense of Ghubara. I have two beautiful
and fascinating Ghubara slices which show two lithologies and which are
quite stable over several years( though I do store and display my
specimens at a low relative humidity).

It seems that there is considerable heterogenity in most meteorite finds
in terms of stability. I would speculate that a large part of this
variability is due to local variation in exposure to moisture and salts
and to some extent to fracturing of the indiviual specimen which seems to
creat an avenue for the penetration of moisture.Does that make sense?

It seems to me that the gold standard for buying a stable specimen,
especially from a locality that has a reputation for instability, is a
report from a reliable dealer that they have owned the specimen and
observed it to be stable over time.

Cheers,
Jim Baxter

> harlan trammell wrote:
>
> "they sweat and ooze liquid"
>
> Hello All,
>
> My thick slice that I got from Mike Martinez in 2000 is still stable, no
> ooze, no sweat!
>
> My large, thin 36-gram slice from Ivan Koutyrev that I purchased about
> two or three years ago (EBay) is still perfect - no ooze, no sweat! This
> super-thin slice is one of my most beautiful and most interesting
> meteorites and one of its main features is an oval, "multi-banded"
> chondrule - something I've never seen again in any other chondrite! It
> has troilite, abundant chondrules, different chondrule types and sizes,
> even melt veinlets meandering along the outer edges of my slice, and, of
> course, the well-known dark matrix that is studded with several
> lighter-colored patches, well, a beautiful regolith breccia :-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bernd
>
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[meteorite-list] Ghubara

[bernd . pauli]

harlan trammell wrote:

"they sweat and ooze liquid"

Hello All,

My thick slice that I got from Mike Martinez in 2000 is still stable, no ooze, 
no sweat!

My large, thin 36-gram slice from Ivan Koutyrev that I purchased about two or 
three
years ago (EBay) is still perfect - no ooze, no sweat! This super-thin slice is 
one of my
most beautiful and most interesting meteorites and one of its main features is 
an oval,
"multi-banded" chondrule - something I've never seen again in any other 
chondrite!
It has troilite, abundant chondrules, different chondrule types and sizes, even 
melt
veinlets meandering along the outer edges of my slice, and, of course, the 
well-known
dark matrix that is studded with several lighter-colored patches, well, a 
beautiful
regolith breccia :-)

Cheers,

Bernd

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Re: [meteorite-list] Ghubara

[Matt Morgan]

Some do ooze. However, I have a piece I acquired about 10 years ago from 
the Museum of Natural History-London...still clean as the day I received it.
It is probably the humidity of certain areas is what is causing it to 
bleed. Ghubara is not the only one; I've owned/sold several meteorites 
from Oman that "weep" red liquid when exposed to humdity (typically 
above 45%). SAU 001 is one.

Matt Morgan

harlan trammell wrote:


they sweat and ooz liquid




i will be gradually switching over to yahoo mail (it has 100 FREE megs 
of storage). please cc to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 




From: /"Floyd \"Griff\" Griffith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>/
Reply-To: /"Floyd \"Griff\" Griffith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>/
To: /"meteorite-list" /
Subject: /[meteorite-list] Ghubara/
Date: /Mon, 6 Nov 2006 09:56:24 -0700/

Hello and good day list.
 
I have recently acquired a Ghubara.

I have noticed some talk about the Ghubara.
Is there something that I should know about the Ghubara?
Please let me know.
Thanks all,
 
Griff
 
Parker, Colorado


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Add a Yahoo! contact to Windows Live Messenger for a chance to win a 
free trip!  



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--
===
Matt Morgan
Mile High Meteorites
P.O. Box 151293
Lakewood, CO 80215 USA
http://www.mhmeteorites.com
ebay id: mhmeteorites

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[meteorite-list] COMET SWAN (C/2006 M4)

[Sterling K. Webb]

Hi,

   This beautiful little green comet has just made its
fourth appearance in the Astronomy Picture of the Day:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

   If you miss catching the photo today, it will still 
be in the APOD archives under today's date. The 
three previous APOD images were all in the past 
thirty days, on October 4th, 19th, and 28th.


   The comet was discovered independently by List 
member Rob Matson and Michael Mattiazzo (of 
Austrailia) on Solar Wind ANisotropy images, which 
is why it isn't called Comet Matson-Mattiazzo, which 
would have been a euphonious name.


   You can catch the now-fading comet with biggish 
binoculars or a small telescope. It's in the middle of the 
constellation Hercules right now. A chart of its positions

by date can be found at:
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2006M4/2006M4.html

   The other thing you need is a good view of the sky.
(I've had nine straight days of overcast and cloud cover.)


Sterling K. Webb
-


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RE: [meteorite-list] Ghubara

[harlan trammell]

they sweat and ooz liquid
i will be gradually switching over to yahoo mail (it has 100 FREE megs of storage). please cc to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 


From: "Floyd \"Griff\" Griffith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Reply-To: "Floyd \"Griff\" Griffith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To: "meteorite-list" Subject: [meteorite-list] GhubaraDate: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 09:56:24 -0700



Hello and good day list.
 
I have recently acquired a Ghubara.
I have noticed some talk about the Ghubara.
Is there something that I should know about the Ghubara?
Please let me know.
Thanks all,
 
Griff
 
Parker, Colorado
>__>Meteorite-list mailing list>Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
 Add a Yahoo! contact to Windows Live Messenger for a chance to win a free trip!   

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[meteorite-list] Ghubara

[Floyd \"Griff\" Griffith]

Hello and good day list.
 
I have recently acquired a Ghubara.
I have noticed some talk about the Ghubara.
Is there something that I should know about the 
Ghubara?
Please let me know.
Thanks all,
 
Griff
 
Parker, Colorado
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[meteorite-list] AD NWA 1836 "Twisted Sister" Eucrite

[batkol]

Hi.  I have a very nice 10.74g part slice of NWA 1836 for sale.  This piece 
originally came from the Rocks From Heaven Collection.  If interested please 
contact me off list for pictures, price, etc.  Thanks very much.  Take care

susan
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[meteorite-list] Video Game 'The Secret Files: Tunguska' Released for PC

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.gamersmark.com/news/2006/11/1/8609
Gamers Mark
November 1, 2006

The Secret Files: Tunguska Released for PC

New PC adventure game.

The Adventure Company has announced that The Secert Files; Tunguska 
has been released for PC.

Reveal fascinating conspiracy theories behind the true historical 
Tunguska phenomenon that occurred in 1908. As Nina, an adventurer 
in search of her missing father, uncover many independent theories 
and try to explain this event that remains a mystery to this day...

Before his disappearance, Nina's father was involved in a 
research expedition to Siberia in an attempt to reveal the cause 
of the mysterious Tunguska catastrophe of 1908. Nina soon 
discovers that powerful adversaries are interested in her 
father's findings which are veiled in a shroud of secrecy.

Help determine the cause of the event - was it an asteroid or a 
comet or a meteorite as many theories suggest? Why were there 
no signs of a crater left behind? Is the idea of a real 
"doomsday" that remote for the human race?

The Secret Files: Tunguska is available at retailers across 
North America with an ESRB rating of 'T' for Teen.
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[meteorite-list] Science Loses When PR Becomes Top Priority (Brenham Meteorites)

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061106/OPINIONS02/611060326/1006/OPINIO

Science loses when PR becomes top priority
Kevin Evans
Voice of the Day
November 6, 2006

In the last couple of weeks, there has been tremendous media attention
given to the Houston Museum of Natural History and NASA scientists'
"discovery" and recovery of a 154-pound Brenham meteorite fragment in a
Kansas wheat field. Their use of ground-penetrating radar was touted for
its potential in exploration of the planet Mars.

What the world doesn't know is that Katie Click, an 18-year-old high
school senior from Springfield, working on a project in conjunction with
her earth science teacher and Missouri State University scientists, made
a similar discovery just two miles away from the Kansas site, using the
same GPR technology, two weeks earlier.

The difference - aside from the reported $50,000 the museum paid for
their discovery - is that Katie was conducting her research for the
Ozark Science and Engineering Fair. Science teachers train young
scientists to formulate multiple working hypotheses, to test hypotheses
by making observations and collecting data, to integrate and interpret
the data, and to present the results in scientific meetings or
literature, where it is subject to critical review and discussion among
the scientific community. Unfortunately, in the course of conducting her
science fair project, she has just learned an important new step in the
scientific method - contact the media first.

There are also some factual issues related to the discovery that need to
be addressed. In the first place, this is not the first or biggest
Brenham meteorite found. Second, it is not the first use of GPR to image
buried impact craters or meteorites. In fact, it is not even the first
Brenham meteorite to be imaged using GPR. Katie did that two weeks
earlier when she pushed a GPR over Haviland crater, the only known
impact crater associated with the Brenham meteorite, and a short
distance away from the "discovery" locality.

It is ironic that two teams converged with the same ideas to determine
the age and image the impact horizon with GPR, since the last major
scientific effort to examine the Haviland crater and its
meteorite-strewn field was in 1933. Initial reports from the last
expedition mentioned the possibility of the largest meteorite fragment.
It turned out to be cable from an oil rig. Some later reports are also
in error. The precise age of the impact is unknown. The Earth Impact
Database estimate an age of 1,000-2,000 years, but these are only
estimates. Scientists in the 1960s confirmed that American Indian beads
made from the Brenham meteorite were found in burial mounds of the
Hopewell Culture, which lasted from 200 B.C. to 400 A.D., so the age of
the impact has to be at least 1,600 years old.

The bottom line is: you can't look at sediments and determine their ages
in the field. It requires careful laboratory analyses and collection of
samples from locations that are conducive to preserving carbon, such as
along a horizon rich in meteoritic material. The meteorite hunter who
guided the Houston science team clearly wasn't interested in gaining
contextual information on the fragmentation and impact of the Brenham
meteorite when he dug up meteorites over the last two years, including
the 650 kg specimen that was the second largest recovered.

The commercial meteorite market has a seamy underside. "Meteorite
hunter" may sound like an auspicious-sounding title, but it can be akin
to tomb raiding. Archeologists and paleontologists are all too familiar
with commercial collectors in their fields. Meteorites provide the same
opportunity. At best, meteorite hunters can provide rare or exotic
specimens for scientific study, but more often than not, vital
information is destroyed or specimens wind up in the hands of private
collectors.

When public institutions and government agencies partner with commercial
enterprises to hunt for meteorites and then publicize undocumented
claims, it short-circuits science methods and it sends the wrong message
to students. This concerns me both as a geologist and as a teacher of
future scientists.

In the last couple of weeks, there has been tremendous media attention
given to the Houston Museum of Natural History and NASA scientists'
"discovery" and recovery of a 154-pound Brenham meteorite fragment in a
Kansas wheat field. Their use of ground-penetrating radar was touted for
its potential in exploration of the planet Mars.


Kevin Evans is an assistant professor of geography, geology and planning.

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[meteorite-list] World-Class Radio Telescopes Face Closure

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn10449-worldclass-radio-telescopes-face-closure.html

World-class radio telescopes face closure
Jeff Hecht
New Scientist
04 November 2006

Two of the world's best-known radio observatories - the 305-metre
Arecibo dish in Puerto Rico and a widespread collection of telescopes
called the Very Long Baseline Array - face the budgetary axe.

Despite rising budgets, the astronomy division of the US National
Science Foundation realised it could not afford to continue operating
all its existing instruments while also building the new cutting-edge
telescopes requested by astronomers, division director Wayne Van Citters
said at a press conference on Friday.

So the agency commissioned a committee of leading astronomers headed by
Roger Blandford of California's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center to
slash $30 million from its annual operations budget, amounting to about
a quarter of the budget now spent on facilities. Their proposals cut
across all of astronomy, and Blandford told the press conference "they
were all extremely painful". But those in radio astronomy are likely to
be the most controversial.

The panel told the NSF it should shut down Arecibo and the VLBA by 2011
if it cannot get other organisations to share their operating budgets of
about $8 million and $10 million, respectively.

"We're quite disappointed in that recommendation," says Joe Burns, a
professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, US, who helps
manage Arecibo. He says astronomers ask for four times more observing
time than Arecibo can offer, making it the most oversubscribed telescope
supported by the NSF.

Unique capabilities

Built in the 1960s and upgraded in the 1970s and in 1997, Arecibo is the
world's most sensitive radio telescope. The giant antenna is fixed in
place, but the Earth's rotation on its axis and movement of a receiver
suspended above the reflective dish allow it to scan about 40% of the
sky over the course of a year.

It is famed for discoveries including the first binary pulsar. It also
offers unique capabilities for radar observations of near-Earth
asteroids, which Van Citters said could not be done elsewhere because of
Arecibo's sensitivity.

But funding for its operation has been a political football - a few
years ago NASA pushed the NSF into paying about $500,000 a year for the
asteroid radar observations requested by Congress (see NASA budget
fiasco reaches new depths
).

Finding outside support for the telescope is expected to be difficult.
But because Arecibo does research on the Earth's ionosphere, Burns hopes
to garner support from the NSF's atmospheric sciences division.

The VLBA is a network of 10 radio dishes, each 25 metres wide.
Stretching more than 8000 kilometres from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands
in the Caribbean, it offers unmatched resolution at radio wavelengths.

First operated in 1993, it is famed for discoveries of cosmic jets and
studies of bright galaxies powered by colossal black holes. Fred Lo,
director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which
manages the VLBA, said in a written statement that the NRAO would
"aggressively pursue international assistance" to save the telescopes.
The statement also quoted the new report's observation that "if the VLBA
is closed, a unique capability would likely be lost for decades."

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[meteorite-list] Seeking Out Meteorites (Monica Grady Interview)

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2136&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Seeking Out Meteorites
Astrobiology Magazine
November 6, 2006

Summary (Nov 06, 2006): In this interview, Monica Grady talks about hunting 
for meteorites on the moon in order to learn more about the ancient Earth.
She also explains why it took so long for us to find a meteorite
originating from Mars.

Seeking Out Meteorites

Monica Grady, a professor of planetary and space science at the Open
University in the UK, is one of the world's meteorite experts. In
addition to studying the finer details of these rocks from space that
fall to Earth -- such as learning the geochemistry of meteorites
originating from Mars -- she is also interested in the broader
implications of her findings, and uses her research to learn more about
the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

In part one of this interview with Astrobiology Magazine, Grady talks
about why we need to search for meteorites on the moon. She also
explains why it took so many years to find a martian meteorite on Earth.


Astrobiology Magazine (AM): Rumor has it that the astrobiology community
has given you the title, "Reigning Queen of Meteorites."

Monica Grady (MG): Oh, that is completely unfair! (laughs) I don't know
where this title came from. It's not so much unfair as it's undeserved,
because I don't do anything that other people don't do. I research a
subject that has an astrobiological import and I enjoy talking to other
people about it. But there are loads of people in the astrobiology
community who do work that is higher profile than mine.

AM: Apparently you're doing something that's getting the attention of a
wide audience. For instance, making the case to go back to the moon to
search for meteorites.

MG: We know that meteorites have been falling on the Earth for 4.5
billion years, but the oldest age of terrestrial meteorites is about 2
million years. Those meteorites were found in Antarctica. For meteorites
that fall in hot deserts, their oldest age is about 100 to 200 thousand
years. For meteorites that have fallen in temperate zones, their oldest
age is about a thousand years - a very short period of geological time.

Now if you go to the moon, you're going to be looking at rocks that fell
anywhere from 100 million years ago to 10 million years ago. The moon is
an airless body, so there's very little environmental change to objects
there. So we have a chance of looking at meteorites that fell a long
time ago. Theoretically, they shouldn't be much different from
meteorites that fell yesterday, because they all come from the same
place in the solar system, but we don't know. The orbits of asteroids
evolve with time and populations of asteroids evolve with time. So
meteorites that fell 100 million years ago could be slightly different
in composition than those today, or there may be a greater preponderance
of one type over another that we don't have now.

Meteorites on the moon also could tell us about the flux of meteorites
in antiquity, so we might be able to fill in the gap between what we
call the Heavy Bombardment period and the average
rate of bombardment. But that depends on whether we are able to get an
age for the lunar meteorites. We get a cosmic ray exposure age when
things are in space, and we get an exposure rate for meteorites on Earth
by looking at isotopes like chlorine-36. I've no idea if we'll be able
to get a lunar exposure age. I don't know how that would work.

AM: Can you explain why there are older meteorites on the moon? Does it
have to do with the moon being tectonically inactive, and so the surface
is always the same?

MG:Yes, the reason we don't have ancient meteorites on Earth is because
the surface of our planet is always changing. Meteorites that fell a
long time ago are now gone. But on the moon you've got a very stable,
ancient surface. So the idea of collecting ancient meteorites there is
valid.

Just to illustrate, I was fortunate to be part of a team that looked for
meteorites in the Nullarbor region of Australia. One day we found four
meteorites in an area less than a square kilometer in size. I think the
Nullarbor Plain is 60 million years old. Those four meteorites were all 
different -- they were from different parent bodies, different asteroids.

In Antarctica, the movement of ice brings meteorites together. But the
Nullarbor has no concentration mechanism for meteorites - it's just a
flat plain. The meteorites might get blown a bit by the wind, but they
essentially remain where they land. So four meteorites from four
separate parent bodies hit that square kilometer over 60 million years.
That's staggering. That square kilometer wasn't calling out to be hit;
it's completely representative of the Earth's surface.

That indicates the potential number of meteorites on the moon. It has a
nice flat surface like the Nu

[meteorite-list] Meteoroids 2007 Conference

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.spmn.uji.es/meteoroids-2007

Meteoroids 2007
Barcelona, Spain
June 11-15, 2007 

REGISTER ONLINE 

Abstract deadline

Jan. 12, 2007 - 
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Re: [meteorite-list] new chat room on website, already a very nice forum. lots of meteorite photos

[Dave Freeman mjwy]

I thought Ssteeveee owned illinoismeterites//'
DF

Joe wrote:

  Hello everyone,
  I have once again updated my website, this time I added a chetroom so if some people ever need to talk about something meteorite related. It is at the bottom of the homepage at http://illinoismeteorites.com just enter a nickname then enter the chatroom.
   There is already a forum that has members from over 12 countries. I have lots of photos of my collection on the site as well. I have purchased at least thirty new pieces in the last month. Many interesting pieces. Take a look, and if you want  become a member to our evergrowing community at the "skyrock cafe" meteorite forum, andeven chat with other collectors and hunters anytime. We could set up live chat dates where we will be able to discuss meteorites and meteorite hunting. Everyone is welcome.

Forum:
http://illinoismeteorites.com/yabb/YaBB.pl


Homepage/chatroom:
http://illinoismeteorites.com


Thanks,
Joe Kerchner
illinois meteorites


  
  

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[meteorite-list] Philippinites - shape formation ideas.

[Aubrey Whymark]

Hi Guys
 
TEKTITE PHILIPPINITE SHAPE FORMATION 
 
I have been purchasing a large number of philippinites here in Manila. These philippinites, I have been told by my supplier, come from Baguio. Baguio is in Central Luzon (the large northern island of the Philippines) and forms highland – with conifers growing in the cool climate. I visited this place and found no tektites (or anybody who knew what a tektite was). Here in Manila I am buying as much as I can. My supplier, who has collected for 20 years, has not got any new ones for 3 years now, and
 I think I have already got the best out of him. They are not that cheap and have pretty much used all my money up – so I’ll be selling a few at some point (probably in December).
 
My observations have led me to some conclusions that differ slightly from previous articles I found on the internet (although I have not checked my references in UK). Philippinites are characterised by their ‘u’ grooves. These ‘u’ grooves only tend to develop on one side and this is what I intend to discuss. Philippinites come in a variety of shapes including ‘breadcrust’ forms (which look like half-soccer balls), dumbbells and tear drops, the classic ‘5’ grooved ‘cores’ and spheres. Interestingly, on average, philippinites appear larger than I had imagined. My biggest is around 360g, with many around 50g.
 
Interesting articles on the internet are:
http://www.tektitesource.com/Bikolites.html
http://www.meteorite-times.com/Back_Links/2002/November/Tektite_of_Month.htm
 
My pictures (refer to with the following text) are in the BIMS homepage:
http://tech.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/britishandirishmeteoritesociety/photos/browse/8c74?c= 
 
The observations made in ‘The Tektite Source’ were excellent and from what I’ve seen I fully agree with them. The observations made by Paul Harris in the meteorite times were also excellent, but I wish to argue about the anterior/posterior side. Polygonal cracks are commonly found in geology. The best example is in basaltic lavas such as the classic ‘Giants Causeway’ in Ireland. Polygonal cracks are caused by contraction due to cooling. The cool side of a tektite on re-entry is the posterior (in australites material solidifies on the posterior as it is cooler). My second piece of evidence is the Apollo re-entry craft (meteorites were studied for its design I believe). I note that on philippinites the smooth side is always shield-like. It is pretty similar in most specimens, but the
 grooved side is variably convex (and usually more convex than the smooth side). My third piece of evidence comes from the large specimen pictured. Unfortunately this did not come out well in the photo, so is not shown. On the ‘smooth’ side is an originally textured surface. But in one area it is smoothed off – a feature I have also observed on some indochinites from Thailand. It looks as if it landed on this surface whist still hot and slightly plastic. The ‘thud’ flattened an area and removed any pock-marking, which exists on the rest of the rounded surface.
 
So, large philippinites form ‘breadcrusts’ which kind of look like half-soccer balls. On these ‘breadcrusts’ a smooth shield-like anterior (facing direction of travel) surface forms. On the posterior (behind) the tektite cools faster, thus forming polygonal cooling contraction cracks. These polygonal areas can crack off in flight and can leave a smaller core of about 1-4cm in size, not to mention numerous ‘side’ pieces. These ‘cores’ often have a rounded polygonal outline. These smaller tektites may of course, already have just been small. They show the classic shield-like anterior and grooved posterior. The cracks on the posterior are the same as on larger specimens but only develop as typically 5 cracks on the edge with no interior polygon developed.
 
The ‘u’ grooves formed due to chemical weathering along lines of weakness – which are the cooling contraction cracks. The end result is spectacularly beautiful tektites, surpassed only by the australites.
 
I’m interested in any comment regarding this subject. Tektites have fascinated me for 15 years now.
 
Kind Regards,
 
AubreySend instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com __
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[meteorite-list] Rocks From Space Picture of the Day - November 6, 2006

[SPACEROCKSINC]

http://www.spacerocksinc.com/November_6.html  

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[meteorite-list] PLEASE NOTE: new email address for membranebox

[R. N. Hartman]

The old email address [EMAIL PROTECTED] is not working due to problems
the domain provider seems unable to solve.
Therefore a new email address has been set up:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
This will also work at Paypal to send funds for an order.
Please note for your files.

Thank You,

Ron Hartman
membranebox.com
meteorite1.com

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