[meteorite-list] Meteorite Picture of the Day
Today's Meteorite Picture of the Day: Peña Blanca Spring Contributed by: Paul Swartz 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] The Almahata Sitta polymict breccia and the late accretion of asteroid 2008 TC3
This review paper was published by Marian Horstmann Addi Bischoff in the latest issue of Chemie der Erde - Geochemistry. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000928191463 Quite interesting and must-read paper for Almahata Sitta enthusiasts! Katsu OHTSUKA __ 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] Giant Telescopes Pair Up to Image Near-Earth Asteroid 2014 HQ124
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-186 Giant Telescopes Pair Up to Image Near-Earth Asteroid Jet Propulsion Laboratory June 12, 2014 [Image] Radar images of Asteroid 2014 HQ124 NASA scientists used Earth-based radar to produce these sharp views - an image montage and a movie sequence -- of the asteroid designated '2014 HQ124' on June 8, 2014. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arecibo Observatory/USRA/NSF NASA scientists using Earth-based radar have produced sharp views of a recently discovered asteroid as it slid silently past our planet. Captured on June 8, 2014, the new views of the object designated 2014 HQ124 are some of the most detailed radar images of a near-Earth asteroid ever obtained. An animation of the rotating asteroid and a collage of the images are available at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.php?id=1310 The radar observations were led by scientists Marina Brozovic and Lance Benner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. The JPL researchers worked closely with Michael Nolan, Patrick Taylor, Ellen Howell and Alessondra Springmann at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to plan and execute the observations. According to Benner, 2014 HQ124 appears to be an elongated, irregular object that is at least 1,200 feet (370 meters) wide on its long axis. This may be a double object, or 'contact binary,' consisting of two objects that form a single asteroid with a lobed shape, he said. The images reveal a wealth of other features, including a puzzling pointy hill near the object's middle, on top as seen in the images. The 21 radar images were taken over a span of four-and-a-half hours. During that interval, the asteroid rotated a few degrees per frame, suggesting its rotation period is slightly less than 24 hours. At its closest approach to Earth on June 8, the asteroid came within 776,000 miles (1.25 million kilometers), or slightly more than three times the distance to the moon. Scientists began observations of 2014 HQ124 shortly after the closest approach, when the asteroid was between about 864,000 miles and 902,000 miles (1.39 million kilometers and 1.45 million kilometers) from Earth. Each image in the collage and movie represents 10 minutes of data. The new views show features as small as about 12 feet (3.75 meters) wide. This is the highest resolution currently possible using scientific radar antennas to produce images. Such sharp views for this asteroid were made possible by linking together two giant radio telescopes to enhance their capabilities. To obtain the new views, researchers paired the 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, with two other radio telescopes, one at a time. Using this technique, the Goldstone antenna beams a radar signal at an asteroid and the other antenna receives the reflections. The technique dramatically improves the amount of detail that can be seen in radar images. To image 2014 HQ124, the researchers first paired the large Goldstone antenna with the 1,000-foot (305-meter) Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. They later paired the large Goldstone dish with a smaller companion, a 112-foot (34-meter) antenna, located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away. A recent equipment upgrade at Arecibo enabled the two facilities to work in tandem to obtain images with this fine level of detail for the first time. By itself, the Goldstone antenna can obtain images that show features as small as the width of a traffic lane on the highway, said Benner. With Arecibo now able to receive our highest-resolution Goldstone signals, we can create a single system that improves the overall quality of the images. The first five images in the new sequence -- the top row in the collage -- represent the data collected by Arecibo, and are 30 times brighter than what Goldstone can produce observing on its own. Scientists were fortunate to be able to make these radar observations at all, as this particular asteroid was only recently discovered. NASA's NEOWISE mission, a space telescope adapted for scouting the skies for the infrared light emitted by asteroids and comets, first spotted the space rock on April 23, 2014. Additional information about the asteroid's discovery and its orbit was shared in a previous Web story online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-178 For asteroids, as well as comets, radar is a powerful tool for studying the objects' size, shape, rotation, surface features and orbits. Radar measurements of asteroid distances and velocities enable researchers to compute orbits much further into the future than if radar observations were not available. NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Program, commonly called Spaceguard, discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them and identifies their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous
[meteorite-list] Available: A Signed copy of The Art of Collecting Meteorites - ad
Team Meteorite: It's been a couple of years since I last offered one of the hard copies of my book on eBay. I do have a couple of copies left to sell, but I live in Costa Rica and wouldn't take the chance of mailing one from here where it couldn't be tracked. However, I will be back in Florida next week helping my mother with a legal matter and I can do the USPS post office run. Consequently, if there is any one that doesn't have a copy of one of the meteorite hobby's 'Best Sellers', a crisp, First Edition copy signed by me is on eBay this moment. I won't be selling another for 'awhile'. The auction will end Sunday morning. BTW - If you don't mind 'eBooks', the entire First Edition including other features not found in the hard copy is available for less than $10 on both Amazon (Kindle) and Barnes and Noble (Nook). Just search The Art of Collecting Meteorites. I'm proud to have played this small part in the hobby, but couldn't have done it without the help, inspiration, contributions and editing of Darryl Pitt, Joel Schiff, Bernd Pauly, Dr. Jeff Grossman, Robert Haag, Steve Schoner, Dean Bessey, David New, Jim Hartman, Norbert Classen, Dr. Monica Grady, Meteorite Men Steve Arnold and Geoff Notkin, Dorothy Norton and the late, great Richard Norton. Here's the link to the eBay auction. http://www.ebay.com/itm/221462505345?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 From Nine Degrees North Kevin Kichinka Rio del Oro, Santa Ana, Costa Rica The Art of Collecting Meteorites.com The Global Meteorite Price Report - 2015' available this December. mars...@gmail.com __ 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] Two Giant Planets May Cruise Unseen Beyond Pluto
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25711-two-giant-planets-may-cruise-unseen-beyond-pluto.html Two giant planets may cruise unseen beyond Pluto by Nicola Jenner New Scientist 11 June 2014 The monsters are multiplying. Just months after astronomers announced hints of a giant Planet X lurking beyond Pluto, a team in Spain says there may actually be two supersized planets hiding in the outer reaches of our solar system. When potential dwarf planet 2012 VP113 was discovered in March, it joined a handful of unusual rocky objects known to reside beyond the orbit of Pluto. These small objects have curiously aligned orbits, which hints that an unseen planet even further out is influencing their behaviour. Scientists calculated that this world would be about 10 times the mass of Earth and would orbit at roughly 250 times Earth's distance from the sun. Now Carlos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos at the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain have taken another look at these distant bodies. As well as confirming their bizarre orbital alignment, the pair found additional puzzling patterns. Small groups of the objects have very similar orbital paths. Because they are not massive enough to be tugging on each other, the researchers think the objects are being shepherded by a larger object in a pattern known as orbital resonance. Planet shepherd For instance, we know that Neptune and Pluto are in orbital resonance - for every two orbits Pluto makes around the sun, Neptune makes three. Similarly, one group of small objects seems to be in lockstep with a much more distant, unseen planet. That world would have a mass between that of Mars and Saturn and would sit about 200 times Earth's distance from the sun. Some of the smaller objects have very elongated orbits that would take them out to this distance. It is unusual for a large planet to orbit so close to other bodies unless it is dynamically tied to something else, so the researchers suggest that the large planet is itself in resonance with a more massive world at about 250 times the Earth-sun distance - just like the one predicted in the previous work. Observing these putative planets will be tricky. The smaller bodies are on very elliptical orbits and were only spotted when they ventured closest to the sun. But the big planets would have roughly circular orbits and would be slow moving and dim, making them tough for current telescopes to see. It's not at all surprising that they haven't been found yet, says Carlos. As there are only a few of these extremely distant objects known, it's hard to say anything definitive about the number or location of any distant planets, says Scott Sheppard at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, one of the discoverers of 2012 VP113. However, in the near future we should have more objects to work with to help us determine the structure of the outer solar system. Reference: arxiv.org/abs/1406.0715 __ 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
