“On October 8, 2009 about 03:00 Greenwich time, an atmospheric fireball blast was observed and recorded over an island region of Indonesia. The blast is thought to be due to the atmospheric entry of a small asteroid about 10 meters in diameter that, due to atmospheric pressure, detonated in the atmosphere with an energy of about 50 kilotons (the equivalent of 100,000 pounds of TNT explosives).” Quoted from the NASA press release. Fortunately the asteroid exploded in the atmosphere and did not cause any injury or damage.
A resident of Grimsby, Ontario found a smashed windshield in her SUV and then heard reports that researchers were looking for meteorites from a fireball that passed over the town on September 25. A video of the fireball is below.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove just 700 meters after finding the “Block Island” meteorite and spotted another! This one is about 47 centimeters long and has been named “Shelter Island”.
Sixty years ago today the Beddgelert Meteorite crashed through the roof of the Prince Llewelyn Hotel in Beddgelert, Wales. You can read the full story at the BBC website.
NASA has released thousands of new images from the Mars High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. One of the new images is the Pit Crater Chain located south of Arisa Mons.
Google Earth can be a great program to use in the classroom for both lecture demonstrations and student investigations. Google has a getting-started page with links to a number of resources. Google maps provide another opportunity for interactive learning.
NASA needs between $800 million and $1 billion to find and track earth-crossing asteroids. Congress ordered NASA to perform this work but did not provide line-item funding.
“Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence of what might be a planet collision which occurred a few thousand years ago. This planet impact was located about 100 light years from earth, near a star, HD 172555, which is still in the early stages of planet formation.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
Photos of meteorites found by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and Spirit. These robots have found about 1/2 ton of meteorites in their travels in the short time that they have been driving around Mars.
Find a place with a clear view of the entire sky. Dark areas well away from any city lights are best. Avoid places where vehicle headlights will momentarily dazzle you…. more…
The 2009 Perseid meteor shower will peak between 1:30 PM and 4:00 PM EDT on August 12. This is during daylight hours but a smaller peak might occur at about 5:00 AM EDT, August 12.
Large bombardments of meteorites approximately four billion years ago could have helped to make the early Earth and Mars more habitable for life by modifying their atmospheres.
Lonsdaleite diamonds found on California’s Channel Islands are suggestive of a cosmic impact some 12,900 years ago. This impact is one of several theories on how some species became extinct at the end of the ice age.
You can see what might be the world’s first photograph of a meteor taken through a telescope at Mike’s Astro Photos. Instead of being a single streak there are multiple streaks of different size.
“NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has taken the sharpest visible-light picture yet of atmospheric debris from an object that collided with Jupiter on July 19. NASA scientists decided to interrupt the recently refurbished observatory’s checkout and calibration to take the image of a new, expanding spot on the giant planet on July 23.” Quoted from the NASA news release.
“Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark “scar” had suddenly appeared on Jupiter, this morning between 3 and 9 a.m. PDT (6 a.m. and noon EDT) scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, gathered evidence indicating an impact.”
An astronomer observing Jupiter from his home observatory noticed a new dark spot in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter – it looks like the dark spots produced by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact. Phil Plait, author of Bad Astronomy, provides expert commentary on the possible causes of this new dark spot.
An article on the National Geographic website explores how noctilucent clouds (clouds that glow at night), thought to be produced by Space Shuttle launches, have helped researchers better understand the cause of the Tunguska Blast. Was it a comet or a rocky object?
Scientists at the University of Chicago have discovered some interesting properties of sand by photographing it with high speed cameras. Instead of behaving like a grainy solid it behaves more like a fluid.
The Hayabusa spacecraft is returning from its trip to retrieve samples from the Itokawa asteroid. As it enters Earth’s atmosphere, it will be simulating an asteroid impact itself – although the craft is expected to break apart before it reaches the surface.
Geoffrey Notkin of Aerolite Meteorites shares some ideas for anyone interested in starting a meteorite collection. Although many people think that collecting meteorites will be an extremely expensive hobby, they are often pleasantly surprised to learn that lots of nice specimens can be purchased for about the same price as a science textbook.
Billions of years ago, Earth and Mars were hit with a barrage of meteorites. How did this affect the planets? Some speculations are revealed in this article from the Imperial College London.
Another large meteorite has been dug up in Brenham Strewn Field in Kiowa County, Kansas. It is a bit short of Steve Arnold’s world record pallasite found in October, 2005.
Geoffrey Notkin of Aerolite Meteorites has contributed another great article. This one explains stony-iron meteorites, the rarest of the three general meteorite classes.
Want to learn a few secrets about finding meteorites? Your chance arrives on Sunday night at 9 PM ET/PTwhen the “Meteorite Men” premiers on Discovery’s Science Channel.
For thousands of years meteorites have slammed into the earth’s surface, each one carrying an invaluable record of the very beginnings of the solar system. But finding meteorites, some buried over centuries by thick layers of dirt and sediment, is no easy task. This program features meteorite hunters Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold, who have traveled the world for years and have found hundreds of meteorites.
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