from:"JoshuaTreeMuseum"

Re: [meteorite-list] Fake Norway Rock

2014-04-11 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Mark,

LOL! I still love dowsing even if it is caused by unconscious ideomotor 
responses. The pseudosciences are a lot of fun.  And yes, you're right, name 
calling is not right.  I apologize for that. 

As we all very well know, the burden of proof is the responsibility of those 
making the outrageous claim. In this case, ridiculously outrageous. They have 
absolutely no proof whatsoever of any kind that this is a meteoroid. Just a 
video of a rock popping out of a deploying parachute. As experienced skydivers, 
they have to know this is a fairly common occurrence. I've heard on skydiving 
forums this is more common than you'd think, especially when you do the 
preliminary packing on the ground outside. The most commonly picked up foreign 
objects seems to be rocks.  A few skydivers claim to have seen videos just like 
this one. 

This is starting to look more and more like an elaborate advertising campaign. 
One of the first experts consulted was Morten Bilet, a meteorite dealer with 
obvious vested interests. (http://www.geotop.no/storefront.php?c1=601) Pal 
Brekke, an expert on the sun was also consulted. I can find nothing about his 
expertise in meteoritics. Not even a reference on Google. Hans Amundsen is the 
most qualified, but is not an expert on the physics of meteoroid impacts. Where 
are the University professors and scientists who specialize in this sort of 
thing? Why weren't they consulted two years ago? 

Here's what Steinar Midtskogen, a part of the skydiving team has to say:


http://news.discovery.com/adventure/extreme-sports/mysterious-object-in-skydiving-video-identified-140410.htm

So, everybody gets a ton of free publicity, 15 minutes of fame. (Their time is 
almost up) The Norwegian gov't gets a free commercial to get their brand out 
there. They heavily promoted the media event on gov't owned television. I'm 
sure Morten's meteorite sales are sky high, so it's a win, win for the whole 
crew. 


Phil Whitmer

Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum

- Original Message -
From: Mark Ford mark.f...@southernscientific.co.uk
To: Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 4:50:36 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Fake Norway Rock

Chris and list,

No need for personal attacks. - After all wasn't it your good self that said 
about 'dowsing' many years ago:

First off, let me say that all you naysaying dowser denialists need to get 
off your high horses, come down from your ivory towers and enter the realm 
of simple, reproducible, empirical evidence-based experimental scientific 
methodology ... 

So where's the [scientific] evidence that the video is fake or not fake?  - 
Let's face it, it looks too good to be true BUT we just can't tell!



m.




-Original Message-
From: meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com 
[mailto:meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Joshua Tree 
Earth  Space Museum
Sent: 10 April 2014 19:42
To: Meteorite list
Subject: [meteorite-list] Fake Norway Rock

Chris,

You need to install and tune up a bullshit detector. You seem awfully gullible. 
Plausibly explained by the meteorite hypothesis? Maybe to a moron.


Phil Whitmer

Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum



Then you need to tune up your analysis skills. And your knowledge of
meteoritics. The video was not falsified, and is hardly phony. What it
shows is plausibly explained by the meteorite hypothesis. Many, perhaps
most meteorite falls are not preceded by a significant fireball, and
even fewer by acoustics of any sort.

I don't hear many people saying there's a reasonable chance this could
be a meteorite. I didn't even hear much of that early on. Only that
nothing obviously excludes this from being a meteorite. That's a
distinction well worth remembering. If this had been trivially rejected
from the beginning, no analysis would have been performed, and that
would be unfortunate.

And that's getting real.

Chris 

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[meteorite-list] OT: Life In Black Holes?

2013-05-06 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum



Seems a little unlikely:


http://www.technologyreview.com/view/423608/planets-could-orbit-singularities-inside-black-holes/#comments

Planets Could Orbit Singularities Inside Black Holes
The discovery of stable orbits inside certain kinds of black hole implies 
that planets and perhaps even life could survive inside these weird objects, 
says one cosmologist.






Phil Whitmer

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[meteorite-list] Astrobiologists Don't Find Any Exobiology Stuff

2013-03-15 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Mark,

I agree. It's becoming painfully obvious Mars has always been lifeless. If 
it didn't happen there, where conditions were similar to Earth, with all the 
right ingredients and parameters, then I wouldn't hold my breath while 
looking for life in the rest of the Solar System. Abiogenisis is an 
extremely rare thing, maybe even a singularity.


Science cannot define life using current materialist, reductionist, 
physicalist methods. They think life, along with consciousness and 
intelligence are just chance random byproducts of chance random arrangements 
of organic molecules.


Trying to understand life by studying the physical properties of the 
building blocks, where they came from, whether or not the early Earth had a 
reducing atmosphere, etc., etc, is like trying to explain a Van Gogh by 
microprobing his paints.


I'm not ruling out life elsewhere in the Universe, because according to the 
laws of probablility, if something happened once, no matter how weird, 
bizarre and unexplainable it was, there's a chance it will happen again.



We'll know more in a million years.

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum


Look deep underground (tough to do from Earth) - That's fine if your 
looking for Earth style microbes, but until we even formally define life 
(and not just some grey area about self reproducing molecules) would we 
know 'it' if we saw it?




Seems to me if you chart the historical progress of the hunt for life on 
Mars it's getting a bit thin and desperate, in 100 years we have gone from 
theories of there being colonies of Martians with canals or forests to a 
small chance there may still be a few microbes hanging on deep underground 
near the equator, Nothing wrong with looking and we should, but at some 
point in the near future we should probably give up and start face to 
reality, and think about sending some resources elsewhere - where frankly 
the chances are a looking little bit higher, e.g Europa.


Mark



-Original Message-
From: meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com 
[mailto:meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Michael 
Mulgrew

Sent: 14 March 2013 19:04
To: Sterling K. Webb; Meteorite List
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Astrobiologists Find Stuff

Sterling,

Look deep underground (tough to do from Earth), any life remaining on Mars 
will likely be found there.


Michael in so. Cal. 


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Re: [meteorite-list] Astrobiologists Don't Find Any Exobiology Stuff

2013-03-15 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


MikeG,

No, it was the Lemurians that did it. They migrated to Mars after losing an 
epic battle with the Atlanteans. They established a civilization there for 
20,000 years. Then, in the Great Civil War, one side released a horde of 
omniverous self-replicating nano bots. The bots picked the planet clean.


Phil Whitmer


- Original Message - 
From: Galactic Stone  Ironworks meteoritem...@gmail.com

To: JoshuaTreeMuseum joshuatreemus...@embarqmail.com
Cc: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 2:57 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Astrobiologists Don't Find Any Exobiology 
Stuff




Hi List,

Ok, let's stop mincing words about Mars.  Everyone knows the Martian
civilization was destroyed by the first padishah emperor over 30,000
years ago during the Butlerian Jihad. The surface was sterilized using
orbital atomics from the imperial fleet.  There are no traces of life
left on the surface and no signs that it ever existed, as per the
emperor's decree.

Rumor has it, there is a sealed chamber located somewhere on the
planet that contains a cenotaph and records from the period.  Finding
it would be like locating the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Best regards,

MikeG

--
-
Web - http://www.galactic-stone.com
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
Twitter - http://twitter.com/GalacticStone
Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/galacticstone
RSS - http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516
-


On 3/15/13, JoshuaTreeMuseum joshuatreemus...@embarqmail.com wrote:

Mark,

I agree. It's becoming painfully obvious Mars has always been lifeless. 
If
it didn't happen there, where conditions were similar to Earth, with all 
the


right ingredients and parameters, then I wouldn't hold my breath while
looking for life in the rest of the Solar System. Abiogenisis is an
extremely rare thing, maybe even a singularity.

Science cannot define life using current materialist, reductionist,
physicalist methods. They think life, along with consciousness and
intelligence are just chance random byproducts of chance random 
arrangements


of organic molecules.

Trying to understand life by studying the physical properties of the
building blocks, where they came from, whether or not the early Earth had 
a


reducing atmosphere, etc., etc, is like trying to explain a Van Gogh by
microprobing his paints.

I'm not ruling out life elsewhere in the Universe, because according to 
the


laws of probablility, if something happened once, no matter how weird,
bizarre and unexplainable it was, there's a chance it will happen again.


We'll know more in a million years.

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum



Look deep underground (tough to do from Earth) - That's fine if your
looking for Earth style microbes, but until we even formally define 
life


(and not just some grey area about self reproducing molecules) would we
know 'it' if we saw it?




Seems to me if you chart the historical progress of the hunt for life on
Mars it's getting a bit thin and desperate, in 100 years we have gone 
from

theories of there being colonies of Martians with canals or forests to a
small chance there may still be a few microbes hanging on deep 
underground

near the equator, Nothing wrong with looking and we should, but at some
point in the near future we should probably give up and start face to
reality, and think about sending some resources elsewhere - where frankly
the chances are a looking little bit higher, e.g Europa.

Mark



-Original Message-
From: meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Michael
Mulgrew
Sent: 14 March 2013 19:04
To: Sterling K. Webb; Meteorite List
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Astrobiologists Find Stuff

Sterling,

Look deep underground (tough to do from Earth), any life remaining on 
Mars

will likely be found there.

Michael in so. Cal.

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[meteorite-list] Meteorite market talk on radio

2013-03-01 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

By the time a meme makes it to the New York Times, it's too late to stop it. 
It's now common knowledge among the non-cognescenti that there is a massive 
worldwide illegal meteorite black market. A perfect example of argumentum ad 
populum: it must be true because so many believe it. Fifty million Elvis 
sightings means the King still lives, right?


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] (AD) Uncleaned, Natural Patina Odessa Iron Meteorite, 1420 Grams

2013-01-08 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Hello List:

I have a good-sized, uncleaned, natural patina Odessa, Texas meteorite 
currently for sale on eBay. It's nicely shaped, with the usual caliche. I 
got it from the original finder.  Thanks for looking!


http://www.ebay.com/itm/330855127473?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649



Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Intergalactic False Alarm: Novato Meteorite is Just a Rock

2012-10-24 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Shawn,

I agree, the second rock doesn't look like a meteorite either. Has it been 
examined by an expert?


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum


Hello Listers

Just found this, might be interesting for others that are hunting for 
meteorites in Novato area.


After a fireball streaked across the Bay Area sky last Wednesday evening, 
scientists and locals alike have been on the hunt for pieces of the meteor 
that is believed to have made landfall in the Bay Area.
On Tuesday the meteor astronomer with the SETI Institute who reported over 
the weekend that the first piece of the meteor was found after it hit the 
roof of a Novato home clarified that the suspected meteorite discovered 
there is actually a natural rock.
Dr. Peter Jenniskens with the SETI Institute said on his NASA Ames Research 
Center webpage the house of administrative nurse at the University of 
California at San Francisco Lisa Webber was hit by something during the 
fireball's descent last Wednesday evening, but the meteorite remains 
elusive.
After an examination using a petrographic microscope Monday, Jenniskens was 
able to conclude the rock was not a meteorite.
He wrote Tuesday, I sincerely thought it was, based on what appeared to me 
was remnant fusion crust. On closer inspection, that crust was a product of 
weathering of a natural rock, not from the heat of entry.
The 2-inch rock is 63 grams, dense and responds to a magnet, according to 
information from the SETI Institute, a nonprofit scientific and education 
organization that has projects sponsored by NASA and other foundations and 
research groups


source: 
http://millvalley.patch.com/articles/intergalactic-false-alarm-novato-meteorite-is-just-a-rock


The sample that was first found looks like the second sample that was found.

Shawn Alan
IMCA 1633

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[meteorite-list] Novato meteorite find

2012-10-23 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


This is turning into a mystery  wrapped inside an enigma.


Phil Whitmer


-


That was my first impression too. Hmmm

Bob L


-Original Message- 
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com

[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of dorifry
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 3:32 PM
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Novato meteorite find

Moni,
Hmmm... my first impression when I saw the picture was, that's not a
meteorite.

Phil Whitmer

Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum


- Original Message - 
From: Moni Waiblinger moni2555 at hotmail.com

To: contact at briencook.com; meteor list
meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com; bob v bolidechaser at 
yahoo.com

Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 5:04 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Novato meteorite find








HI All, news brief!







Brien's seems to be the 1st find!!!







http://cams.seti.org/







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[meteorite-list] It's from the ashtray belt!

2012-10-18 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Any editor with half a brain would have caught and corrected this.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum
-


My guess is autocorrect gone horribly wrong.

Peter


-Original Message- 
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of 
Sterling

K. Webb
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 8:17 PM
To: Ed Deckert; Jimski47 at aol.com; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] It's from the ashtray belt!

List, Ed, Jim,

The phrase ashtray belt can be found in all follow-on news stories like
this one:
http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/salinas/Stunning-meteor-showers-
wow-Central-Coast-sky-watchers/-/5738906/17042872/-/dia4eb/-/index.html

This is because it originally appeared in the first Associated Press story.
It was shortly thereafter corrected, but every source that used that AP item
before the correction has the ashtray belt quote in it.

It was a reporter's mishearing the phrase asteroid belt that gave rise to
it, I presume, but how long will the story stick to Jonathan Braidman, an
astronomer at Oakland's Chabot Space and Science Center?

He'll be living in the Ashtray Belt for a heck of a long time...


Sterling K. Webb
-  


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[meteorite-list] Science of Global Climate Modeling Confirmed byDiscoveries on Mars Cognitive Dissonance

2012-10-18 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Hello Al,

There are also volcanoes. The Toba Volcano (Indonesia) super eruption 74,000 
years ago nearly wiped out humans, there were only a few thousand Homo 
Sapiens left according to genetic analyses and other studies. People 
couldn't survive the volcanic winter.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum
---


Hi Phil and all,

You mentioned other factors in your post but I'll include cycles in the
Sun also can have a big effect on weather as well as the ones you
mentioned.

Pretty hard to study something as old as the Earth system by observers
who are here only a very short span of that time. There have been many
heating up periods followed by colder cycles and probably will be for
eons.

AL Mitterling 


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[meteorite-list] Ad: eBay; Eye of God Meteorite Sphere Pendant

2012-09-29 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


This is an unusual NWA 869 spherical pendant:

Eye Of God pendant:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/310455741061?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Meteorite of Anu

2012-09-23 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


I wonder what this is about? (From the Epic of Gilgamesh.)




Gilgamesh got up and revealed the dream, saying to his mother:
Mother, I had a dream last night.
Stars of the sky appeared,
and some kind of meteorite of Anu fell next to me.
I tried to lift it but it was too mighty for me,
I tried to turn it over but I could not budge it.
The Land of Uruk was standing around it,
the whole land had assembled about it,
the populace was thronging around it,
the Men clustered about it,
and kissed its feet as if it were a little baby.
I loved it and embraced it as a wife.
I laid it down at your feet,
and you made it compete with me.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum
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[meteorite-list] Fire caused by meteorites.. Is it possible?

2012-08-27 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

That's like saying guilty by association or proximity. If you're walking by 
a crime scene as the crime is in progress, this in no way implies you're a 
suspect. It's a coincidence. Same with the suspected super bolide fires. 
Just because fires start during a bolide sighting, it in no way implies 
cause and effect. Especially when the fires are 50 km away from the 
projected impact area.


Phil Whitmer

--




Here's a discussion you might want to read.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2002/pdf/1882.pdf

Randy Korotev 


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[meteorite-list] another crazy ebay sale

2012-08-21 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


They took down the meteorite found on the moon auction.

Go to eBay's 8,753 item meteorite and tektite catagory. Search by highest 
priced item first. Seven of the top 26 most expensive items are obviously 
not meteorites. It's always like that, sometimes 5 or 6 of the top ten are 
meteorwrongs.


'Twas ever thus,

Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Man claims he found meteorite making Dyson's find - if it is a meteorite - worth about $2.3 million.

2012-08-16 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Wait for it, wait for it...


All sales of underwater red jasper meteorites from Mars are hereby suspended 
until further notice!



Ha!


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Kentland Crater

2012-08-01 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Examining impact shattercones at the Kentland meteorite crater:

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/kentland12/KentlandCrater.jpg


A working quarry is mining the central uplift at the center of the crater. 
The limestone layers are raised up about 1800 ft. above the surrounding 
layers from the force of the impact. The 4.5 mile diameter dome makes the 
quarry possible as the bedrock in the area is covered by a thick layer of 
glacial till. As far as I know, it's the only meteorite crater containing 
an active quarry.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] New fall in Saudia Arabia

2012-07-25 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


The picture with the article looks like slag!

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum
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[meteorite-list] International Laws related to meteorites link - good info

2012-07-20 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

According to O. Richard Norton, and the Meteoritical Society, all meteorites
found in India are the property of the Geological Survey of India. In his
Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites, Norton also states Gibeon meteorites
are illegal to export from Namibia.

http://books.google.com/books?id=OMgDhc8d7v4Cpg=PA196lpg=PA196dq=india+meteorite+lawsource=blots=YtKnvn3YvNsig=DH4joiHMJGB77MQMz3ZRMuQh6GEhl=ensa=Xei=iyEJUM22F-qY2wXG9MmvBwved=0CF4Q6AEwBg#v=onepageq=india%20meteorite%20lawf=false

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2001/pdf/5150.pdf

They are referring to:

The Resolution of the Government of India, Revenue Agriculture Department,
No. 45G-22-13, dated 1885 April 28, at Simla, provides that all falls of
aerolites together with the papers relating to them should in the first
instance be forwarded to the Government Geological Museum of Calcutta. By
circular letters (No. 14870-14883-119 dated 1914 December 19, and No. M-1184
dated 1925 June 9) to all local governments the national government has
required compliance with the resolution. The Museum is under the control of
the Director of the Geological Survey of India. No compensation is paid to
finders, and the possession of a new find is usually taken by a
representative of the Geological Survey of India, or the local police.

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=2002M%26PSB..375Sdb_key=ASTpage_ind=2data_type=GIFtype=SCREEN_VIEWclassic=YES

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth Space Museum

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[meteorite-list] Arsenic Bacteria Hoax

2012-07-09 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

This current news story is as unfortunate as the original NASA story spin of 
Wolf-Simon's article release two years ago. Hoax implies a deliberate 
fabrication of evidence. There's no call here to insult the personal 
integrity of the scientists for publishing their earlier experimental 
observations on the Mono Lake arsenic tolerant bacteria. Also never 
concluded in the original experiments would be that arsenate could 
completely replace phophate, just that it might have been substituted for 
less than one percent of phosphorus at a cost. They weren't looking for any 
kind of attention themselves to create this a publicity stunt. Just over 
zealot news media spun into action by an interesting preliminary report. 
Looking forward to reading the actual article when available and new studies 
to follow.



Howard,

You're right, calling it a hoax may have been overstating my opinion. But it 
was definitely a publicity stunt. If you claim to have discovered a 
completely new life form, unknown to science and possibly of alien origin, 
it's just good manners to wait until it's independently confirmed. They 
jumped the gun with their premature announcement. As if they didn't know 
that it would create a lot of hoopla and possibly mislead a lot of people! I 
don't know what their exact motives were, but announcing that you've found a 
living DNA chain with arsenic replacing phosphorus compounds before it's 
been confirmed seems a little hoaxy to me. I'm no scientist, but I'm still 
annoyed by that whole cold fusion thing.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum

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[meteorite-list] Arsenic Bacteria Hoax

2012-07-08 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Turns out it was a bogus publicity stunt:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/journal-retreats-from-controversial-arsenic-paper/2012/07/08/gJQAFQb7WW_story.html?hpid=z3

Journal retreats from controversial arsenic paper

By Marc Kaufman, Updated: Sunday, July 8, 10:05 PMThe Washington Post
Two new studies of controversial research on a bacterium found in California's
arsenic-rich Mono Lake led the journal Science on Sunday to say that the
2010 paper it published on the microbe was incorrect in some of its major
findings.
The original research, which also had been highlighted by NASA, reported
that the bacterium could live in an environment with very high arsenic and
very low phosphorus - one of the six elements known to be present in all
living things. It consequently raised the possibility of life forms now or
previously on Earth that break what had been accepted as a universal rule of
biology.

But two new studies of the bacterium, GFAJ-1, reported that it could not
grow without the presence of phosphorus. The papers also challenged the
original finding that small amounts of arsenic compounds had replaced
phosphorus compounds in some DNA, membranes and other biologically central
parts of the organism.
Contrary to an original report, the new research clearly shows that the
bacterium, GFAJ-1, cannot substitute arsenic for phosphorus to survive, the
journal concluded in a formal statement.
The new research shows that GFAJ-1 does not break the long-held rules of
life, contrary to how [lead author Felisa] Wolfe-Simon had interpreted her
group's data.
Nonetheless, Science wrote that it would look with interest at further
research regarding the bacterium, which it called an extraordinarily
resistant organism that should be of interest for further study,
particularly related to arsenic-tolerance mechanisms.
Wolfe-Simon, now on a NASA fellowship at the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, is collaborating with senior scientist John A. Tainer on
wide-ranging studies of the bacterium. In an interview Saturday, Wolfe-Simon
and Tainer said that they had produced tentative results in the Berkeley lab
almost identical to the original results at a U.S. Geological Survey
laboratory, and that they were busy finishing the research and preparing
another paper.
Tainer said the two new studies in Science may have come to different
results than theirs because of the methodologies used, the precision used to
detect arsenates and the provenance of the cells. He said the authors of the
two new papers may well regret some of their statements in the future.
There are many reasons not to find things - I don't find my keys some
mornings, he said. That doesn't mean they don't exist. The absence of a
finding is not definitive.
Wolfe-Simon and her numerous collaborators had made samples of GFAJ-1
broadly available after her initial results caused a storm of controversy,
but she and Tainer said they may have been contaminated or modified in
transit.
She said that all the researchers agreed that the bacterium survived in
extraordinarily high levels of usually toxic arsenic compounds but that they
disagreed about whether the organism used the arsenic compound to grow and
whether it had incorporated the arsenic into its biology.
I think it's unclear whether this is the last word, Wolfe-Simon said.
They're not finding something that could be there in a minor amount.
One of the new studies in Science was conducted by a team centered at
Princeton University that included Rosemary Redfield of the University of
British Columbia. She was one of the first and most vocal critics of the
original Wolfe-Simon paper, and she said Sunday she was satisfied with how
the process has played out.
A very flawed paper was published and received an inordinate amount of
publicity, she wrote in an e-mail. But other researchers responded very
quickly. .?.?. Now refutations of the work by two independent research
groups are appearing in the same high-profile journal, and the refutations
are being well publicized. This is how science is supposed to work.
The new study Redfield was part of did not find any microbial growth when
arsenates were provided to the bacteria without phosphates. Wolfe-Simon had
initially reported that the bacterium grew when phosphorus compounds were
withheld but arsenic compounds were provided. The new study also found no
biologically mediated arsenic in the microbe's DNA, as WolfeSimon had
reported.
The paper concludes that the bacterium is an extreme life form but one that
has adapted to its environment in a manner similar to many others that live
in conditions long thought to be unsuitable for life.
The second new study in Science came from a research group in Switzerland.
That group also found no growth in the bacteria in a medium with arsenic
compounds but no phosphorus. The paper suggested that WolfeSimon's initial
finding may have missed the presence

[meteorite-list] NEW FALL Splash Craters

2012-06-11 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Small Impact Craters On Sikhote-Alin Iron Meteorite Surfaces
M. Killgore and J.F. McHone:



http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/LPSC98/pdf/1839.pdf

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum
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[meteorite-list] hollow meteorite on ebay

2012-06-10 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Hi Jim,

You're missing the fact that there's 10,000 suckers born (worldwide) every 
minute and one just paid $266 for a concretion that I would have sold them 
for $1.50.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum



I see no evidence in this ebay listing that would lead me to believe that
this is indeed a meteorite. Just having an old label and someone saying that
it's a meteorite, surprises me that eight people bid on this thing and it
sold for $266. Am I missing something here or can this really be a
meteorite?

Cheers,
Jim K 


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[meteorite-list] New Fall

2012-06-10 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


http://www.rocksfromspace.org/new-fall-2012.html


This is only the third fresh iron I've seen with complete gun-metal blue 
fusion crust, flow lines and other ablation surface features. I think the 
other two were ataxites. Awesome meteorite!


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] RIP Ray Bradbury (OT)

2012-06-06 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Loved Ray Bradbury in high school


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ray-bradbury-sci-fi-author-of-fahrenheit-451-martian-chronicles-dies-at-91/2012/06/06/gJQAy9HiIV_story.html?hpid=z4


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Hammer Talk

2012-05-15 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

If there's one thing I never tire of on the Meteorite List, it's the 
fascinating, seemingly never-ending discussion of what does and does not 
constitute a hammer stone. It never gets old. You have semantics, 
definitions, degrees of hammerness, lively arguments over what is or is not 
a man-made object. Passionate manifestos are issued. The meteorite world 
splits into factions and alliances are formed. Tempers flare, innuendos are 
hurled, dramatic outbursts and character assassinations are the order of the 
day. Finally a truce and working definition are hammered out, allowing more 
time for everyone to discuss the latest antics of their favorite dealers.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Yet another Apollo moon rock sting

2012-05-13 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


This is the guy selling Apollo moon rock dust on eBay:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/houston-lawyer-trying-to-account-for-scores-of-missing-moon-rocks-brought-back-by-astronauts/2012/05/13/gIQA0rflMU_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop



Phil Whitmer
Johua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Meteorite main mass hunting with a blimp

2012-05-04 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


It' a zeppelin.

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Phil Whitmer
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[meteorite-list] It's a Zepplin, not a blimp!

2012-05-04 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Zepplins were magnificent classic airships with an internal framework. 
Blimps are bags of gas.


Phil Whitmer 
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[meteorite-list] It's a Zepplin, not a blimp!

2012-05-04 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Sorry about the multiple posts, after not working, all my accounts went 
through at once!


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Jenniskens Sutter Mill Meteorite

2012-04-28 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Peter Jenniskens Sutter Mill

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/June2011/sut.jpg


APOD: Sutter's Mill Meteorite (2012 Apr 28)
Image Credit P. Jenniskens (SETI Institute) and Eric James (NASA Ames)
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120428.html

Explanation: Last Sunday's bright fireball meteor falling through skies over 
California and Nevada produced sonic booms over a broad area around 7:21 am. 
Estimates indicate the meteor was about the size of a minivan. Astronomer 
Peter Jenniskens subsequently recovered these fragments of a crushed 4 gram 
meteorite, the second find from this meteor fall, in the parking lot of the 
Henningsen-Lotus state park, not far from Sutter's Mill. This is now known 
as the Sutter's Mill Meteorite, the location famous for its association with 
the California Gold Rush. The meteorite may well be astronomer's gold too, 
thought to be a rare CM type carbonaceous chondrite, a type rich in organic 
compounds and similar to the Murchison Meteorite. To trace the meteor's 
orbit, details of its breakup, and aid in locating more fragements, 
scientists are also searching for video records. Security cameras across a 
wide area could have accidently captured the fireball event near 7:21 am PDT 
on April 22; e.g. California (SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, near Redding) and 
Nevada (Reno area, Tonopah), even in southern parts of Oregon and near Salt 
Lake City in Utah. If you have video footage of the event, please use the 
contact information here.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum




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[meteorite-list] Moon rocks

2012-04-14 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Looks pretty bogus to me:


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Moon-rock-Apollo11-/190661007344?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0hash=item2c644817f0


He relists it every week, lowering the starting bid by $100,000.  I don't 
see how eBay can allow this.



Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum

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[meteorite-list] test

2012-03-15 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


test
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[meteorite-list] Report from the Strewnfield in Edgewood Texas

2012-02-07 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department there are no black 
panthers in Texas, only mountian lions from the Puma genus. Black panthers 
are leopards from the Panthera genus and do not live in North America.



http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_w7000_0232.pdf

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/mlion/



Mountain Lion (Puma concolor)

Photo ©TPWD

 Description
 Body length: 3-4 ft. Tail: 2.5-3 ft. Height at shoulder: 25-30 in. Weight: 
70-170 lbs.


 The Mountain Lion is a large, slender cat with a smallish head and 
noticeably long tail. Its fur is a light, tawny brown color which can appear 
gray or almost black, depending on light conditions. Contrary to popular 
belief, there are no black panthers in North America; no one has ever 
captured or killed a black Mountain Lion. Mountain Lions are also called 
cougars, pumas, panthers, painters, and catamounts.


 For more information see:

   a.. Mountain Lions of Texas (PDF 235.5 Kb)
   b.. Field Guide to the Mountain Lions of Texas (PDF 888.6 Kb)
 Life History
 Mountain Lions are relatively uncommon, secretive animals. They are 
carnivores that prey on a variety of animals; some favorites include deer 
and wild hogs. Other prey animals included in the Mountain Lion's diet are 
rabbits, jackrabbits, javelinas, and rodents. Some lions occasionally kill 
livestock or dogs.


 The Mountain Lion is solitary, except during breeding. Their young 
(typically 2-3 cubs) can be born almost any time of the year. Females 
usually breed every two to three years.

 Habitat
 Mountain Lions generally are found in remote mountains, canyonlands, or 
hilly areas with good cover.

 Distribution
 The Mountain Lion has the widest distribution of any wild cat, from Canada 
to South America. Formerly distributed throughout North America, the 
Mountain Lion is now found mostly in the remote areas of the western U.S., 
as well as western Canada and much of Mexico. A small population still 
exists in southern Florida, where the species is considered endangered.


 In Texas, the Mountain Lion is found throughout the Trans-Pecos, as well 
as the brushlands of south Texas and portions of the Hill Country. Sighting 
and kill reports indicate that Mountain Lions now occur in more counties 
than they did 10 years ago and appear to be expanding their range into 
central Texas.

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum
--


Dangers: See comment on Meth Labs above. Add to it feral hogs, the local
population exploded out here and they are aggressive. We've been told we
should pack a pistol twice today. There has also been attacks by a
black panther here that has the locals skittish. I've heard reports from
hairy toothless rednecks and from a sweet little old lady. The panther
has killed several sheep and goats, and rumors persist it may be
responsible for missing persons reports. And of course, there is always
the Z problem.

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[meteorite-list] Strange Meteor

2011-12-11 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

We saw a strange meteor tonight from Plymouth, Indiana. We were facing south 
and I looked east just in time to see a very bright meteor falling at a 45 
degree angle. I've never seen one quite like it. It looked like a very 
bright star dropping in a straight line with no tail or flashes or changes 
in brightness. Then it suddenly went out. It literally looked like a falling 
star. It was so bright, I thought it was an airplane or car light reflection 
in the windshield. I've seen lots of meteors, but never one like that.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Are these meteorites???

2011-12-02 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Greetings Maurizio:

Those look a lot like Al Haggounia 001, the paleo/fossil meteorite. A rare 
EL3 type (enstatite) that is very inexpensive due to the massive TKW (total 
known weight)


http://www.ebay.com/itm/AL-HAGGOUNIA-001-Stony-Meteorite-Fragments-8-1g-/400175463637


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Are these meteorites???

2011-12-02 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum





More than 20 pairings?:


The Al Haggounia Fossil or Paleo Meteorite Problem:

http://www4.nau.edu/meteorite/Meteorite/Al_Haggounia.html



Phil Whitmer
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[meteorite-list] AD: Are these meteorites???

2011-12-02 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Al-Haggounia-Enstatite-EL3-Stone-Meteorite-Slice-28-6-G-/280774269672?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0hash=item415f735ae8


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Some interesting meteorite falls of the last two centuries

2011-11-22 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


An interesting recap:

http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/meteorites.html


Some interesting meteorite falls of the last two centuries

DATE  LOCATIONREMARKS 
REFERENCES

1807 12 14Weston, CT, U.S.A. meteor visible half a minute,  [21]
 loud sounds heard, many stones
 found scattered over 6-10
 miles, weighing as much as
 200 lbs. total (largest
 meteorite weighed 35 lbs)

1825 01 16Oriang, Malwate,   man killed, woman injured in   [14, 
17]

  India  meteorite fall

1827 02 16Mhow, Indiaman wounded severely in the   [12, 
17]

 arm when hit by meteorite

1836 11 11Macau, Brazil  cattle killed when hit by  [12, 
17]

 shower of meteorites

1847 07 14Hauptmannsdorf,37-pound Braunau iron meteorite[12, 
17]

  Braunau, Bohemia   smashed into a room, covering
 three children with ceiling
 debris but not hurting them

1860 05 01New Concord, OH,   horse struck and killed by [12, 
17]

  USAmeteorite

1868 01 30Pultusk, Polandmeteorite shower of more than 
[12]

 100,000 fragments

1882 02 03Mocs, Romania  meteorite shower of thousands 
[12]

 of fragments

1890 05 02Forest City, IA, USA   meteorite shower of some 2000 
[12]

 fragments; one fragment fell into
 a pile of hay (no fire)

1907 09 05Hsin-p-ai Wei, meteorite caused a house to 
[1]

  Weng-li, China collapse, killing a family;
 evidently no evidence

1908 06 30Tunguska, Siberia  apparent airblast (no recovered 
[15]

 meteorites) of an object entering
 earth's atmosphere; leveled
 hundreds of square miles of forest,
 killing two men and hundreds of
 reindeer

1911 06 28Nakhla, Egypt  dog struck and killed by   [12, 
17]

 meteorite (part of meteorite
 shower)

1912 07 19Holbrook, AZ, USA  meteorite shower of more than  [12, 
13]

 14000 fragments; meteorite
 fell a few meters from a person;
 largest fragment 9 pounds

1915 04 25Ta-yang, east of   meteorite tore off a woman's 
[1]

  Mai-po, China  arm; several meteorites, ranging
 from about 2 to about 3.5 kg

1924 07 06Johnstown, CO, USA meteorites fell within a few feet 
[13]

 of two men; 50-pound stone went
 5 feet into wet soil

1927 04 28Aba-mura, Inashiki-young girl suffered two head 
[16]

  gun, Ibaragi-ken,  injuries when struck by a
  Japan  stony meteorite

1932 08 10Archie, MO, USAmeteorite fell less than 1 m   [12, 
13]

 from person

1938 06 16Pantar, Philippinesseveral buildings hit by meteorites 
[12]


1938 06 24Chicora, PA, USA   cow's hide injured, presumably by 
[17]

 a fragment belonging to the
 meteorite shower in that area
 on that day

1938 09 29Benld, IL, USA building and car hit by stony 
[12, 13]

 meteorites; the car was hit by
 a 4-pound fragment after it
 crashed through the roof of a
 garage, then through roof, seat,
 and floorboards of car

1947 02 12Sikhote-Alin, south-   largest meteorite shower on 
[2]

  eastern Siberiarecord; estimated 100 tons of
 total debris fell, the largest
 weighing 1745 kg; some 9000
 fragments weighing about 28
 tons recovered; largest crater
 28 m wide

1950 09 20Murray, KY, USAfive buildings hit by meteorites 
[12]


1950 12 10St.

[meteorite-list] Stat. Speaking / killer Hammers (Barbotan)

2011-11-21 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


One of these stones, fifteen inches in diameter, broke
through the roof of a cottage, and killed a herdsman and a bullock. After
reading the above statement, we cannot refrain from wondering at the slow
belief of philosophers as to the heavenly origin of these stones. Where was 
the

body to come from, a body of the dimensions described, which was capable of
breaking through tho roof of a cottage, and committing such deadly havoc, if 
it

did not come from the atmosphere, ay, and from an immense height too ?


---

They probably thought it was launched from a catapault?

Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Pena Blanca Spring Near-Hammerstone

2011-11-21 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Here's an interesting account of what could have been a multiple death 
hammerstone incident:


http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM32/AM32_354.pdf



Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Second experiment confirms faster-than-light particles

2011-11-18 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/second-experiment-confirms-faster-than-light-particles/2011/11/17/gIQAlRlTWN_story.html?hpid=z5

Second experiment confirms faster-than-light particles:

While the second experiment has made an important test of consistency of
its result, Ferroni added, a final word can only be said by analogous
measurements performed elsewhere in the world.

That is, more tests are needed, and on other experimental setups. There is
still a large crowd of skeptical physicists who suspect that the original
measurement done in September was an error.

Should the results stand, they would upend more than a century of modern
physics.

In the first round of experiments, a massive detector buried in a mountain
in Gran Sasso, Italy, recorded neutrinos generated at the CERN particle
accelerator on the French-Swiss border arriving 60 nanoseconds sooner than
expected. CERN is the French acronym for European Council for Nuclear
Research.

A chorus of critiques from physicists soon followed. Among other possible
errors, some suggested that the neutrinos generated at CERN were smeared
into bunches too wide to measure precisely.

So in recent weeks, the OPERA team tightened the packets of neutrinos that
CERN sent sailing toward Italy. Such tightening removed some uncertainty in
the neutrinos' speed.

The detector still saw neutrinos moving faster than light.

One of the eventual systematic errors is now out of the way, said Jacques
Martino, director of the National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics
in France, in a statement.

But the faster-than-light drama is far from over, Martino added. The OPERA
team is discussing more cross-checks, he added, including possibly running a
fiber the 454 miles between the sites.

For more than a century, the speed of light has been locked in as the
universe's ultimate speed limit. No experiment had seen anything moving
faster than light, which zips along at 186,000 miles per second.

Much of modern physics - including Albert Einstein's famous theory of
relativity - is built on that ultimate speed limit.

The scientific world stopped and gaped in September when the OPERA team
announced it had seen neutrinos moving just a hint faster than light.

If it's correct, it's phenomenal, said Rob Plunkett, a scientist at
Fermilab, the Department of Energy physics laboratory in Illinois, in
September. We'd be looking at a whole new set of rules for how the
universe works.

Phil Whitmer

Joshua Tree Earth Space Museum

The bartender says we don't serve your kind in here.

A neutrino walks into a bar.

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[meteorite-list] Does Friction or Ram Pressure Cause Meteor Ablation

2011-11-18 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

I know it was discussed awhile back about whether atmospheric friction or 
ram pressure causes meteor ablation, but I don't remember if the science was 
ever settled. If you Google the question, the overwhelming majority of hits 
say it's friction with oxygen, argon and nitrogen  molecules that causes the 
heat. Even an NAU site says this. Dig a little deeper and you discover 
claims that it's a myth, the heat is caused by ram pressure. So which is it, 
compressed air or friction?


I vote for ram pressure.

-

Phil Whitmer 


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Re: [meteorite-list] Second experiment confirms faster-than-light particles

2011-11-18 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

- Original Message - 
From: Matson, Robert D. robert.d.mat...@saic.com
To: JoshuaTreeMuseum joshuatreemus...@embarqmail.com; 
meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com

Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 6:44 PM
Subject: RE: [meteorite-list] Second experiment confirms faster-than-light 
particles

Hi Phil,

It was my understanding that the mystery of the CERN faster-than-
light-speed neutrino result was solved over a month ago: failure
to account for the relativistic motion of the GPS clocks used to
time the neutrinos.

GPS satellites orbit in planes inclined 55 degrees relative to
the equator, coincidentally somewhat parallel to the neutrino
flight path bearing on the ground. From the satellite's perspective,
both the positions of the neutrino source and the neutrino detector
are changing: in this particular case, from the perspective of the
GPS clock, the detector is moving towards the neutrino source, and
consequently the distance travelled by the particles -- as measured
in the frame of the clock -- is shorter than the distance measured
on the ground. As a result, the neutrinos should arrive about 32
nanoseconds early: an amount that must be doubled because the same
error occurs at each end of the experiment. So the total correction
is 64 nanoseconds: almost exactly what the OPERA team observed.

If they ran the experiment a second time and got the same result,
it seems to me that it is only confirming a prediction of
special relativity.  --Rob

-

It seems unbelievable that the relativistic satellite motion has not been 
brought to their attention. I mean if you guys know about it, wouldn't they? 
I've also read elsewhere about this effect and how it could be skewing the 
results. I find it hard to believe they don't know about this and would not 
make the necessary corrections.

Phil Whitmer

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[meteorite-list] Icebergs on Europa

2011-11-16 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Apparently there are volcanos under the ice causing the icebergs:




http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/theory-of-subsurface-lakes-boost-hopes-for-life-on-jupiters-moon-europa/2011/11/16/gIQADp8hRN_story.html?hpid=z2



Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Asteroid Flyby

2011-11-03 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/as-asteroid-flies-by-scientists-will-stare/2011/11/02/gIQA8FTngM_story.html

As asteroid flies by, scientists will stare
a.. Text Size
b.. Print
c.. E-mail
d.. Reprints
By Brian Vastag, Thursday, November 3, 2:35 PM
An asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier will zoom past Earth on Tuesday
just inside the orbit of the moon.

The space rock poses no danger, as its nearest approach will be a
comfortable 202,000 miles distant. But the event marks the closest flyby of
an asteroid this large since 1976, according to NASA.

Comments

a.. Weigh In
b.. Corrections?

inShare
Asteroid 2005 YU55 has a name only a scientist could love. They're also
loving the chance to stare at the nearly round, slowly spinning chunk of
space debris as it flies by at some 30,000 mph.

It will be scanned and probed and scanned some more, said Marina Brozovic,
an asteroid researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Starting Friday, Brozovic will ping the approaching asteroid with radar from
giant dishes at Goldstone, Calif. She wants to map every crater and boulder
while refining estimates of the asteroid's path, which swings inside the
orbit of Venus and then out near Mars, crossing Earth's orbit.

Meanwhile, telescopes in Arizona and Hawaii will analyze light reflected
from the asteroid to determine more precisely what it's made of. Already
scientists know it's darker than charcoal, because it's a C-type asteroid,
heavy with carbon and silicate minerals. Astronomers will also look for
signs of water.

Similar asteroids that have plunged to Earth - called carbonaceous
chondrites - hold within them amino acids and other building blocks of life.

These are the objects that probably seeded the early Earth with
carbon-based materials and water that allowed life to form, said Don
Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program, which tracks space
objects that veer close to our planet.

Since a humble start at a single telescope in the 1980s, NASA's $5
million-per-year asteroid-tracking program has matured to the point where
the agency said in September that it has detected more than 90 percent of
planet killer asteroids, those bigger than one kilometer in diameter. None
will hit Earth in the foreseeable future, the agency has said.

The tracking program detects hundreds of smaller space rocks each year,
closely watching their orbits. So far, none of those pose a threat either.

In the past, giant asteroids have crashed into Earth and devastated life.
The most famous, at least seven miles wide, blasted a crater in the Yucatan
Peninsulasome 65 million years ago, triggering a cataclysm that probably
wiped out the dinosaurs.

If a space rock the size of 2005 YU55 ever hit Earth, it would explode like
500 nuclear bombs, trigger a 7.0 magnitude earthquake and, if it splashed
down in the ocean, generate a 70-foot tsunami, said Purdue University's Jay
Melosh.

Already, scientists have determined this asteroid poses no threat for the
next century or so.

Still, they're treating the flyby as a drill, a chance to refine their
tracking skills. Said asteroid hunter Richard Binzel of MIT: If one were
ever found on an incoming trajectory, we'll want to apply all the techniques
we are learning now.

Phil Whitmer

Joshua Tree Earth Space Museum

[meteorite-list] Meteorite Auction Days Numbered?

2011-09-30 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

I haven't noticed any changes in eBay policy toward international meteorite 
sales. The people that are being hasseled were probably reported by someone. 
It only takes one snitch telling on you for whatever reason to get an 
auction shut down. I had a stalagmite auction closed recently because of a 
person morally opposed to the selling of speleothems. They lied and said I 
stole the formations from US gov't land, when I clearly stated they were 
from a Chinese dealer at the Tucson Show. After I explained the situation to 
eBay, they let me relist the item, but there was no refund for fees.


The tattle-tale was nutty, emailing me to say I was stealing and selling 
national treasures. I sort of provoked him by saying since he was such a 
moralist, he must have returned his stolen property to the nearest Native 
American tribe.


Again, I have not seen any changes at all in eBay policy, except for the 
email address prohibition.


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] Meteorite Auction Days Numbered?

2011-09-30 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

I don't think it's a secret that eBay is going to start charging extra for 
international auctions. I seem to recall getting an email from them a month 
or so ago saying that they were going to do this.


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Fwd: From Blaine Reed

2011-09-23 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Well alrighty then!  The science is settled.

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum
--

Steve,

Regarding your ridiculous High Noon challenge - even though I was
not there YOU HAVE LOST!!

Does this look familiar   http://www.impactika.com/images/fake5000.jpg

Well IT SHOULD!!

I got this (along with 2 other samples) from the guy on 2000 Rd in
Delta you hired to cut it.

As I do very little on line (and even less on E-Bay), I really did not
know what rock all of the NWA 5000 supposed pairing fuss was about. I
happened to bump into this gem
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Colorado-Lunar-Meteorite-/120781889556?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0hash=item1c1f296014
while looking for something else in the E-Bay listings today. I
immediately recognized it as something I already had a piece of!

I have already analyzed this stuff and found it to be wholly
terrestrial (as were the other two specimens you gave the rock shop).
I finally got to analyze a nice specimen of the real NWA 5000 in
Denver last week (which, in my opinion does not look much like your
stuff at all, aside from the breccia texture. But then what do I know,
I only have a bachelor's in geology with minors in math, physics and
chemistry and a meteorite dealer for 25 years now but YOU have an
Audio Visual degree!).

Any way: HERE ARE THE RESULTS: I ran both of these in two different
modes for a better element coverage. Soils mode (the one that is best
for accurately picking up very low level stuff in rocks and dirt), is
not set up to see Si or Mg in my machine, so I use Mining mode to
see those often important elements (among others). This mode is not as
accurate in the numbers reported as soils, but it gives a pretty darn
good ball-park number (this really does not matter when comparing two
rocks run on the same machine. Any errors in calibration accuracy will
be the same in the other sample, so they 'wash out so to speak). I
have also converted the numbers all to ppm, since this is what you
seem to be so stuck on. I usually use % as that is a little easier for
the average person to understand (for those of you that are curious
1ppm = .0001% or 1gram in a metric ton (1000kg, 2200pounds).

SOILS MODE:

NWA (5000)
Ba (160), Ca (143,087), Cl (4775), Co (553), Cr (544), Cu (52), Fe
(37,941), I (570), K (1512), Mn (476), Rb (3), S (1429), Sr (178), Ti
(1619), Zn (23), Zr (87)

YOUR Pairing
Ba (580), Ca (11,464), Cl (10,064), Cu (59), Fe (6853), K (23,422), Mn
(99), Pb (19), Rb (64), S (964), Sr (714), Ti (1469), Zn (44), Zr
(169)

A quick look at this tells me that you have way too little Ca, Cr (you
had NONE of this critically important element in all meteorites in
this sample!), Fe, and Mn. You also have way to high Ba, K, and Sr -- 
all features common to many terrestrial (that is EARTH rocks, if you

don't understand the lingo) materials.

MINING MODE: Note - LE is light elements This device cannot see
elements of atomic weight lighter than Mg. In rocks, this is usually O
(oxygen).

NWA (5000)
Al (154,940), Ca (131,430), Cd (200), Cr (850), Fe (45,800), LE
(334,220), Mg (43,300), Mn (890), Ni (50), Sb (320), Si (285,060), Sn
(220), Ti (2110), V (260), Zr (87)

YOUR pairing
Al (89,390), Ca (8270), Cd (194), Cr (190), Fe (13,570), LE (409,990),
Mn (290), P (600), Pb (13), S (500), Sb (300), Si (472, 980), Sn
(210), Ti (2780), V (500), Zr (218)

A quick look at these numbers shows that your sample is to high in LE
(oxygen), Si and Zr. Your sample is to low in Al, Ca, Cr, and Fe.

The high Si linked with a high LE number tells me that you have a lot
of quartz in this rock and hints that it is indeed a rhyolite lava
breccia. These type lavas are VERY common to the San Juan Volcanic
field just south of you. Much of those mountains you see to your south
are the remnants of huge, explosive volcanoes. The high Si content
makes these lavas thick and sticky and the volcanoes they are
associated with particularly violent in their eruptions - hence the
breccia structure in your rock (though, admittedly, it could be from a
fault zone but it looks more typical Rhyolite breccia to me).

So Steve, you have lost!

I personally think that, since you demanded us all to quit and write
apology letters, you should be required to completely remove yourself
from the field of meteoritics, go back on the news channels, papers
and libraries and apologize to all of the poor young kids and adults
you misled in your media blitz peddling your fake rocks the last year
or so.

Another thing - REMOVE THIS FRAUDULANT LISTING FROM E-BAY NOW!

If you don't, I will take my data to team E-Bay and show them that
this is a fraud (anybody else out there that has better E-Bay
connections - feel free to contact them for me if the listing does not
go away in the next day or two).

I tried to play nice with you. All I ever did was to offer to
analyze material for you, but you decided that you had some kind of
axe to grind with me. Well, play time is over and I

[meteorite-list] ebay restriction on international auctions of meteorites? and faster than the speed of light neutrinos!

2011-09-22 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Meg is taking over as head honcho of Hewlett-Packard. I just was notified
by eBay today that as of October 1st no more mention of emails will be
allowed. They don't want any off eBay transactions taking place.

Also, this is pretty cool:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/22/faster-than-light-particles-neutrinos?newsfeed=true

Faster than light particles found, claim scientists
Particle physicists detect neutrinos travelling faster than light, a feat
forbidden by Einstein's theory of special relativity

a..
a.. b.. c.. reddit this
b.. Comments (80)
a.. Ian Sample, science correspondent
b.. guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 September 2011 18.32 EDT
c.. Article history

Neutrinos, like the ones above, have been detected travelling faster than
light, say particle physicists. Photograph: Dan Mccoy /Corbis
It is a concept that forms a cornerstone of our understanding of the
universe and the concept of time - nothing can travel faster than the speed
of light.

But now it seems that researchers working in one of the world's largest
physics laboratories, under a mountain in central Italy, have recorded
particles travelling at a speed that is supposedly forbidden by Einstein's
theory of special relativity.

Scientists at the Gran Sasso facility will unveil evidence on Friday that
raises the troubling possibility of a way to send information back in time,
blurring the line between past and present and wreaking havoc with the
fundamental principle of cause and effect.

They will announce the result at a special seminar at Cern - the European
particle physics laboratory - timed to coincide with the publication of a
research paper describing the experiment.

Researchers on the Opera (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking
Apparatus) experiment recorded the arrival times of ghostly subatomic
particles called neutrinos sent from Cern on a 730km journey through the
Earth to the Gran Sasso lab.

The trip would take a beam of light 2.4 milliseconds to complete, but after
running the experiment for three years and timing the arrival of 15,000
neutrinos, the scientists discovered that the particles arrived at Gran
Sasso sixty billionths of a second earlier, with an error margin of plus or
minus 10 billionths of a second.

The measurement amounts to the neutrinos travelling faster than the speed of
light by a fraction of 20 parts per million. Since the speed of light is
299,792,458 metres per second, the neutrinos were evidently travelling at
299,798,454 metres per second.

The result is so unlikely that even the research team is being cautious with
its interpretation. Physicists said they would be sceptical of the finding
until other laboratories confirmed the result.

Antonio Ereditato, coordinator of the Opera collaboration, told the
Guardian: We are very much astonished by this result, but a result is never
a discovery until other people confirm it.

When you get such a result you want to make sure you made no mistakes, that
there are no nasty things going on you didn't think of. We spent months and
months doing checks and we have not been able to find any errors.

If there is a problem, it must be a tough, nasty effect, because trivial
things we are clever enough to rule out.

The Opera group said it hoped the physics community would scrutinise the
result and help uncover any flaws in the measurement, or verify it with
their own experiments.

Subir Sarkar, head of particle theory at Oxford University, said: If this
is proved to be true it would be a massive, massive event. It is something
nobody was expecting.

The constancy of the speed of light essentially underpins our understanding
of space and time and causality, which is the fact that cause comes before
effect.

Cause cannot come after effect and that is absolutely fundamental to our
construction of the physical universe. If we do not have causality, we are
buggered.

The Opera experiment detects neutrinos as they strike 150,000 bricks of
photographic emulsion films interleaved with lead plates. The detector
weighs a total of 1300 tonnes.

Despite the marginal increase on the speed of light observed by Ereditato's
team, the result is intriguing because its statistical significance, the
measure by which particle physics discoveries stand and fall, is so strong.

Physicists can claim a discovery if the chances of their result being a
fluke of statistics are greater than five standard deviations, or less than
one in a few million. The Gran Sasso team's result is six standard
deviations.

Ereditato said the team would not claim a discovery because the result was
so radical. Whenever you touch something so fundamental, you have to be
much more prudent, he said.

Alan Kostelecky, an expert in the possibility of faster-than-light processes
at Indiana University, said that while physicists would await confirmation
of the result, it was none the less exciting.

It's such a dramatic

[meteorite-list] NASA Space Junk to Hit This Week

2011-09-19 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nasa-satellite-expected-to-hit-earth-this-week/2011/09/18/gIQARnpVdK_story.html?hpid=z3

NASA satellite expected to hit Earth this week:

By Joel Achenbach,
The sky is not falling. A 12,500-pound NASA satellite the size of a school
bus is, however.

It's the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS - YOU-arz - and it's
currently tumbling in orbit and succumbing to Earth's gravity. It will crash
to the surface Friday.

Comments

a.. Weigh In
b.. Corrections?

Graphic

A NASA satellite is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere later this week.

Gallery

?A look at the work of private space companies that will attempt to fill the
hole left by the end of NASA's shuttle program.

[meteorite-list] eBay Top Ten Meteorites

2011-08-31 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


The top ten meteorites currently running on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Meteorites-Tektites-/3239/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A5213rt=nc_sticky=1_trksid=p3286.c0.m14_sop=16_sc=1


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum 


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[meteorite-list] eBay Top Ten Highest Priced Items Represented as Meteorites

2011-08-31 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Yinan:

This is what I meant to say:

At any given time a search of the the highest priced items listed in eBay's 
Meteorite and Tektite category shows that around 80% are obvious 
meteorwrongs.


eBay Top Ten Highest Priced Items Represented and Misrepresented as 
Meteorites:


http://www.ebay.com/sch/Meteorites-Tektites-/3239/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A5213rt=nc_sticky=1_trksid=p3286.c0.m14_sop=16_sc=1




Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum



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[meteorite-list] Ohio-No Finds Yet

2011-08-22 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Nothing yet, it appears:

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/560615/Meteorites-may-have-landed-in-the-region.html?nav=5021

Meteorites may have landed in the region
August 19, 2011
By DAN POMPILI - reporter (dpomp...@tribtoday.com) , Tribune Chronicle |
TribToday.com

Save | Comments (6) | Post a comment |
Residents of northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania should be on the
lookout for space rocks.

At 1:22 a.m. Aug. 8, sky cameras belonging to the Southern Ontario Meteor
Network in Canada recorded a meteor as it entered the Earth's atmosphere
over Lake Erie, and scientists at NASA say they have high confidence that
pieces of the meteor landed in northern Trumbull County.

The fireball entered the atmosphere 54 miles above Lake Erie, traveling
south-by-southeast at approximately 55,900 mph. Dr. William Cooke, head of
NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, said debris created Doppler radar
echoes west of Hermitage, Pa.

The International Astronomical Union defines a fireball as a meteorite
brighter than any of the planets. In essence, the mass and speed of the
meteor increase its visibility, Cooke said.

Cooke said the fragments are about two to three inches in diameter and
likely weigh a few ounces.

Patrick Durrell, an astronomy professor at Youngstown State University said
the fragments can be difficult to identify, but there is at least one
telltale sign.

If you pick up a rock that feels a lot heavier than you'd expect for its
size, that's a good place to start, Durrell said.

Durrell and Cooke both said meteorite landings like this one are highly
common and occur daily.

Jay Reynolds, research astronomer at Cleveland State University, said
meteorites like this one are not dangerous, and have no radioactivity but
are scientifically very fascinating when you can find them.

Reynolds said denser meteorites are usually the ones that make contact with
the Earth because they can withstand the pressure of the thicker layers of
Earth's atmosphere.

He said in this case, the thicker layers caused the meteor to fracture into
meteorites.

While you won't see something like this coming into this area every night,
in and of itself, it's not that uncommon, Durrell said.

Cooke said that while meteorite falls are very common, a given point on
Earth may only see such a fireball once every couple of decades.

What makes this sighting special, Cooke said, is that the meteor was tracked
and its trajectory recorded from start to finish.

Very few meteorites are tracked on their way down, so this would be very
special, Cooke said.

Reynolds said many of the meteorites that have been found over time are
composed largely of iron and small amounts of nickel and other metal
compounds, with carbonaceous cores.

Cooke, however, said the composition of this meteor is unknown and will not
be determined until a fragment is found and studied.

He said the farthest point of the meteor's orbit corresponds with the outer
edge of the asteroid belt between the planets of Mars and Jupiter.

Should the National Aeronautics and Space Administration retrieve a piece of
this meteor, Cooke said, they could determine the compositional differences
of matter based on distance from the sun.

Of course, that kind of research hinges entirely upon somebody actually
finding a piece of meteorite, and so far, Cooke said, nobody has reported
one.

Residents contacted in Kinsman and Gustavus reported no knowledge of finding
any space rock.

Nobody mentioned it at lunch today. It's news to me, said Kinsman Township
Trustee Tony Gates, who dines regularly with residents of Kinsman and
Gustavus.

Gustavus Trustee Alan Bradford echoed Gates: I haven't heard anybody say
anything about it.

© Copyright 2011 Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Save | Comments (6) | Post a comment |

Phil Whitmer
7th Earl of Sandwich
Commoners may call me Ham.
Or sometimes Meatball.

[meteorite-list] Michael Jackson Meteorite

2011-08-13 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/offbeat/jacksonlink-meteorite-up-for-sale-16035842.html

Jackson-link meteorite up for sale

Friday, 12 August 2011

Part of a meteorite with links to Michael Jackson is to be auctioned

a.. enlarge

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Part of a meteorite, which has links to Michael Jackson, is to be auctioned
off next week.
The late pop star bought one half of the meteorite in 2003 and the second
piece is now up for sale.

According to auctioneers, it spent four-and-a-half billion years in outer
space and is believed to have been found in the Sahara desert by a nomad,
who sold it to meteorite collector Robert Elliott.

The piece is valued at £250 and will be sold at Lyon Turnbull in Edinburgh
on Monday.

In 2002 Mr Elliott gave Jackson a small meteorite gift. Soon afterwards, the
performer is said to have requested another, larger meteorite in the shape
of a star.

But Mr Elliott said sculpting meteorites into star shapes was not his
speciality, so a compromise was reached and the meteorite was cut, with one
part remaining in The Elliott Collection and the other going to Jackson.

Both halves were polished to a high lustre, each revealing a myriad of
shiny, metallic flecks mixed with the dark, stony insides of the meteorite.

The auction is expected to attract interest from astronomers and
international collectors.

Read more:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/offbeat/jacksonlink-meteorite-up-for-sale-16035842.html#ixzz1UsUOgJzq

---
Phil Whitmer

[meteorite-list] More evidence of building blocks of DNA inmeteorites

2011-08-10 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

G'day Sterling

Yes, it's well established that amino acids, nucleobases and other such
molecules are pretty much everywhere across the Universe. They're common,
fairly simple compounds. When you say they're ready to be assembled and you
can build your own ladder, are you talking about Brahman, Yahweh, Allah,
what or whom is causing this stuff to organize, self-replicate and strangest
of all, cross the line from non-living to living? Is it the Almighty God of
Chance? What is this Ghost in the Machine?

But that's a whole 'nother can of segmented annelids!

My objection is to the propagandistic way they're releasing this new
information to generate lurid headlines and goofy articles. Alien Life
Form Found on Earth! New Evidence of Fossils Found in Mars Meteorites!
NASA discovers DNA in meteorites! NASA Scientists Trace Heat Wave To
Massive Star At Center Of Solar System!

OK, that last one is from the Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/scientists-trace-heat-wave-to-massive-star-at-cent,21088/

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth Space Museum

---
But the nucleobases found in the meteorite
are of BOTH optical isomers -- right- and left-
handed molecules -- or so the video says. if
they were from terrestrial contamination,
they would be only the Earthly orientation.

The point is that not only amino acids are being
produced in space a-biotically but so are common
nucleobases, ready to be assembled.

It's not like getting DNA from space --- it's like
getting a box of pre-fitted ladder rungs so you
can build your own ladder.

Sterling K. Webb

[meteorite-list] More evidence of building blocks of DNA in meteorites

2011-08-10 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

One of the few things I recall from college Probability Theory class is that 
if something happened once, no matter how unlikly, it can happen again. For 
example, since the Chicago Cubs won back to back World Series championships 
in 1907 and 1908, theoretically, they could do it again.


Meteorites containing peptides, amino acids, nucleobase isomers and other 
building blocks bombard a planet that already more than likely contains the 
same stuff, since it is composed of accreted asteroids, comets and 
meteorites. So we have these compounds in an oxidizing atmosphere with lots 
of lightning storms. Add in the hundreds of known constraints on the 
parameters for carbon-based life forms, (distance from the nearest star, 
perfect magneto-field, etc., etc.) What is the logical probability that 
these compounds will randomly assemble themselves into DNA and RNA molecules 
that will self-replicate and start using proteins to build living cells. The 
cells will then assemble into tissues and organs until a complex 
multi-cellular organism results. These organisms then sexually reproduce 
(Yy!) and diversify until they evolve into humans.  The humans randomly 
develop consciousness, self-awareness and intelligence.


Sure, this could happen again. And Ernie Banks could come out of retirement, 
suit up, and hit the game-winning home run as the Cubs cruise to a 
consecutive World Series victory!


Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth  Space Museum




Hello
It is of course OK to be skeptical of claims of life elsewhere in the 
Universe. Carolus Linnaeus, the founder of biology, to avoid considering 
sailor tales (and later Bigfoot, Yeti, and Loch Ness claims) insisted on a 
type specimen. The controversy over ALH 84001 boils down to whether the 
truncated hexaoctahedral magnetite crystals found constitute a type 
specimen, or were they produced abiotically on Mars (they are not produced 
abiotically on Earth). It is always possible to posit by some Rube 
Goldberg-like mechanism am abiotic origin to almost any trace biological 
evidence. Insisting that evidence absolutely not have any abiotic orgin 
possible under any circumstances is a hurdle too high and in my view, too 
illogical. That is the difficulty.
Of possible use in this brouhaha is Rudolf Carnap's theory of logical 
probability assigned to theories. An accepted type specimen is of course, 
proof positive; the probability of extraterrestrial life then is 100%. But 
the probability is still nonzero that microscopic life indeed does exist 
under the frozen lake of Elysium. Assigning probability to a theory is a 
difficult task, and the popular media folks are totally clueless on the 
concept. IMVHO, the evidence is such that it is more probable microscopic 
life exists/existed on Mars that not.
But Carnap's ideas, endorsed by Martin Gardner, will be helpful in this 
situation. An outline of them is found in Carnap, R. Philosophical 
Foundations of Physics, Basic Books, London 1966. edited by Martin Gardner.


Francis Graham
Kent State University



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[meteorite-list] Mercurian meteorite models nomination OT Version

2011-08-07 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


I was just here recently:

http://studebakermuseum.org/

They have a new building, it's really nice. An unbelievable collection of 
Stude's. Cars you can't see anywhere else. They have a  Raymond Loewy studio 
display with his drafting table, tools and many of his drawings and clay car 
models. It looks like fine art, just like his cars, (and they were 
high-performance!)


Sterling,
Don't forget the 1963 Mercury Comet.


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Circumstantial Evidence For Water On Mars

2011-08-06 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/water-on-mars-scientists-find-strongest-evidence-yet/2011/08/03/gIQAiYcWuI_story.html?hpid=z8

By Marc Kaufman, Published: August 4
For decades, space scientists have searched Mars for signs of water, the
liquid generally believed to be essential for life. Now, they may well have
found it.

Scientists announced Thursday that they had detected dozens of slopes across
the southern hemisphere of the planet where previously undetected dark
streaks come and go with the seasons. When the planet heats up, the streaks
appear and expand downhill. When it gets cold, the streaks disappear.

Comments

a.. Weigh In
b.. Corrections?

Video

Scientists say the seasonal appearance of small dark lines on Mars may be
melted, salty water running down slopes during the Martian summer. Five
image sequences from the Newton crater and one from the Horowitz crater show
the black lines appearing near the tops of slopes and then growing into
scores of streaks that remain for months until the cold weather returns
and they disappear. The images were taken over five years by the HiRISE
camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which circles Mars to
photograph the planet. (Aug. 4)

The best explanation they have so far is that those dark, fingerlike streaks
are a kind of salty water that is running on or just below the Martian
surface. At one location - Newton Crater - they have counted as many as
1,000 of these possible streams flowing down the slopes and into a basin.

It's a discovery that, if confirmed, would fundamentally change the
understanding of Mars and would strongly support the widely held theory that
the planet was once far more wet and warm. And scientists say the discovery
of water would provide the best target yet for finding possible life beyond
Earth.

We haven't found any good way to explain what we're seeing without water,
said Alfred McEwan of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary
Laboratory. McEwan is the lead author on a paper about the discovery in the
journal Science.

And if we confirm that it is a salty water, then we have the best idea yet
about where to go to try to find extant life on Mars, McEwan said.

The dark streaks were initially noticed by a student at the school in images
sent back by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The pixelated images
were taken as far back as 2007, but with so much data coming in from space
missions, they had remained unstudied. McEwan suggested that the student -
geophysics junior Lujendra Ojha - examine over time the locations with
streaks, and Ojha found that the streaks changed dramatically by season.

None of these images by themselves are particularly revealing, McEwan
said. But when you put them together and see what happens over time, then
you can clearly see something important is happening.

Gradually, a team of researchers determined that the changes came with
increasing and decreasing temperatures. They began scouring the MRO images
for other similar sequences and so far have found seven confirmed locations
and possibly 32 more. In all cases, the flows appear to go around, rather
than over, obstacles such as rocks, and sometimes they peter out before they
reach flat ground. They are generally between about two feet and 15 feet
wide, and occur during the Martian summer, when temperatures range from 10
degrees below zero to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

At a NASA news conference Thursday, McEwan and others associated with the
MRO, Mars science and astrobiology hailed the finding as a potential turning
point. Philip R. Christensen, a geophysicist at Arizona State University,
said it constituted the best evidence for the possible existence of water on
the Martian surface. Indiana University biogeochemist and astrobiologist
Lisa Pratt said it also offered the most promising habitat discovered for
current Martian life and speculated that the conditions could be similar to
Siberian permafrost, where life exists. All of the speakers, however, said
the finding was, at this point, circumstantial rather than proven.

-
Phil Whitmer

[meteorite-list] Tunguska (not)

2011-07-27 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Listerines:

Much more difficult to deal with are the sophisticated scammers who sell 
legitimate stones, then decide to increase their profit margins by 
mis-labeling inexpensive common samples as rare expensive ones. I got burnt 
this way by a scammer advertising on the Meteorite List a few years ago. But 
it was partly my own fault for not asking enough questions before I spent 
the money. I know several fairly knowledgeable people who got ripped of this 
way.


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Several suckers born every minute

2011-07-24 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Aw, c'mon Mike, it's a polymict planetary with diamonds. And for only $152! 
LOL, I wonder how much this will go for?


Phil Whitmer

--

Hi List,

Here is another unfortunate example of an obvious meteorwrong being
offered as a pallasite.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Meteorite-Must-Sell-Unfortunately-Love-Pallasite-/170668340104?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0hash=item27bca03388

There is so much wrong with this one, that you have to read it for
yourself. Read the silly description, then scroll down and read the
nonsense answer the seller gave to a question.

Seller also states he would like to have the option to buy it back LOL

I have several pallasites like this laying in my back yard - who
wants to buy one?

Sadly, this lump of crap has several bids and is currently bidding at
$152. What an expensive lesson to learn.

Best regards,

MikeG


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[meteorite-list] Several suckers born every minute

2011-07-24 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Wowsers! 300 bucks.  I'm in the wrong business!

Phil Whitmer



Hi List,

Here is another unfortunate example of an obvious meteorwrong being
offered as a pallasite.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Meteorite-Must-Sell-Unfortunately-Love-Pallasite-/170668340104?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0hash=item27bca03388

There is so much wrong with this one, that you have to read it for
yourself. Read the silly description, then scroll down and read the
nonsense answer the seller gave to a question.

Seller also states he would like to have the option to buy it back LOL

I have several pallasites like this laying in my back yard - who
wants to buy one?

Sadly, this lump of crap has several bids and is currently bidding at
$152. What an expensive lesson to learn.

Best regards,

MikeG



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[meteorite-list] Moon Flag Scraps for $45,000

2011-07-18 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

You have to sign in to an account to see the results, but the flag scraps 
went for $45,000. Lots of cool stuff in this auction:


http://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/25411


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite: Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers

2011-07-15 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


You find it , it's yours!:


http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2011/william--mary-law-school-students-learn-about-property-law,-with-an-asteroid-twist-123.php


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] meteorite or not?

2011-07-13 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum



Richard, 


Good one!

I thought most of the Mekong Delta material was hematite.

Phil Whitmer



JonathanI think one paddles upstream. 



:))
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[meteorite-list] Moon Memorabilia Auction

2011-07-09 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


We'll see how this one goes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/science/space/10moon.html?_r=1hp

Shreds of Moon History on the Block
By DOUGLAS QUENQUA
Published: July 9, 2011
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It was two weeks before the liftoff of the Apollo 11 mission when Thomas 
Moser's boss walked into his office at NASA and announced, We're putting a 
flag on the moon.


Enlarge This Image

Goldberg Coins and Collectibles
At bottom, remnants of the American flag that went to the moon, signed by 
Mr. Armstrong, are expected to bring $100,000 at auction.


Enlarge This Image

NASA
Buzz Aldrin in a photograph taken by Neil Armstrong.

Mr. Moser, then a 30-year-old mechanical engineer, was put in charge of 
designing a flag mechanism that could not only fit into the lunar module and 
survive the flight, but also make the flag appear to fly on the windless 
moon.


His solution involved two sections of a staff, a telescoping tube and a 
nylon flag bought at a local housing goods store (Sears, he thinks). But in 
order for the flag to fit the staff, its edges needed to be trimmed. They 
were throwing it all in the trash, Mr. Moser recalled of the remnants in a 
recent interview, so I picked it up out of the trash can, mounted it and 
had Neil Armstrong sign it.


Forty-two years later, Mr. Moser is auctioning off those flag remnants. The 
expected selling price: $100,000.


There's so much attention on the manned space program right now that the 
timing may be good, Mr. Moser said, referring to the final launching of the 
space shuttle Atlantis on Friday.


Mr. Moser's flag shreds are the star lot of an extensive space memorabilia 
auction being held in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday. Other notable items 
include the astronaut Deke Slayton's handwritten training notes from the 
Mercury program and dozens of heat shields, crew patches and other ephemera 
that once transcended earthly bounds.


For collectors, the remnants of the space flag are comparable to a Betsy 
Ross flag or the flag flying over the port in Baltimore in 1812, said 
Michael Orenstein, who is overseeing the auction for Goldberg Coins and 
Collectibles. Two days before the auction, online pre-bidding for the lot 
had reached $49,999.


But trading in space nostalgia can be a dangerous business. In June, 
investigators confiscated a triangular nub of transparent tape an eighth of 
an inch wide from an auction house in St. Louis because it contained tiny 
particles of moon dust. Selling moon rocks, no matter how small, is illegal, 
as is selling NASA property that the agency has not willingly disposed of.


Mr. Orenstein said that his auction contained no moon particles, and that 
all NASA property in the sale had been discarded by the agency long ago. A 
NASA spokesman declined to comment on the status of the items.


There are also economic concerns. The collectibles market tends to follow 
the overall economy; when money is tight, even avid collectors are less 
likely to spend money on memorabilia. But Mr. Orenstein said he believed 
that rule did not apply to one-of-a-kind items like the flag remnants. Just 
give me two flag collectors who can't live without it, he said.


As for Mr. Moser, he does not plan to attend the auction, but he was at 
Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday to watch the Atlantis lift off. I 
spent most of my life developing the shuttle, said Mr. Moser, who retired 
from NASA in 1989 after 25 years with the agency. I was there from sketch 
pad to launch pad.


A version of this article appeared in print on July 10, 2011, on page A15 of 
the New York edition with the headline: Shreds of History, Going on the 
Block.


-
Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] OT James Webb Space Telescope

2011-07-08 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum




Couldn't Congress divert a few billion dollars of this money to go where no 
man has gone before?:



http://costofwar.com/en/


Probably not.


---

Phil Whitmer



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[meteorite-list] NASA sues Moonwalker Astronaut

2011-07-05 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


The alleged camera:


http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-070411a.html



Phil Whitmer
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[meteorite-list] Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System (TPS)

2011-06-28 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Hi Robert,

Excellent post, I'm going to have to see about getting a tile for our
museum.

Phil Whitmer

---

As a fairly new subscriber to the met-list, and a meteorite(nut) collector.
I would like to inject a few pieces of information about the Space Shuttle
Tiles from my personal experiences with them.

As the other Teacher In Space(TIS) candidate from the state of NH I was
given a damaged flown Tile by NASA way back in January 1986 while I was
attending the TIS Launch Conference (STS-51-L Challenger) in Florida. The
tile that I received, was a black borosilicate coated high tempertaure tile
(HRSI) that was damaged on an earlier mission of the space shuttle
Discovery. (Each Space Shuttle carries approximately 34,000 separate Thermal
Protection System (TPS) tiles. (Thirty to 100 tiles are replaced on an
orbiter after each mission.)

In order for me to receive this tile from NASA I had to sign a four page
security agreement form which stated more things than I can possibly
remember at this time. Basically it stated that this tile was presented to
me as a representative of the Space Ambassadors and the state of NH and I
could not sell it to anyone, nor could I charge anyone to see it. I could
not cut it up and give any pieces of it away nor sell any pieces of it. I
could not give it to any person from a foreign country. If I was to retire
from teaching within five years of receiving this tile I had to return it to
NASA. After five years time had elapsed when I was to retire from teaching
the tile was not my personal property but was to stay with the school
district from which I retired (I hope that It is still there).

We were given these tiles of 98.5% pure silicon dioxide to demonstrate the
amazing thermal protection that they offer to the Space Shuttles. Using a
blowtorch hundereds of times in schools all over NH I have never seen even
the least bit of any fusion crust form on the tile that I had used. I
believe that they are so pure that they never wear out. However, the
borosilicate coating on the tiles does appears to wear thin after repeated
use and may crack and flake and be the cause of replacing numerous tiles for
each mission. This repeated heating and cooling did cause the tile to
discolor from the very black tile to a grey color after repeated use. This
can also be seen on the underside of any of the space shuttles with the
newer replaced black tiles standing out from the grey tiles that have gone
through numerous launch and re-entry missions. So for those of you who dream
of buying a tile from NASA I would say that your chances are about as good
as buying some of the 842 pounds of lunar rocks and soil samples so
staunchly discussed as of recent.

NASA Has had a program in place for many years where they do furnish tiles
to museums, educational and academic institutions etc. For educational
purposes and if you want to see all its NASAese go to any of the
following:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/oia/nasaonly/itransition/Shuttle_Tiles_Disposition_Plan.pdf
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Shuttle_Tiles_Educator_Guides.html
http://space.about.com/b/2010/12/03/schools-can-order-space-shuttle-tiles-for-educational-use.htm

Since my retirement from full time teaching I now work part-time at the
McAuliffe Shepard Discovery Center in Concord NH where we are also an NASA
Educational Resource Center and have received two HRSI black tiles from NASA
for demonstration purposes. When we use them we do use the recommended
cotton gloves to handle them and are careful not to damage them. I would
close by stating that calling these tiles is like calling a piece of
styofoam heavy, for the typical six inch square tile weighs no more than a
few ounces (50-60 g) depending on the thickness of the particular tile. In
Fact I will never forget the day that one very unknowelgable colleagues
when first presented the chance to hold a tile in his hand decided to rap it
with his knuckle and promptly crack the very delicate borosilicate coating
rendering the tile as damaged goods. A very dramatic demonstration of why a
space shuttle is never launched during a rain storm.

So any individual who is questing to get a shuttle tile to add to their
collection of space memoribilia I suggest you do as I have done and buy one
from the Buran Space Shuttle Shop.

Robert A. Veilleux
Planetarium Educator
MCauliffe Shepard Discovery Center
2 Institute Drive
Concord, NH 03301

[meteorite-list] The Apollo Moon Rock Collection

2011-06-27 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Actually, ALL politicians impact the collection of planetary and asteroidal 
meteorites. By giving away billions in public assistance to poor people and 
even more billions in corporate welfare to rich people, money is diverted 
from meteorite collection. No one will return to the moon as long as 
politicians choose to spend the national treasure on trillion dollar wars 
and bloated military  budgets. If you want NASA properly funded, just make 
it part of the Defense Department. A military base on the moon by 2020! 
C'mon, we can do it! Politicians control the purse strings and if they 
didn't mismanage the people's money so badly,  we'd be up to our elbows in 
meteorites.


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] The Apollo Moon Rock Collection

2011-06-27 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

As far as I can tell, bulk Apollo lunar material is studied by the NASA 
Lunar Science Institute. The guys that do the hands on work are known as the 
Lunar Exploration and Analysis Group or LEAG. One of the scientists doing 
analysis of moon rocks here at the University of Notre Dame uses the new 
multiple-collector-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer or MC-ICP-MS 
to determine the mineral composition of lunar impact melts to determine 
their petrogenesis and place constraints on the impactors and target 
lithologies.


http://lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov/


http://www.lpi.usra.edu/nlsi/teamMembers/bios.shtml


Phil Whitmer





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[meteorite-list] Moon Rock

2011-06-26 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Recently took the kids to the Indiana State Museum. We saw three meteorites, 
a Campo, a Canyon Diablo and this tasty pure snow-white moon rock.


http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/019.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/021.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/020.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/022.jpg


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Moon Dust

2011-06-24 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

All the AP people, or whoever wrote the original article,  had to do was add 
the simple caveat that all non-Antarctic lunar meteorites and meteoritical 
materials are perfectly legal to possess, buy and sell. A simple distinction 
between the legality of non-Antactic  lunar meteorites and the illegality of 
NASA moon rocks would have done it. These people are, after all, journalism 
majors, unschooled in the esoteric, highly specialized  field of 
meteoritics.


Returning to the gist of the thread, it looks like the Feds and NASA are 
cracking down on the private possession of lunar dust retrieved from space 
paraphenalia. NASA workers regularly used strips of tape to clean  lunar 
dust off space suits  before they were returned to their manufacturer for 
inspection and repair.


The Slezak lunar dust and other dust collected by Florian Noller from a moon 
bag carried on Apollo 16 has been in a gray area, apparently up until now. 
Unless the Feds are talking about some of the smuggled dust from the space 
suits. Sounds like they're talking about the Slezak dust which Noller  has 
openly sold in the past. I think he was taken in for questioning and maybe 
charged but it came to nothing and he kept the dust. Looks  like now they 
want all the dust for themselves.


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Moon Dust

2011-06-23 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

I thought the dust on the tape was the only legal to own and sell NASA lunar 
material.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/missing-moon-dust-found-in-st-louis-auction-business-returned-to-nasas-johnson-space-center/2011/06/23/AGhR1zhH_story.html


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Moon Dust

2011-06-23 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

This story has already gone viral. The Washington Post, considered by many 
to be an impeccable souce, (rightly or wrongly) just misspoke the truth 
twice.


It is illegal for individuals to own moon material.

The woman said she was unaware of the history of the dust, and gave it up 
to authorities. Regency-Superior Auctions president David Kols said the 
company knew it was illegal to own moon rocks, but not moon dust, and once 
he learned all lunar material was illegal to possess, the auction was 
cancelled.



Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Moon Dust

2011-06-23 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


This is what they're talking about:

http://www.diamondappraised.com/apollo/apollo11dust.htm



Phil Whitmer
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[meteorite-list] OT: NASA Pictures of Biggest Arizona Wildfire Ever

2011-06-19 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Sat pics of big AZ blaze:




http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/165284/20110618/update-6-nasa-releases-satellite-images-of-arizona-wallow-fire-pictures.htm


-
Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Mercury question

2011-06-17 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


MikeG,

That never gets old! LOL!

Phil Whitmer





All sales of high-potassium, non-feldspar Mercury rocks are hereby 
suspended until further notice. ;) 

Best regards, 

MikeG 


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[meteorite-list] New Colorado fall or faux?

2011-06-14 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


I retold this to my 6 year old, she laughed really hard!

Phil Whitmer

--




I was hoping to see a photo of the 5-foot snake.  I've never seen a 

snake with feet!  ;) 


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[meteorite-list] OT: FaceBook

2011-06-14 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

After the dust has settled, only the seven-headed beast shall remain 
standing. The Hydra heads of the Leviathan will be called: FaceBook, 
Walmart, Ebay, Apple, Exxon, Microsoft and Wikipedia.



Phil Whitmer

---
An orange-robed Buddhist monk, a Catholic priest and a Lutheran minister 
enter a bar. The bartender looks up from polishing a glass and exclaims, Is 
this a joke? 


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[meteorite-list] OT:FaceBook

2011-06-14 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

And the names of the ten-headed Hydra beast shall be FaceBook, Walmart, 
Google,  Ebay, Apple, Exxon, General Electric, General Motors, Microsoft and 
Wikipedia.


Phil Whitmer


So a Greek Orthodox priest, the Dalai Lhama and a Jewish rabbi are knocking 
back a few brews while out fishing. A guy trout fishing in the next boat 
yells, Is this a joke? 


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[meteorite-list] Slate Islands Impact Structure

2011-06-12 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

I hadn't heard about this Lake Superior crater. Interesting that the islands 
are the central uplift formation of the crater.

Click the link for the rest of the pdf with maps and pics.

Phil Whitmer



http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19970028016_1997050774.pdf


14. New Observations at the Slate Islands Impact ,

Structure, Lake Superior

B.O. Dressier 1, V.L. Sharpton 1, B. Schnieders 2 and J. Scott 2

1 Lunar and Planetary Institute, 3600 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston, Texas, 
77058


2 Northwestern Ontario Field Services Section, Ontario Geological Survey, 
Thunder Bay


INTRODUCTION

Slate Islands, a group of 2 large and several small

islands, is located in northern Lake Superior, approximately

I0 km south of Terrace Bay. Shatter cones,

breccias and shock metamorphic features provide evidence

that the Slate Islands Structure was formed as a

result of asteroid or comet impact (Halls and Grieve

1976, Grieve and Robertson 1976). Most of the island

group is believed to represent the central uplift of a

complex impact crater. The structure possibly has a

diameter of about 32 km. For Sage ( 1978, ! 991) shock

metamorphic features, shatter cones and pervasive

rock brecciation are the results of diatreme activity.

The present investigations represent the second

year of a co-operative study of the Lunar and Planetary

Institute, Houston, Texas and the Field Services Section

(Northwest) of the Ontario Geological Survey.

The objective of this investigation is to come to a better

understanding of the formation of mid-size impact

structures on Earth and the planets of the solar system.

Impact processes played a fundamental role in the

formation of the planets and the evolution of life on

Earth. Meteorite and comet impacts are not a phenomenon

of the past. Last year, more than 20 pieces of the

Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted on Jupiter and the

Tunguska comet impacted in Siberia in the early years

of this century. The study of impact processes is a

relatively young part of geoscience and much is still to

be learnt by detailed field and laboratory investigations.

The Slate Islands Structure has been selected for

the present detailed investigations because of the excellent

shoreline outcrops of rock units related to the

impact. The structure is a complex impact crater that

has been eroded so that important lithoiogical and

structural elements are exposed. We know of no other

mid-size terrestrial impact structure with equal or better

exposures.

In this publication we present preliminary results

of our 1994 and 1995 field and laboratory investigations.

We have tentatively identified a few impact melt

and a considerable number of suevite occurrences.

Bunte Breccia and suevite (for definitions see

Ontario Geological

Engelhardt 1990 and references therein) and other

clastic matrix breccias occur on the islands. (For names

of specific locations mentioned in this publication

please see Figure 14.1 .)

GENERAL GEOLOGY

OF SLATE ISLANDS

A wide variety of Archean and Proterozoic rocks

underlie the islands. Archean rocks make up the bulk of

the Slate Islands bedrock (Sage 1991). They are composed

of greenschist facies, felsic to mafic pyroclastic

rocks, pillowed and variolitic mafic flows, feldspar

porphyry flows interbedded with mudstones, siltstones

and ironstones. Archean gabbros and quartz-feldspar

porphyries intrude the supracrustal rocks (Sage 1991 ).

Laminated argillite and chert-carbonate-hematite

ironstone of the Gunflint Formation and argillite of the

Rove Formation, both of the Animikie Group, as well

as, mafic metavolcanic rocks, intraflow sandstone and

siltstone, and diabase dikes of the Osier Group,

Keweenawan Supergroup, occur on the islands but

spatially are of limited extent (Sage 1991).

Lamprophyres occur on the islands and one dike at the

southeast coast of Patterson Island has been dated by

the U-Pb method on perovskite at about !.1 Ga (oral

communication L.Heaman, University of Alberta,

Edmonton, Alberta, 1994). This dike is cut by breccias

(R.Sage, Ontario Geological Survey, Sudbury, oral

communication 1994) believed to be related to the

Slate Islands impact event. This date provides a maximum

radiometrie age for the impact. However, we

have observed breccias on the islands containing

sandstone and siltstone clasts that strongly resemble

units of the Jacobsville Formation, suggesting a maximum

age of about 800 ma, based on assignment of the

Jaeobsville Formation as Hadrynian (Card et al. 1994).

We did not attempt to reinterpret the distribution of

the various Archean and Proterozoic rock units that

underlie the island group. It is, however, worth noting

that all rocks on the islands are brecciated to various

degrees. Large rock masses on Mortimer and Delaute

islands are monomict breccias and we have observed

granitic rocks and diabase on Patterson Island that

easily break into centimetre-sized angular fragments

[meteorite-list] Slate Islands Impact Structure

2011-06-12 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


One of the world's biggest shattercones at Slate Island:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckexpeditions/2957527136/

Phil Whitmer
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[meteorite-list] Al haggounia 001

2011-06-08 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Dan:
Probably not.

Phil Whitmer

A Catholic priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk enter a bar. The bartender 
immediately retorts: What is this, a joke?

__


Does anybody know if Al haggounia 001 is going to have its official
classification of Aubrite changed to EL3 which seems to be appropriate
after doing much research on this meteorite.

Daniel Furlan
meteorite collector and dealer

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[meteorite-list] Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment

2011-06-01 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Living Interplanetary Spaceflight Experiment--or Why Were All the Strange 
Creatures on the Shuttle Endeavour?

By David Warmflash | Jun 1, 2011 07:55 AM | 1

 a.. Share
 b.. Email
 c.. Print
This morning, the world witnessed the safe landing of the space shuttle 
Endeavour, after a 16-day mission to the International Space Station. For 
those of us inhabiting Earth's more western time zones, we got to watch the 
landing last night, with no inconvenience, other than having to divert from 
the Colbert Report. While I did not travel to the Kennedy Space Center for 
the landing and recovery of the Planetary Society's experiment known as 
Shuttle LIFE, my experience was infinitely better than it was the last time 
that I had an experiment on a shuttle, when I did go to the Cape to attend 
the landing.


This is because the last time for me was on February 1, 2003. I was waiting 
for the return of the Columbia, with friends and colleagues, Eran Schenker 
and Yael Barr, alongside the very runway where the Endeavour glided to a 
touch down this morning. Having developed the Planetary Society's GOBBSS 
experiment -which came to be known as the Peace Experiment, since we had 
recruited two students, one Israeli, the other Palestinian, to work together 
as co-investigators- I anticipated the post-flight analysis of the 
biological cultures from GOBBSS, and from two other experiments that Eran 
had developed dealing with probiotic microbes. But there was no sonic boom, 
no sign of the Columbia. The time to landing clock went into positive time, 
and we were directed to return to the bus that would take us back to the 
building where we had gathered earlier. Then we learned of the tragic fate 
of the seven people who had made up the Columbia's crew, and we no longer 
cared about the experiments.


Like the Columbia mission, STS-107, this flight of the Endeavour, STS-134, 
was conceived as a mission of science. Shuttle-LIFE is only a tiny part of 
the Endeavour science payload; compared to cool-sounding devices like the 
alpha magnetic spectrometer, designed to detect anti-matter throughout the 
Cosmos, a few 10 microliter test tubes containing microorganisms must sound 
positively mundane. Why then did we book passage for our little bugs on the 
penultimate flight of NASA's STS program?


To begin, the Planetary Society and all research groups who had flown 
experiments packaged by Instrumentation Technology Associates (ITA) for the 
STS-107 flight were offered a chance to fly new experiments on STS-134. The 
Shuttle-LIFE organisms flew inside an experiment module called CREST-1. LIFE 
stands for Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment. This may sound 
strange, since the Endeavour, like all space shuttles, does not fly 
interplanetary missions. But Shuttle-LIFE is a precursor to another 
experiment -Phobos-LIFE. Conceived and developed earlier, Phobos-LIFE awaits 
launch at the end of this year to Phobos, one of the two tiny moons of Mars. 
The other is Deimos, Phobos' twin brother in Greek mythology; both were 
children of Aphrodite by Aries, the war god, but Mars was his Roman name. 
When naming planets, we like using Greek gods by their Roman names, even in 
science fiction. That's why Spock's home is called Vulcan, and not 
Hephaestus.


Scheduled to be launched by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), a 
probe called Grunt will depart after the next launch window opens this 
December. It will be an unprecedented, 34-month voyage to Phobos and back to 
Earth. Sitting inside the probe is an 83-gram discoid canister, the LIFE 
biomodule. Like three identical biomodules that were loaded as experimental 
controls, the one in the Grunt probe contains 30 sample tubes housing ten 
biological species, most of them in triplicate, representing all three of 
Earth's domains of life: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Additionally, there 
is a sample of soil from the Negev desert in Israel whose mixed population 
of microorganisms will be studied by Russian microbiologists.


The purpose of Phobos-LIFE is to examine the effects of the space 
environment, particularly the radiation, on organisms traveling through 
interplanetary space for nearly three years. While many such experiments 
have been flown in low Earth orbit, very few have flown through 
interplanetary space. Those that have flown in interplanetary space have 
done so for relatively short periods.


Most of the meteoroids created from cometary impacts with the Martian crust 
that arrive on Earth as Mars meteorites take thousands or millions of 
years to make the voyage. A famous example is ALH84001, a Mars meteorite 
containing features that some scientists believe are fossils of ancient 
Martian microorganisms that were trapped inside the rock more than 3.5 
billion years ago. A small piece of Martian crust that was ejected into 
space by an impact event about 16 million years ago, ALH84001 arrived on 
Earth, in Antarctica, only about 13,000 years ago.

[meteorite-list] Worthless Meteorites Stolen in India

2011-05-31 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

If they had no value, why would anyone want to steal them?

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-29/chennai/29596684_1_meteorites-museum-guards-chennai-museum

Police resume probe into theft of meteorite pieces
A Selvaraj, May 29, 2011, 02.35am IST
CHENNAI: The city police have decided to empty a century-old well behind the
Chennai Museum in Egmore as part of their search for five meteorites stolen
from there.

Police suspect that the meteorite pieces were dumped in the well by the
flustered thieves.

Five meteorites - each said to be over 100 years old - were reported missing
from the geological gallery of the museum since March 1. The geological
curator and in-charge of the gallery, Thulasi Brindha, and the officials of
the museum claimed that the meteorites had no value in the international
market, but were used for research.

As the police were busy with the assembly elections and the IPL matches, the
probe for valueless meteorites were put on the backburner. After the
regime change, the probe has gained momentum. As part of the investigation,
policemen discovered a well located behind the museum. We suspect that due
to fear, the criminals may have dumped the stolen meteorites in it. The well
is full of slush; we have requested the museum authorities to pump out the
water and slush, a police officer said.

Investigations revealed that the five meteorite pieces stolen were original
and the one left behind in the display case was a fake, used for study.
Museum authorities and the police suspect an inside hand in the theft.

Police sources said the museum guards were not sure when the meteorites went
missing. Once in every Friday, the cases are to be opened in front of the
curators and replaced in front of them. We have questioned the security
guards of the geological gallery. We didn't get any lead from them, a
police officer said.

A priest, a rabbi and a Lutheran minister walk into a bar and sit down. The
bartender comes over and says: What is this, a joke?

Phil Whitmer

[meteorite-list] Test your Meteorite Knowledge, Win a Free Assortment of Micromounts!

2011-05-24 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Just a few minor corrections. Hopewell and Anasazi are not names of tribes. 
They signify prehistoric traditions or cultures, not individual tribes. We 
don't know the names of prehistoric tribes because they left no written 
histories. The large earthworks built by Midwestern and Eastern prehistoric 
American Indians are not burial mounds. While some contain burials, this 
does not seem to be the primary purpose of the mounds. Archaeologists 
believe the mounds were for ceremonial and social purposes. Some have 
postulated the earthern structures were astronomical observatories. I just 
saw a documentary on the Chaco Canyon culture where they showed how all the 
buildings, kivas and towers were designed to line up on the solstices. The 
western Native Americans did not build mounds. It was the Sinagua people, 
not the Anasazi, who interred the Winona meteorite in a stone cist dug into 
the floor of a pit house.


Phil Paints With Heart Whitmer (Coquille tribal name)

__


Hi List,

I want to thank everyone who responded to the questions. :)

Only one person answered both questions correctly.

Here are the correct answers :



Question #1 - Out of all the areas of the world known for finding



meteorites, which area has yielded the most classified meteorites?



Answer - The Yamato icefield of Antarctica. A staggering 13715
meteorites have been found and classified on this icefield. This is
far more than any other region on the planet. In fact, according to
the Meteoritical Society's List of Dense Collection Areas, 8 of the
top 10 dense collection areas are in Antarctica.

Yamato - (13715)
NWA - (6161) - this number is undoubtedly larger and may not include
provisional meteorites.
Queen Alexandra Range - (3480)
Asuka - (2527)
Grove Mountains - (2436)
Elephant Moraine - (2204)
Lewis Cliff - (1960)
Allan Hills - (1826)
LaPaz Icefield - (1504)
Dhofar - (1497)
Miller Range - (1181)




Question #2 - One meteorite, above all others, is known for being



associated with Indian burial mounds. What is the name of this



meteorite, and what is the name of the tribe associated with the



mounds?



Answer - the answer I had in mind was Brenham and the Hopewell mounds.
However, Anne Black correctly pointed out that Winona was found in an
Anasazi mound. This latter answer would have been acceptable also.




BONUS QUESTION (good for one extra free micromount) - Name 3



meteorites that have struck motor vehicles.



Answer - St. Louis, Peekskill, Benld, Neagari - those are 4 that come
to mind, there may be more.

Thanks for participating!

MikeG

-
Galactic Stone  Ironworks - Meteorites  Amber (Michael Gilmer)


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[meteorite-list] Test your Meteorite Knowledge, Win a Free Assortment of Micromounts! Native Americans and Meteorites

2011-05-24 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Hello Mike:

It seems strange that the Sinagua people venerated an unusual achrondite 
(metachondrite) meteorite stone when they were so close to the Canyon Diablo 
crater and strewnfield. Surely they noticed how different the iron 
meteorites were from other local rocks. Yet they chose to bury an extremely 
rare type stone meteorite in the same manner as they would a child. Small 
children have been found buried in similar stone cists on pit house floors. 
This egg-shaped 24 kg rock was somehow special to them. Nobody knows why.


According to Nininger,  the Navaho irons were found in 1922 buried under 
stones piled into a cairn. Ornaments were found underneath one of the 
meteorites. The irons had grooves on their surfaces from stone tools. Also 
in 1922, the Mesa Verde meteorite was discovered in the remains of the Sun 
Shrine House in Mesa Verde National Park. In 1930, the Pojoaque meteorite 
was found buried in a clay pot on a village site. Archaeological 
investigators speculated the stone was carried around in a mojo bag due to 
its signs of wear by handling. Nininger later paired the Pojoaque with the 
Glorietta, found about 30 miles from the village site. The Casas Grandes 
iron was found buried in the Casa Grandes ruins of Chihuahua. It was 
discovered wrapped in a mummy cloth. The Huizopa irons were found in ruins 
in western Chihuahua.  Nininger adds that the meteorites of Red River, 
Wichita County, Iron Creek, Willamette and Cape York were all objects of 
veneration and the destination of pilmigrages.


All the irons associated with aboriginal peoples make it even weirder that 
the Winona was treated as a special rock. We'll never know the story.


Phil Whitmer

_

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the clarifications. Just when I think I am a smart cookie,
I find out that I don't know jack squat. LOL

So, I wonder what the modern finders of the Winona meteorite thought
when they dug it up? Did they know it was a meteorite at first? And
what other artifacts were found in that same hole (if any)?

This makes me wonder if Winona was a witnessed fall? Would the
indians have known that Winona was special and not just another rock,
unless they had seen it fall?

Best regards,

MikeG

-
Galactic Stone  Ironworks - Meteorites  Amber (Michael Gilmer)

Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
Facebook - 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Galactic-Stone-Ironworks/218849894809686

News Feed - http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516
Twitter - http://twitter.com/galacticstone
EOM - http://www.encyclopedia-of-meteorites.com/collection.aspx?id=1564
-
\

On 5/24/11, JoshuaTreeMuseum joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com wrote:

Just a few minor corrections. Hopewell and Anasazi are not names of 
tribes.



They signify prehistoric traditions or cultures, not individual tribes. We



don't know the names of prehistoric tribes because they left no written


histories. The large earthworks built by Midwestern and Eastern 
prehistoric



American Indians are not burial mounds. While some contain burials, this



does not seem to be the primary purpose of the mounds. Archaeologists



believe the mounds were for ceremonial and social purposes. Some have



postulated the earthern structures were astronomical observatories. I just


saw a documentary on the Chaco Canyon culture where they showed how all 
the



buildings, kivas and towers were designed to line up on the solstices. The



western Native Americans did not build mounds. It was the Sinagua people,


not the Anasazi, who interred the Winona meteorite in a stone cist dug 
into



the floor of a pit house.



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[meteorite-list] Lovina: most likely not a meteorite

2011-05-24 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Man, I knew that thing was too weird to be a meteorite. I wonder if the the 
MetBull will take it off their list or will they leave it, like they're 
doing with the Al Haggounia 001 aubrite kerfuffel.


Phil Whitmer

___

Greetings:

I just received a preliminary abstract on Lovina from Kuni Nishiizumi of UC 
Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. Kuni, the abstract's lead author, 
concluded it is unlikely Lovina is a meteorite. The markers analyzed were 
beryllium and chlorine concentrations and the paucity of cosmogenic 
radionuclides (only Gibeon and Nantan show less). One more round of tests 
will occur and further conclusions will be drawn from the same. The abstract 
entitled Lovina: is this a Meteorite? will appear in the MAPS volume 
associated with the 74th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting this coming 
August.


It has been suggested by some diehards that the bubbling evident in the 
Lovina mass could have been the result of smelting, and that the lack of 
cosmogenic radiation could be explained by Lovina having been near the 
center of a much larger mass---as we know Lovina originated from at least a 
somewhat larger mass for the ziggurat structures to have formed. However, in 
the spirit of embracing the most likely of explanations, it seems compelling 
to conclude that the most likely explanation for an expanding host of 
anomalies is Lovina's terrestrial origin.


Accordingly, I've decided to no longer offer Lovina as a meteorite and have 
asked my webmaster to take down references to the same on Macovich.com at 
her earliest possible convenience.



All best / Darryl





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[meteorite-list] Meteor Detected 13/14MAY2011 location guess

2011-05-18 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Eyewitnesses are the most unreliable kind. Especially when it comes to 
meteors.





Phil Whitmer









Spoke to several people from Creston and Area who have confirmed


hearing and
seeing the meteor hitting Kootenay Lake... 

I haven't been following this, but was this at night? If so, then it must
have made one heck of a splash to be able to see it hit the lake.
GeoZay

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[meteorite-list] Meteor Colors

2011-05-15 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Morning, folks!

I've been reading about what causes meteor colors.

When a dust particle meteoroid hits the atmosphere and burns up, it produces 
a streak of light known as a meteor. Colliding air molecules create a 
vaporous cloud of sodium, iron and magnesium atoms. In a cue ball effect, 
excited electrons are knocked into higher orbits, emitting light as they 
fall back to rest positons. Same principle as sodium discharge lamps and 
fluorescent minerals. The meteor hue is determined by the interaction of the 
glowing metal atoms and the emissions of the air plasma. If the air plasma 
dominates, the meteor is red from the nitrogen and oxgyen atoms. Sodium 
atoms produce orange-yellow light, iron atoms emit a yellow color and 
magnesium is responsible for the colors of blue and green. If you're really 
lucky, you might spot a purple meteor from its ionized calcium atoms.


The glowing green wake seen directly behind a meteor head is provided by 
neutral oxygen atoms. The ghostly afterglow of bright boledic fireballs is a 
result of the emissions of the Na, Fe and Mg atoms. It lasts a few seconds 
at most. The longer lasting, (up to half an hour), more persistent fireball 
train is an optical phenomenon caused by sodium and iron oxide produced by 
the chemical interaction of oxygen atoms and ozone molecules with atoms of 
sodium and iron.


For further information:

http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/meteor.html


Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] Which came first the chicken or the egg?

2011-04-26 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

I'm pretty sure the rooster came first. 


-

Phil Whitmer
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[meteorite-list] Probable Meteorwrongs

2011-04-20 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

The geologists at the local universities refer a lot of possible meteorites 
to our museum, where we have a fairly extensive meteorite collection. A guy 
brought these in a few days ago. They were found in a farm field. I told him 
they were probably slag. They look like they have caliche on them, which we 
don't have in Indiana. There were no round bubble holes, but the largest one 
had a small cluster of tiny irregular shaped holes. I told him to grind a 
window in it, sand it smooth and etch it with nitric acid.

Some day I'll get around to getting a nickel test kit!

Phil Whitmer

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/September2010/016.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/September2010/017.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/September2010/018.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/September2010/019.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/September2010/021.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x177/cyphor79/September2010/025.jpg 


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[meteorite-list] Dear NYT:

2011-04-06 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Dear NYT,

I understand that times are hard and you can't afford to pay reporters what 
you used to. Changing to a paid subscription on the Internet will cost you 
lots of readers. I certainly will be reading the WaPo from now on. I can see 
how you have to drum up a readership. You have bills to pay. However, your 
article Black-Market Trinkets From Space crosses the line into 
rabble-rousing yellow journalism at its worst. The story was written by a 
man that as far as I can tell has never previously typed a word on the 
subject of meteoritics. To say this article was poorly researched would be 
an understatement of astronomical proportions. Does Ralph P. Harvey present 
a shred of evidence to back up his outrageous claims about the existence of 
a meteorite black market? The total monies that change hands in the 99.99% 
of the meteorite market that is legal is a pittance compared to the prices 
commanded by fine art, jewelry and rare coins. One good Picasso is worth 
many times more than all the meteorites legally traded in a year.


While it's true that a handful of countries frown upon the exportation of 
meteorites without the proper paperwork, in the vast majorities of 
countries, the practice is legal. The market for meteorites is miniscule, 
aimed at a tiny tight-knit group of collectors, curators and scientists. 
Hardly enough money there to support a real black market, like the ones for 
drugs and weapons.


Countries that have enacted restrictive meteorite laws like Australia have 
seen the supply of native Australian meteorites found dwindle down to almost 
nothing. It's a lose, lose situation. You're going to have to show me some 
evidence for the existence of well-organized Aussie meteorite smuggling 
rings. And who exactly would be buying these hot rocks anyway? Are they 
being fenced in pawn shops around the world? Pssst!! Hey buddy!! I got a 
sexy carbonaceous chondrite you've got to see. The whole idea of a meteorite 
black market is a ridiculous fantasy with no basis in fact whatsoever.


The main problem with the article is its faulty premise. The writer confuses 
the rumors of the alleged illegality of the Egyptian Gebel Kamil fall with 
the perfectly legal trade in North West African meteorites. A quick reading 
of the abstruse Egyptian export laws reveal nothing against meteorites at 
the time Gebel Kamil was first collected. The legal status of Gebel Kamil 
has nothing to do with the NWA meteorite trade. You could learn this with 10 
minutes of Googling.


This story represents the death rattle of a once proud journalistic 
institution. It reeks of desperation. It reminds me of how the Chicago 
Tribune switched over to a semi-tabloid format in a desperate bid for a 
share of the dwindling readership market. I can remember the day that 
happened. I was reading the paper one day and I kept thinking, what is all 
this crap? Where's the serious journalism?  It's at a place called the 
internets by one much wiser than me. The day of the newpaper paradigm of 
news dissemination is over. Another one bites the dust.


---
Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] BS In The NYT: Black Market Trinkets From Space

2011-04-04 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

Not only that, but now you have to pay the NYT to read their dumb articles. 
I propose that Martin Altmann compose a scathing rebuttal to this melange of 
blithering blather.


__

Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] OK dinner

2011-03-25 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

It's about time you guys kissed and made up! (OK, a firm handshake will 
suffice!)  The World's Most Famous Meteorite Hunter and the World's Greatest 
Meteorite Hunter should let bygones be bygones and at least share a cordial 
working relationship. By that I mean guest appearances on the show leading 
to a spinoff (The Mike Farmer Show).  And while we're at it, howabout a Bob 
Haag show? Then a Meteorite Channel with all meteorites all the time 
featuring segments with Ted Bunch demonstrating how to use a microprobe, 
Marc Fries collecting stones in Antarctica, Captain Blood explaining once 
and for all what a hammerstone is.and on and on and on until the 
entire world unites in a unified quest for meteorites and a greater 
understanding of the Solar System and the Universe. There will be no time 
for wars and bloated military budgets as Arabs and Jews, Christians and 
Muslims, White Sox and Cubs fans will be out looking for meteorites together 
as a Brotherhood of Man. Then a realization will dawn upon humanity. The sun 
will die in a mere 5 billion years, leaving space migration as the only way 
for the human race to survive.


_

Phil Whitmer 


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[meteorite-list] OK Dinner

2011-03-25 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Rob:
That's Treasure of the Sierra Madre Country done there in Durango State. 
You'll need mules, tobacco (to share with the natives), coffee, bacon, metal 
detectors, GPS device, a satellite phone, snake boots, a pair of those 
specially reinforced brush jeans, machete and a sharpening stone and maybe 
some shootin' irons for the sidewinders and dry-gulchers. I can imagine 
sitting around a campfire and Howard goes: Hey you fellas, how about some 
beans? Ya want some beans? Goin' through some mighty rough country 
tomorrow - you better have some beans!


Phil Whitmer
___


From friends near Torreón I have a lead on a recent fall that hasn't been


reported here yet. I'm hoping to get a guide in the desert to help find
something and have a good time too. I'm willing to meet anyone who also
heard of a fall there and are willing to risk the Mexican desert.

I plan to enter Mexico from Tucson through Nogales and make my way through
Chihuahua and then on to Torreón, I have a chemistry project in Torreón and
need to be there anyway so will do some Rocks from Space hounding on the
way.
Rob H

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[meteorite-list] Possible Meteorite Over North Carolina

2011-03-23 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

I like the part about the three propulsion systems:

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110322/ARTICLES/110329902/-1/news06?Title=Possible-meteorite-lights-up-sky-911-phone-linestc=ar

Possible meteorite lights up sky, 911 phone lines

Published: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 9:31 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 9:31 p.m.
A possible meteorite entering the Earth's atmosphere Tuesday evening had 911
centers in Southeastern North Carolina fielding multiple phone calls from
concerned residents.

Lisa Weldrick, a supervisor at the New Hanover County 911 Communications
center, said callers described witnessing what appeared to be a large
meteorite crossing the sky at a steep angle before burning out shortly after
7:30 p.m. She said callers described it as a shooting star and one man said
it looked like it had three propulsion systems.

Authorities in Brunswick and Pender counties also received multiple calls,
with some reports suggesting the meteorite had actually landed, but that
could not be verified Tuesday evening.

Meteorites are usually remnants of asteroids or comets that survive a fall
to the ground through Earth's atmosphere, according to Meteorite.org. But
some have proven to be pieces of moon or Mars that broke off after an impact
event and traveled through space.

- Brian Freskos

[meteorite-list] Heeeeee's Ba-ack

2011-03-20 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum


Mad as a March Hare, nuttier than squirrel feculence.

Happy Lunar Perigee Day!

Phil Whitmer

---


Be sure to click the video

http://www.nbc11news.com/localnews/headlines/Man_Wants_Montrose_Recognized_as_the_Meteorite_Capitol_of_the_World_118308919.html



Rob Wesel
www.nakhladogmeteorites.com
www.facebook.com/Nakhla.Dog.Meteorites
www.facebook.com/Rob.Wesel
-- 
We are the music makers...

and we are the dreamers of the dreams.
Willy Wonka, 1971

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[meteorite-list] Wickramasinghe Canned, Claims Ageism

2011-03-20 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum



Looks like Cardiff has had enough of the screwey panspermia balderdash 
dished out by this guy.


Summum Luna,

Phil Whitmer
-



http://www.sinhalaya.com/news/eng/2news2lanka2.php?go=fullnewsnewsid=729

 Home / Cyber Talks / Chandra Wickramasinghe dismissed from Cardiff 
University in Wales



 Chandra Wickramasinghe dismissed from Cardiff University in Wales
 19 March 2011 06:36 pm

 Walter Jayawardhana, The SINHALAYA News Agency (Los Angeles):
 Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, the chief exponent of the theory 
that planets like earth have been seeded for life by comets has been 
dismissed from his post at the Cardiff University in Wales, United Kingdom.




 The university informed the Sri Lanka born British scientist that they 
are withdrawing funding for his department, the astrobiology center.
 The UK parliament magazine reported the removal of Wickramasinghe in a 
story headlined as Killing the Goose that lays the golden eggs.


 Wickramasinghe believes that life was seeded by comets and asteroids 
and pathogens like virus for influenza also arrived here from deep space 
taking hitch hikes on such astral bodies.
 Professor Wickramasinghe, a long time collaborator with renowned 
astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle was recently drawn into controversy when he 
supported, NASA scientist Richard Hoover who claimed he found fossilized 
evidence of life in three meteorites.


 Wickramasinghe was the only paid worker of the Astro biological Center 
of the University. The other research fellows and associates worked in an 
honorary capacity and it cost the university only about 24,000 US dollars an 
year.
 Wickramasinghe told this correspondent: It is beyond belief that an 
area of work that attracts worldwide attention on a regular basis should be 
targeted by any marketing oriented University. I am convinced that it is 
not a case of funding, but prejudice arising from numerous petty causes.


 The United Kingdom Parliament magazine said few problems in science 
attract more public attention than the search for alien life. The quest for 
how life began, not just on earth but anywhere in the universe must rank 
among the most fundamental problems of science. The magazine said the 
astrobiology center is one of the first ever for research in the subject and 
by the closure the university saved only less than 15k British pounds per 
year. The magazine called it Killing the goose that laid golden eggs. 
Wickramasinghe gave the following interview to Skymania, the British 
website:
 The authorities intimated to me that in view of financial 
stringencies they were looking at areas outside the core curriculum to cut 
and this was one of the targets they had.
 It was only costing them between £14,000 and £15,000 (about $24,000) 
a year to retain me as a part time director of the centre.
 All the other staff, totaling about 12, is honorary research fellows 
and associates who were not costing the university anything at all. They 
have brought a huge amount of credit to Cardiff University and so it amazed 
me that the university would discontinue their support for astrobiology. 
What they did to me is a travesty of normal university practice and I still 
don't understand the motive. I can't believe for a moment that they are 
strapped for £15,000 a year to maintain a centre that has, for good or bad, 
a very high profile internationally. We continue to make headlines in 
various things that we do. Some of our work remains controversial but it is 
in the nature of science to promote controversy as long as it is intelligent 
controversy. That's within the rules of the game. If people agree 100 per 
cent what they're doing then science becomes a bit insubstantial. I just 
fail to understand why they do this. It could be ageism because, at 71, I'm 
over the retirement age by a couple of years, but I've been around for years 
and have published many papers. I was Sir Fred Hoyle's longest-running 
collaborator from the time I was a student at Cambridge.


 He added: I am the astrobiology editor of the Journal of Cosmology. 
The Journal has published work such as on the Hoover meteorites that was 
decidedly controversial but that didn't mean that the papers were not worth 
publishing. I personally invited Hoover to submit his paper because I've 
known him for a long time. If that Hoover stuff had come out the blue I 
would have been suspicious because it would have seemed almost too good to 
be true. He came to Cardiff about a year and a half ago on my invitation 
and brought a sample of the Murchison meteorite. Within sight of me and half 
a dozen other scientists at the Earth sciences lab, he used a hammer to 
crack open the meteorite. He turned an electron-scanning microscope onto a 
freshly cleaned surface of the meteorite and some of these images with 
biological structure jumped out onto the screen. It was pretty impressive.

[meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite

2011-03-18 Thread JoshuaTreeMuseum

The landlords got outlawyered:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/whatever-happened-to-the-lorton-meteorite-/2011/03/04/AB14tMq_story.html

By Neely Tucker, Sunday, March 20, 11:42 AM
When last we heard, Everybody's Favorite Meteorite was locked up in legal
limbo.

The oblong little rock from outer space lighted up the late afternoon sky
across Washington on Jan. 18, 2010, and rocketed into a doctors' office in
Lorton. Moving at a leisurely 200 mph, it crashed into examination room No.
2 in the Williamsburg Square Family Practice, even though it did not have an
appointment.

The startled (but unhurt) doctors, Marc Gallini and Frank Ciampi, donated it
to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, which houses the
world's largest collection of meteorites.

But then their landlords said not so fast: The 2-by-3-inch visitor from the
asteroid belt was estimated to be worth at least $50,000 on the earth-bound
meteorite market, in part because of its dramatic and well-documented
entrance. Thousands of people saw its fireball descent (the museum has a
photograph of the vapor trail), and radar sweeps documented its path across
the region.

The landlords demanded its return. Gallini said of their behavior: It isn't
nice. Legal wrangling ensued.

We are delighted, a year later, that there is a happy ending.

The landlords eventually dropped their claims, the Smithsonian gave the
doctors $10,000 for the Lorton meteorite (its formal name) in early
February, and the physicians donated the check to the charity Doctors
Without Borders last week. Linda Welzenbach, the meteorite collection
manager at the Smithsonian, says it will soon be on public display, though
no date has been set.

We are very happy that it's staying at the Smithsonian, Gallini says. We
felt that where it's belonged since the beginning.

Deniz Mutlu, a member of the family that owns the building, said his only
issue with events was that we got portrayed as the bad guys.

All we wanted to do was donate it to a different institution (Phillips
Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire), where my wife attended school, he said.
The doctors wanted to litigate. They had pro bono counsel. We just let it
go.

The meteorite, which existed for about 4.5 billion years floating around
between Mars and Jupiter, now spends its time in a little plastic box deep
in the Mason-Clarke Meteorite Vault in the Smithsonian. It has thousands of
other little asteroid friends, including three from Mars, to keep it
company.

Holding the Lorton meteorite with blue latex gloves, Welzenbach smiled.

It's going to stay here where everyone can see it.

CURIOUS? Tell us what past Washington Post story or person in the news you
want us to update. E-mail tre...@washpost.com or call 202.334.4208.

Phil Whitmer

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