Meteorite News 31MAR09

Team Finds Riches in Meteorite Treasure Hunt
(PhysOrg.com) -- Just before dawn on Oct. 7, 2008, an SUV-sized asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded harmlessly over the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan. Scientists expected the asteroid, called 2008 TC3, had blown to dust in the resulting high-altitude fireball.PhysOrg - 2 hours, 59 minutes ago

Fireball streaks over Alberta, Saskatchewan
Roland Dechesne had just left his acreage home south of Calgary on Tuesday morning, when he spotted something unusual in the sky.Daily Herald - Mar 31 2:42 PM

Fireball leaves 'great glow' in Alberta sky
Some early risers in Alberta got a glimpse of a fireball streaking across the sky Tuesday morning.CBC via Yahoo! Canada News - Mar 31 12:46 PM

Residents in Alberta and Saskatchewan spot brilliant fireball in morning sky
CALGARY - People in Alberta and Saskatchewan spotted a brilliant green fireball streak across the sky early Tuesday morning.The Canadian Press via Yahoo! Canada News - Mar 31 11:32 AM

Fireball over Alberta 31MAR09

31MAR09 Meteor/Meteorite News
Albertans claim to have seen 'great glow' in the sky
Some early risers in Alberta have called CBC News, claiming they saw a spectacular flash in the sky that could have been a meteor.CBC Saskatchewan - 34 minutes ago

Southern Albertans claim to have seen 'great glow' in the sky
Several early morning risers in southern Alberta are calling CBC News, claiming they saw a spectacular flash in the sky that could have been a meteor.CBC via Yahoo! Canada News - 2 hours, 2 minutes ago

Unknown object lights up Calgary's sky 31MAR09

Unknown object lights up Calgary's sky
Calgary Herald
March 31, 2009 9:35 AMComments (16)

Calgarians up in the early morning hours Tuesday say they saw an unknown, bright object fly across the city's sky.
The object appeared at around 6:30 a.m., according to witnesses reports. One account said the object was travelling roughly in a north-to-south direction east of the downtown core.
It is unclear at this point what the object was.
A Calgary police duty inspector said at about 7:44 a.m. that his department has not received any calls on the object.
One witness, Donna Thompson, described what she saw as "a meteor breaking up" in an e-mail sent to the Herald.
Thompson, who said she was driving on Highway 2 southbound between Olds and Calgary, said she saw the object at about 6:33 a.m. east of the highway. The flash lasted for about two seconds, Thompson said in her e-mail, before dispersing "like fireworks going off."

Did you see the mysterious object? Send us your pics or comments!
hottips@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Unknown+object+lights+Calgary/1447767/story.html

Fireball streaks across the morning sky

Fireball streaks across the morning sky
660NEWS Radio Calgary, Alberta
Dominic Terry & Alicia Hope-Ross Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 8:30 am
A fireball cruised over our city this morning, surprising early-morning commuters.
Our 660News line has been inundated with callers saying they saw a fireball streak across the sky.
Callers tell us the bright green, yellow and blue streak beamed across the heavens, and then broke apart into six or seven pieces, before disappearing.

The fireball apparently streaked from east to west across, and lit up the sky for about ten seconds.

The last time a meteorite lit up the sky was in November, when a massive space rock came through our atmosphere. Researchers later found fragments of the debris in northwestern Saskatchewan.
http://www.660news.com/more.jsp?content=20090331_102033_5444

East Coast Event--USAF: 'Bright light' not man-made object 31MAR09

USAF: 'Bright light' not man-made object
March 31, 2009 - 4:50am
Kristi King, wtop.com

WASHINGTON - The flashing lights and booming sounds that were attributed to a piece of orbiting space junk (29MAR) were not the result of a man-made object, according to the United States Air Force. ...
More: http://wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1636442

East Coast Event NOT A ROCKET 31MAR09

NOT A ROCKET
by Dr. Tony Phillips
SpaceWeather.com 31MAR09

News reports that a Russian rocket fell over the US mid-Atlantic coast on Sunday evening, March 29th, are probably incorrect. A spent Russian rocket booster did reenter Earth's atmosphere on March 29th, but apparently not over the USA. According to data published by US Strategic Command, the reentry occurred near Taiwan (24° N, 125° E) at 11:57 p.m. EDT. So what were those lights in the sky over Maryland and Virginia two hours earlier? Eyewitness accounts of the Atlantic Coast fireball are consistent with a meteoritic bolide--a random asteroid hitting Earth's atmosphere and exploding in flight.
http://www.spaceweather.com/

East Coast Event May have been Space Junk 30MAR09

Soyuz-FG rocket booster AP/NASA photo, Bill Ingalls

Blame 'space junk' for those flashes and booms
March 30, 2009 - 11:45am
WASHINGTON - The flashing lights and booming sounds that astounded people up and down the East Coast Sunday night...
(read more)...http://wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1636442

WAVY TV Newsroom-Emails about The Mystery in the Sky 30MAR09

Emails about The Mystery in the Sky
Updated: Monday, 30 Mar 2009, 8:49 AM EDT Published : Monday, 30 Mar 2009, 7:32 AM EDT
HAMPTON ROADS, Va.

- Emails received by the WAVY TV Newsroom:
9:51 p.m. - Jamie in Virginia Beach: boom heard at 9:42 pm; shook the house
9:55 p.m. - ...(Read More):
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_wavy_emails_about_the_mystery_in_the_sky_20090330

Mysterious light in sky, loud explosion rattles nerves in Hampton Roads 30MAR09

Mysterious light in sky, loud explosion rattles nerves in Hampton Roads
07:38 AM EDT on Monday, March 30, 2009
13 TVNEWS
(VIRGINIA BEACH) - Emergency crews fanned out across the city looking for whatever caused a loud explosion Sunday night.
At around 9:45 (29MAR09) 911 dispatchers started receiving calls... (Read More and Video)http://www.wvec.com/news/topstories/stories/wvec_local_32909_strange_light.838d22a9.html

Night sky phenomenon remains unexplained 30MAR09

Night sky phenomenon remains unexplained (29MAR09)
Richmond Times Dispatch
By Bill Mckelway
Published: March 30, 2009

No one's sure what caused last evening's flashes in the sky. The National Weather Service said today it has seen no evidence of any naturally occurring phenomenon to explain reports of a bright flash of light in eastern Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.... (More)http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/BOOM30_20090329-234409/244022/

Streaking lights, explosions reported Dorchester County, Md., to the Virginia/North Carolina border 29MAR09

By Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot© March 30, 2009

Were they meteors? A comet? UFOs?
People from Maryland to Hampton Roads heard loud explosions and saw brilliant, streaking lights in the sky Sunday night.
There was no immediate explanation, the National Weather Service office in Wakefield said. The Virginia Beach 911 center had numerous calls waiting just before 10 p.m., a supervisor said.
The Weather Service said reports were made from Dorchester County, Md., to the Virginia/North Carolina border. People said they saw a streak in the sky and heard an explosion.
“It was orange, like a fireball,” said Steve Wagner, who lives in the Great Bridge area of Chesapeake and said what he saw was too close to be a shooting star. Wagner was outside cooking with family when he saw the streak. He said he went inside when his daughter called, then heard an explosion that sounded like thunder.
Chris Wamsley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Wakefield office, said there could be various causes of the explosions and lights. A team of people is looking into what happened, he said.
Lindsey Hosek of the Great Neck area of Virginia Beach was jogging along the water with her dog when the sky lit up, she said.
“The bright light at first terrified me because I thought somebody was shining a light on me, and then I saw it, and I was in complete awe because it was so beautiful,” she said.
Then she saw something that looked like a comet moving low toward the ground; it was blue in front followed by orange and appeared to be the shape and size of a refrigerator.
“It was just so low. It was like where a bird should be,” she said. “It was definitely heading downward.”
She was on the phone with a friend a minute later when she heard an explosion.
Kenneth Martin of Chesapeake’s South Norfolk neighborhood said he saw what appeared to be lightning, then the sky turned blue.
Then, he said, a white ball of fire shot close to the ground and appeared to burn out. He said he’s sure it was a meteor.
“It was so vivid in the sky, blinking,” he said. “It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”
No damage was reported, the Weather Service said.

Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com

"Stars of Asia" Workshop of Asian Star Legends 30MAR09

An upcoming workshop on Asian myths/legends about stars will be held from 11 to 13 May, 2009 in Mitaka, Tokyo.
http://www-irc.mtk.nao.ac.jp/~webadm/StarsofAsia_E/index.php?workshop
The "Stars of Asia" workshop aims to bring, report and recognize good myths/legends related to the stars and universe from Asian countries/regions. This is an important milestone of the IYA 2009 Asian collaborative project "Stars of Asia".
Our final target is to publish attractive books of Myths and Legends about Stars and the Universe of Asia for children, people, and teachers in Asia and the world. For this purpose, we will nominate one member of the Editorial Board from each country/region during the WS. The first Editorial Board meeting will be held in the afternoon of May 13 (Wed).

The WS will be held in the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) headquarters campus, Large Seminer Room: 2-21-1, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan 181-8588.
Location: West boundary of Tokyo city, takes about 1 hour from Tokyo Station by train and bus, or 2 hours from Narita International Airport by limousine or trains. You can see the access route here.

Registration 　
Please access the following web page and fill the form.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pOH0AtAkr9Egd4acSW1OlGA&t=3552819128023078789

After you fill the registration form, please click the last button of the form to send your registration. You are supposed to get an acceptance
e-mail from the workshop secretary within a couple days.

If you don't receive the e-mail, please e-mail to irc@nao.ac.jp.
If you send several registration forms at the same time by mistake, only the latest one will be accepted.
If you have any questions, please send e-mail to irc@nao.ac.jp
Fumi YOSHIDA: Workshop secretary, NAOJ.

Hopper the Meteorite Dog-A Hillsboro collector adds a tale of a meteorite-hunting hound to his stock 29MAR09

A Hillsboro collector adds a tale of a meteorite-hunting hound to his stock
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Oregonian

On Feb. 15 in Austin, Texas, runners struggled through the streets, midmarathon. A news cameraman covering the race happened to catch a fireball streaking through the sky.
The first news reports said a plane had crashed. A helicopter was dispatched to the site.
But there was no plane.
In Hillsboro, Rob Wesel thought he knew exactly what had happened: A meteoroid had streaked to Earth, scattering fragments -- or meteorites -- over Texas farmland.
(continued): http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/margie_boule/index.ssf?/base/living/1238027117161870.xml&coll=7

Time to Solidify an Ocean of Magma -Lunar Study 29MAR09

Time to Solidify an Ocean of Magma
25MAR09
--- A small mineral grain places limits on how long it took the lunar magma ocean to solidify.

Written by G. Jeffrey Taylor
Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology
Cosmochemists are reasonably sure that a global ocean of magma surrounded the Moon when it formed. This was a monumentally important event in lunar history, forming the primary feldspar-rich crust of the lunar highlands and setting the stage for subsequent melting inside the Moon to make additional crustal rocks. Numerous questions remain about the complex array of processes that could have operated in such a huge amount of magma, and about how long it took to solidify the magma ocean. Alex Nemchin and colleagues at Curtin University of Technology (Australia), Westfäilische Wilhelms-Universität (Münster, Germany), and the Johnson Space Center (Houston, Texas, USA) dated a half-millimeter grain of the mineral zircon (ZrSiO4) in an impact melt breccia from the Apollo 17 landing site. They used an ion microprobe to measure the concentrations of lead and uranium isotopes in the crystal, finding that one portion of the grain recorded an age of 4.417 ± 0.006 billion years. Because zircon does not crystallize until more than 95% of the magma ocean has crystallized, this age effectively marks the end of magma ocean crystallization. Magma ocean cooling and crystallization began soon after the Moon-forming giant impact. Other isotopic studies show that this monumental event occurred 4.517 billion years ago. Thus, the difference between the two ages means that the magma ocean took 100 million years to solidify.

Reference:

Nemchin, A., Timms, N., Pidgeon, R., Geisler, T., Reddy, S., and Meyer, C. (2009) Timing of Crystallization of the Lunar Magma Ocean Constrained by the Oldest Zircon. Nature Geoscience, 25 January 2009: doi: 10.1038/NGEO417.

MORE with photos: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Mar09/magmaOceanSolidification.html

Meteorite News 27MAR09

Meteorite hunters in town, seek both witnesses and fallen objects
The Augusta Chronicle Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:32 AM PDT
An Atlanta meteorite hunter was in Augusta on Friday searching for remnants of a meteorite believed to have caused an early morning sonic boom and fireball sighting on March 20.

Meteorite Hunters Closing In On Georgia Fireball, Reward Upped To $20,000
WJBF-TV Augusta Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:00 AM PDT
According to an e-mail from meteorite hunter David Pitt, meteorite hunters are in the CSRA looking for the supposed meteorite that cause last Friday morningâs loud boom. They believe the meteorite came to rest in the Augusta area.

California Bolide 26MAR09

Bolide over California 26MAR09
Photo by Larry Stange- YCSentinel

Moments ago... as I was observing the Orion Nebula through my SN8/LXD (8") Shmidt-Neutonian, I saw a white flash that lit up the aperature of the scope. Upon looking up toward Orion I saw a persistant trail lasting about 2 seconds and quite long (~7 degrees.). I summoned wife to watch telescope while checking the Sentinel camera to see if it got it too. It did! A SLOW and nice Bolide with a double explosion and apparent fragmentation products clearly evident however small they are. The Fireball was heading toward the Nebula but did not quite reach it from my location 35 miles North of Sacramento.

Event Date & Time: 20090326_2108:54 PDT
Duration: 3 seconds.
Double detonation with an eye visible train a full 3 seconds after
Start Azimuth: 213 Deg., End Azimuth: 233 Deg. True North.
Start Elevation: 47 Deg., End Elevation: 32 Deg.
Second image(scaled) shows where telescope was pointed on M42.
It was only a couple of degrees elevation from the 2nd detonation point. With an 8" F4 telescope at 65X, no eye damage would have occured but only one eye would have been useful for night vision the rest of the night. :-)

Click "fit to screen" or "Double size" when Q-Time movie is playing for better detail.


http://www.geocities.com/stange34@sbcglobal.net/YEAR2.html



click latest event & scroll to bottom.

Larry Stange- YCSentinel

2008 TC3, Almahata Sitta meteorite came from F-class asteroid 26MAR09

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=asteroid-meteorite-sudan-fireball

Rock Science: First Meteorites Recovered on Earth from an Asteroid Tracked in Space Fragments in the Sudanese desert make up an "asteroid trifecta":
discovery, prediction and recovery By John Matson Scientific American March 25, 2009

Last October, asteroid monitors at the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona in Tucson picked up a small object on an immediate collision course with Earth. The asteroid was too small to present a real threat - just a few meters across, it stood little chance of penetrating the atmosphere intact. Indeed, it exploded in astratospheric fireball over northern Sudan less than 24 hours later - anevent witnessed by people on the ground as well as the pilots of a KLM airliner- conforming well to astronomer's predictions for its trajectory. But the asteroid, dubbed 2008 TC3, was nonetheless a momentous discovery: Among the countless small objects that strike Earth's atmosphere every year, none had ever been detected and tracked before it impacted. Now the Sudan bolide has yielded yet another first:

Researchers report in Nature today
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7237/full/nature07920.html>that they have recovered 47 meteorites from the object in the Nubian Desert. And lead author Peter Jenniskens, a meteor astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., says that another search completed earlier this month, after the paper was submitted, has upped the meteorite count to about 280.
Astronomer Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Programoffice <http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/> at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory inPasadena, Calif., calls 2008 TC3 "a perfect asteroid trifecta,"referring to "pre-impact discovery, successful impact prediction, and successful sample return." (Yeomans did not contribute to the recovery research, but his office played a leading role in tracking the asteroid's entry <http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K08/K08T50.html>.)

The find allows astronomers to connect the chemical composition of the meteorite to its orbit and reflectance in the sky during tracking. "The holy grail of asteroid science is to uniquely link a specific meteorite and its detailed composition to a specific asteroid type," Yeomans says."And that has now been done without an expensive sample-return mission. "This object, which the study's authors call Almahata Sitta (Arabic for Station Six, a train station in the desert where eyewitnesses saw the fireball and that served as the researchers' base camp), appears to belong to a rare class of bodies called F-class asteroids, which constitute just 1.3 percent of all asteroids. Chemically speaking, Almahata Sitta is a meteorite whose specific composition is unique among meteorite collections. It is a fragile, porous ureilite (a relatively rare kind of olivine- and pyroxene-bearing meteorite)containing graphite and nanodiamonds, among other materials. Its fragility, Jenniskens says, helps explain why it broke apart so high in the atmosphere. With the benefit of the object's rarity as an F-class body and its orbit, tracked backward through time, the researchers established a possible link to a larger F-class asteroid, the 1.6-mile-(2.6-kilometer-) diameter 1998 KU2, which may have originated from the same parent body as Almahata Sitta."The orbit of the asteroid, by just tracking it for 20 hours, is 10,000times better than anything you can get from just observing a fireball Jenniskens says. "What's neat about this is that the big asteroid allows you to extend back in time the evolutionary history." He notes that scientists might be able to pinpoint the specific region of the asteroid belt that 2008 TC3 came from with more F-class asteroids from the same parent body. Even the brief amount of time 2008 TC3 was tracked provided an excellent lead on where to look- and the desert surface provided an ideal surface for turning up the dark fragments. "The entry trajectory was very precisely known," Jenniskens says. The first samples were found in early December by a 45-person search team from the University of Khartoum. (Three scientists from that university and one from the University of Juba in Sudan are among the co-authors of the study.) "We had many eyes and hands," Jenniskens says, trying "to find these."

“Sirente crater”, Italy impact origin disputed 26MAR09

An article in journal of Geophysical Research disputes the origin of the what has been called the “Sirente crater”.The paper discussing this theory is:
Speranza, F., I. Nicolosi, N. Ricchetti, G. Etiope, P. Rochette, L. Sagnotti, R. De Ritis, and M. Chiappini (2009), The “Sirente crater field,” Italy, revisited. Journal of Geophysical Research. vol. 114, B03103, doi:10.1029/2008JB005759
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2008JB005759.shtml

They concluded:
“Our data show that the Sirente crater and the minor depressions are simply the results of human activity and karstic processes, respectively.”
An article that discusses this paper is:
Bondre, N., 2009, Geomorphology: Crater or not? Nature Geoscience. vol 2, no. 3, p. 166.

TOC at
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v2/n3/index.html

PDF file at
http://www.tulane.edu/~kmstraub/Publications/Abrams_09/News_and_Views_09.pdf

Source: Paul H.

2008 TC3 classified as a Ureilite 26MAR09

Carnegie Institution of WashingtonWashington, D.C.
Contact:Douglas Rumble, 202-478-8990
March 25, 2009

Asteroid Impact Helps Trace Meteorite Origins

The car-sized asteroid that exploded above the Nubian Desert last October was small compared to the dinosaur-killing, civilization-ending objects that still orbit the sun. But that didn't stop it from having a huge impact among scientists. This was the first instance of an asteroid spotted in space before falling to Earth. Researchers rushed to collect the resulting meteorite debris, and a new paper in Nature reports on this first-ever opportunity to calibrate telescopic observations of a known asteroid with laboratory analyses of its fragments."Any number of meteorites have been observed as fireballs and smoking meteor trails as they come through the atmosphere," says Douglas Rumble of the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, a co-author of the paper."It's been happening for years. But to actually see this object before it gets to the Earth's atmosphere and then to follow it in -- that's the unique thing."The chemical compositions of asteroids can be studied from Earth by analyzing the spectra of sunlight reflected from their surfaces. This provides enough information to divide asteroids into broad categories, butdoes not yield detailed information on their compositions. On the otherhand, meteorites recovered on Earth can be analyzed directly for chemical composition, but researchers generally have no direct information on what type of asteroid they came from.The asteroid, known as 2008 TC3, was first sighted October 6, 2008, by telescopes of the automated Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson Arizona. Numerous observatories followed its trajectory and took spectrographic measurements before it disappeared into the Earth's shadow the following day. A recovery team led by Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in California and Muawia Shaddad of the University of Khartoum then searched for meteorites along the projected approach path in northern Sudan. They recovered 47 fragments, one of which was selected for preliminary analysisby laboratories, including the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory."This asteroid was made of a particularly fragile material that caused it to explode at a high 37 kilometer altitude, before it was significantly slowed down, so that the few surviving fragments scattered over a large area,"explains Jenniskens, the lead author of the Nature paper. "The recovered meteorites were unlike anything in our meteorite collections up to that point."Carnegie's Andrew Steele studied the meteorite's carbon content, which showed signs that at some point in its past the meteorite had been subjected to very high temperatures. "Without a doubt, of all the meteorites that we've ever studied, the carbon in this one has been cooked to the greatest extent," says Steele. "Very cooked, graphite-like carbon is the main constituent of the carbon in this meteorite." Another form of carbon Steele found in the meteorite, nanodiamonds, may give clues as to whether the heating was caused by impacts on the parent asteroid, or by some other process. Oxygen isotopes in the meteorite give other information about its parent body. Each source of meteorites in the solar system, including planets such as Mars, has a distinctive signature of the three isotopes 16O, 17O, and18O. This signature can be recognized even when other variables, such as chemical composition or rock type, differ. "Oxygen isotopes represent the single most decisive measurement in determining the parental or family groupings of meteorites," says Rumble who performed the analysis. According to Rumble's analysis, 2008 TC3 falls into a category of very rare meteorites called ureilites, all of which may have originally come from the same parent body. "Where that is, we don't know," says Rumble. But because astronomers took spectral measurements of 2008 TC3 before it hit the Earth,and can compare those measurements with the laboratory analyses, scientists will be better able to recognize ureilite asteroids in space. One known asteroid with a similar spectrum, the 2.6 kilometer-sized asteroid 1998 KU2, has already been identified by researchers as a possible source for 2008 TC3. Rumble's work was funded by NASA Cosmochemistry grant NNX07AI48G. Steele was supported by NASA's Sample Return Laboratory Instruments and Data Analysis Program (SRLIDAP) , NASA's Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program , and the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI).

IMAGE CAPTION:[http://www.ciw.edu/sites/www.ciw.edu/files/news/PRRumbleSteeleAsteroid-ImageAMedforWeb.jpg(31KB)]

This fragment of Asteroid 2008 TC3 provided scientists with the first-ever opportunity to calibrate telescopic observations of a known asteroid with laboratory analyses.

2008 TC3 Asteroid monitored from outer space to ground 26MAR09

Public Affairs

Sandia National Laboratories

Media contact: Neal Singer, (505) 845-7078

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 25, 2009

We saw it coming:

Asteroid monitored from outer space to ground impact

Sandians Mark Boslough and Dick Spalding watch it in real time

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Reports by scientists of meteorites striking Earth in the past have resembled police reports of so many muggings -- the offenders came out of nowhere and then disappeared into the crowd, making it difficultto get more than very basic facts.Now an international research team has been able to identify an asteroid inspace before it entered Earth's atmosphere, enabling computers to determineits area of origin in the solar system as well as predict the arrival timeand location on Earth of its shattered surviving parts."I would say that this work demonstrates, for the first time, the ability ofastronomers to discover and predict the impact of a space object," saysSandia National Laboratories researcher Mark Boslough, a member of theresearch team.Perhaps more importantly, the event tested the ability of society to respond very quickly to a predicted impact, says Boslough. "In this case, it was never a threat, so the response was scientific. Had it been deemed a threat-- a larger asteroid that would explode over a populated area -- an alert could have been issued in time that could potentially save lives by evacuating the danger zone or instructing people to take cover. "The profusion of information in this case also helps meteoriticists learn the orbits of parent bodies that yield various types of meteorites.Such knowledge could help future space missions explore or even mine the asteroids in Earth-crossing orbits, Boslough says.The four-meter-diameter asteroid, called 2008 TC3, was initially sighted by the automated Catalina Sky Survey telescope at Mount Lemmon, Ariz., on Oct.6. Numerous observatories, alerted to the invader, then imaged the object. Computations correctly predicted impact would occur 19 hours after discovery in the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan. According to NASA's Near Earth Object program, "A spectacular fireball litup the predawn sky above Northern Sudan on October 7, 2008."A wide variety of analyses were performed while the asteroid was en route and after its surviving pieces were located by meteorite hunters in an intense search.

Researchers, listed in the paper describing this work in the March 26 issueof the journal Nature, range from the SETI Institute, the University of Khartoum, Juba University (Sudan), Sandia, Caltech, NASA Johnson Space Center and NASA Ames, to other universities in the U.S., Canada, Ireland,England, Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Sandia researcher Dick Spalding interpreted recorded data about the atmospheric fireball, and Boslough estimated the aerodynamic pressure and strength of the asteroid based on the estimated burst altitude of 36 kilometers. Searchers have recovered 47 meteorites so far -- offshoots from the disintegrating asteroid, mostly immolated by its encounter with atmospheric friction -- with a total mass of 3.95 kilograms.The analyzed material showed carbon-rich materials not yet represented in meteorite collections, indicating that fragile materials still unknown may account for some asteroid classes. Such meteorites are less likely to survive due to destruction upon entry and weathering once they land on Earth's surface."Chunks of iron and hard rock last longer and are easier to find than clumps of soft carbonaceous materials," says Boslough."We knew that locating an incoming object while still in space could be done, but it had never actually been demonstrated until now," says Boslough."In this post-rational age where scientific explanations and computer models are often derided as 'only theories,' it is nice to have a demonstration like this."Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M.,and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.

IMAGE CAPTIONS:[Image 1:

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2009/images/asteroid_boslough.jpg(4.7MB)]

Don't look back -- it may be gaining on you: Sandia's Mark Boslough discusses aspects of asteroids (Photo by Randy Montoya)

[Image 2:

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2009/images/asteroid_spalding.jpg(1.5MB)]

Dick Spalding examines the night sky (Photo by Randy Montoya)

Meteorite News 26MAR09

Scientists Catch Shooting Star For First Time
CBS 2 Los Angeles Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:16 PM PDT
For the first time scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse into the past when planets formed and an idea how to avoid a future asteroid Armageddon.

Astronomers catch a shooting star
The Times of India Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:47 AM PDT
WASHINGTON: For the first time, US scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse into the past when planets formed and an idea how to avoid a future asteroid Armageddon.

How Did They Catch a Shooting Star?
ABC News Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:21 AM PDT
Astronomers matched a shooting star with a meteorite found on Earth.

Meteorite matches with asteroid
News 24 South Africa Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:18 AM PDT
For the first time US scientists have matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky.

Scientists Track Down Fallen Star Treasure
TechNewsWorld.com Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:12 AM PDT
For the first time, scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse into the past when planets formed and an idea how to avoid a future asteroid Armageddon. Last October, astronomers tracked a small nonthreatening asteroid heading toward Earth before it became a "shooting star."

Jesus Christ's face appears on broken meteorite
Pravda Ru Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:14 AM PDT
Russian scientists noticed the image of Jesus Christ on the meteorite which fell down on the Earth about 100 years ago. The image is identical to the one that appears on the Shroud of Turin.

Meteorite found in Sudan
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:17 AM PDT
For the first time, scientists have matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse into the past when planets formed.

Scientists trace meteorite origins
Spacetoday.net Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:36 AM PDT
Planetary scientists have for the first time linked an asteroid observed before it entered the...

Asteroid's past can help plan future
Seattle Times Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:13 AM PDT
For the first time scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky...

Younger Dryas about 12,900 BP PBS Program to Air

PBS Program to Feature Two UMaine Scientists, March 23, 2009
http://www.umaine.edu/news/view_release.php?x=1237809989

Dr. Kennett gave a talk, which included a lot of research that is either being prepared for publication, been submitted for publication, and in press. Dr. Kennett made a very convincing case that something unique, extraordinary, and instantaneous occurred at the beginning of the Younger Dryas about 12,900 B. calender years ago and could be an event that was extraterrestrial in nature. His idea that it involved multiple, simultaneous Tunguska-like events occurring across the North American continent. He also, discussed and showed pictures of the research on the Greenland ice sheet, carried out by Paul Mayewski, and Andrei Kurbatov. Outcropping along the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheetis a well defined Younger Dryas bed, which consists of dark greydusty ice with clean, white Holocene ice above it and clean, white terminal Pleistocene ice below it. They found the nannodiamonds and other alleged impact indicators right at and only at the basal contact of the Younger Dryas ice layer. They found exactly what would be expected for an layer of meteoritic debris from Tunguska-like events.

This is a show that you do not want to miss.It is in the realm of possibility, that decade or so from now, Dr. West, Dr. Kennett, and other members the YDB Group will likely be known as the "Walter Alvarezes of the Quaternary.

I am now getting together with a couple of archaeologists to do some “prospecting” for nannodiamonds and microspherules.

Some relevant publications:

Haynes, V. C., Jr., 2008, Younger Dryas “black mats” and the Rancholabrean termination in North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. vol. 105 no. 18 6520-6525
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/18/6520.abstract

Did a Significant Cool Spell Mark the Demise of Megafauna?http://uanews.org/node/19409
Kennett, J.D., J.P. Kennett, G.J. West, J.M. Erlandson, J.R. Johnson, I.L. Hendy, A. West, B.J. Culleton, T.L. Jones and Thomas W. Stafford Jr., 2008, Quaternary Science Reviews.vol. 27, no. 27-28, pp. 2530-2545.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.09.006
Kennett, D.J., J. P. Kennett, A. West, C. Mercer, S. S. Que Hee, and L. Bement, 2009, Nanodiamonds in the Younger Dryas Boundary Sediment Layer. Science. vol. 323, no. 5910, p. 94.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5910/94

Written by Paul H

Meteorite News 25MAR09

Astronomers catch a shooting star for 1st time
GMA News Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:09 PM PDT
WASHINGTON - For the first time scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse into the past when planets formed and an idea how to avoid a future asteroid Armageddon.

Asteroid impact helps trace meteorite origins
SpaceRef Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:25 PM PDT
Asteroid impact helps trace meteorite origins

Astronomers catch a shooting star for first time
Boston Herald Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:21 PM PDT
WASHINGTON - For the first time scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse...

Meteorite hunters 'strike gold' in Sudan
New Scientist Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:51 PM PDT
Meteor expert Peter Jenniskens describes what it was like to scour the Nubian Desert for fragments of the first space rock ever observed before it hit Earth

Asteroid tracked from space to Earth for 1st time
CBC Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:35 PM PDT
Scientists for the first time have recovered meteorite pieces from an asteroid first observed in space - a stroke of luck that could prove valuable when tracking space rocks heading on a collision course toward Earth.

Shooting Star Hunt Yields Meteorite
Discovery Channel Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:56 AM PDT
Scientists find a meteorite linked to a recently tracked asteroid's plunge to Earth.

Space 'Rosetta Stone' Unlike Anything Seen Before
SPACE.com Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:25 AM PDT
Meteorite fragments of asteroid that exploded over Sudan found, analyzed.

Asteroid impact helps trace meteorite origins
EurekAlert! Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:25 AM PDT( Carnegie Institution )
The car-sized asteroid that exploded above the Nubian Desert last October was the first instance of an asteroid spotted in space before falling to Earth. Researchers rushed to collect the resulting meteorite debris, and a new paper in Nature reports on this first-ever opportunity to calibrate telescopic observations of a known asteroid with laboratory analyses of its ...

Space 'Rosetta Stone' Unlike Anything Seen Before
SPACE.com via Yahoo! News Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:20 AM PDT
Meteorite fragments of the first asteroid ever spotted in space before it slammed into Earth's atmosphere last year were recovered by scientists from the deserts of Sudan.

Meteorite News 25MAR09

Meteorite returns to Arizona
UPI Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:03 PM PDT
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., March 24 (UPI) -- A meteorite that was stolen from an Arizona museum decades ago has been returned to the Meteor Crater east of Flagstaff, Ariz., officials said.

Students receive NASA training
The Southside Reporter Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:48 PM PDT
Teachers and staff members at Neil Armstrong Elementary School took part in a live video conference with NASA officials at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to become authorized borrowers of lunar and meteorite samples.

A man purchased the basket-shaped rock at a yard sale three years ago for $10.
ABC 15 Phoenix Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:31 PM PDT
It was stolen in 1968, now it is back where it belongs. A Wisconsin resident has returned the "Basket" meteorite to Arizona. The rock began as part of the Canyon Diablo Meteor, which flew 40,000 miles-an-hour.

WI Man Returns Meteorite to Arizona
WEAU Eau Claire Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:56 PM PDT
A meteorite that crashed into Arizona 50,000 years ago has been missing for 40 years, until now.

Wisconsin man returns meteorite to Arizona
WSAW Wausau Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:07 AM PDT
A meteorite that crashed into Arizona 50,000 years ago has been missing for 40 years -- until now. A retired General Motors worker from Wisconsin is the reason the 49-pound meteorite has been returned to Meteor Crater in Flagstaff.

Meteorite returns home to Ariz.
FOX 11 Tucson Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:00 AM PDT
PHOENIX (AP) -- A meteorite that crashed into Arizona 50,000 years ago, but has been missing for 40 years, is back home. The "Basket" meteorite was stolen from Meteor Crater east of Flagstaff in August 1968.
Long-lost meteorite comes home to Ariz.
The Arizona Republic Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:05 AM PDT
In August 1968, an odd-shaped meteorite was stolen from Arizona's Meteor Crater. On Monday, the meteorite found its way home.

Man Returns Meteorite He Got For $10 At Yard Sale
WCCO Minneapolis - St. Paul Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:40 AM PDT
A meteorite that crashed into Arizona 50,000 years ago, but has been missing for 40 years, is back home.

Gift to Chicago's Field Museum establishes world's largest non-government meteorite collection
EurekAlert! Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:17 AM PDT( Field Museum )
The Field Museum in Chicago has become home to the world's largest collection of meteorites held outside a government agency, the result of a gift of funding and meteorites worth more than $10 million.

Meteorite lands back home
Arizona Daily Sun Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:38 AM PDTFor the last few years Tom Lynch has been using a 50-pound rock as a counter weight for his grandson's basketball hoop.

NASA-- Sudan Meteorite Recovery Teleconference to be held 25MAR09

MEDIA ADVISORY : M09-044

NASA Sets Teleconference To Discuss Recovered Meteorites

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference on Wednesday, March 25, at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 UT) to reveal science findings from recently discovered meteorites.

The meteorites originate from a small asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere over the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan on Oct. 7, 2008. The discovery presents scientists with an unprecedented opportunity to understand these nomads of the solar system better.

The briefing participants are:

- Peter Jenniskens, meteor astronomer at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif.

- Steve Chesley, scientist in NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

- Michael Zolensky, cosmic mineralogist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston

- Lucy McFadden, professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland in College Park

Reporters who would like to participate in the call should submit requests for dial-in instructions to Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov.

A replay of the teleconference will be available until May 1 by dialing 888-403-4660.

Supporting visuals will be available online at the start of the event at: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/tc3

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's Web site at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

Impact Geology Drilling Project in Siberia update 23MAR09

Seeking Earth`s Past by Drilling in Remote Arctic
Kansas City InfoZine Mon, 23
Mar 2009 03:01 AM PDT

In mid-March, drilling by paleoclimatologists to retrieve sediment and meteorite-impact rocks from remotest Siberia reached about 213 feet (65 m), about 1 million years into the past. They hope to retrieve the longest continuous climate data ever collected for the Arctic, over 3.6 million years.

Meteorite News 20MAR-21MAR09

Big Bucks For Person With Meteorite Remains
WJBF-TV Augusta Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:45 PM PDT
Up to $10,000 for the first kilo of meteorite.

'Dino Man' thrills Eliot Elementary students
Portsmouth Herald Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:08 AM PDT
ELIOT, Maine and#8212;
Eighteen energetic first-graders in Andrea Rohde's class sat wide-eyed on the Eliot Elementary School gym floor listening to "Dinoman" and touching 65-million-year-old dinosaur-age relics: horns, claws, teeth, a meteorite, ancient...

Group to hunt meteor pieces
The Augusta Chronicle Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:39 AM PDT
AIKEN --- A group of Western meteorite hunters is headed to Augusta, chasing the possibility a meteor hit somewhere in the region early Friday, bringing reports of a loud boom and a fireball in the sky.

Meteorite from Aquilla area sells for $10,000
Austin American-Statesman Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:11 PM PDT
Mike Farmer spent about a month searching for pieces of the meteor that blazed a trail through the Central Texas skies and broke apart over southern Hill County and northern McLennan County last month.

Clues To A Secret Of Life Discovered By NASA Scientists 19MAR09

Clues To A Secret Of Life Discovered By NASA Scientists
Medical News Today
Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:23 AM PDT
NASA scientists analyzing the dust of meteorites have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level. "We found more support for the idea that biological molecules, like amino acids, created in space and brought to Earth by meteorite impacts help explain why life is left-handed," said Dr.

large rock mysteriously falls from the sky in Zimbabwes’ Nkayi village 19MAR09

A large rock mysteriously falls from the sky in Zimbabwes’ Nkayi village
http://www.zimdiaspora.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=894:a-large-rock-mysteriously-falls-from-the-sky-in-zimbabwes-nkayi-village&catid=38:travel-tips&Itemid=274
Thursday, 19 March 2009 15:02
administrator News By Owen Gagare

A LARGE rock, weighing about 100 kilogrammes fell from the “sky,” in Nkayi at the beginning of the month, shocking villagers while at the same time sending the whole district wild with excitement and speculation. The District Administrator for Nkayi, Ms Nosizi Dube, and the Police Officer Commanding Crime in the district, Superintendent Chanetsa Maswi, confirmed the incident.The stone, many villagers now believe. is a gift from God, fell with a thunderous noise in Madlilika Village in the Mjena area of Lukampa under Chief Sikhobokhobo at about 5pm on 1 March.It fell five metres from two villagers, Mr Judia Sibanda and Mr Mncedisi Ngwenya, who were herding cattle in the bush.In interviews on Tuesday, villagers from the area said they heard a thunderous sound coming from the “sky,” and another sound resembling a bomb exploding. “The noise later fizzled into a sound similar to one made by an aircaft on take-off before dying away,” said Mrs Nomsa Ngwenya, a villager. On seeing the rock fall, Mr Sibanda and Mr Ngwenya rushed to their home where they told their father, Mr Spempokuhle Ngwenya, of the incident. Mr Ngwenya told other villagers and together they went to inspect the rock, after which it was agreed that he keeps it since his children had found it.People from the area believe the rock could have been a special gift from God containing very precious minerals while others believe that it could have been sent by their ancestors in a bid to communicate something to them.

They have since vowed to jealously guard it until they get a satisfactory explanation on what it symbolises or what mineral it contains. They have been so determined to keep the rock that they even turned down Chief Sikhobokhobo’s request to have the rock.To date they have only allowed about 15 kilogrammes of the rock to be taken by the Government, through the District Administrator’s Office and security agents, so that it may go for testing. The villagers, however, reluctantly released the rock.

According to Mr Sethukile Ndlovu, a teacher at Mjena Primary School, who also comes from the area, the villagers believe that the unique stone could turn out to be something of great significance.“There is a lot of speculation at the moment but one thing for sure is that no one seems to think it is a bad omen, although people were initially shocked by the incident. A number of people touched the stone and nothing has happened to them but the strongest belief seems to be that it is a precious stone,” he said.“There is belief that it could be containing a very rich mineral while others believe that either God or their ancestors were trying to communicate with them. So, whichever way you look at it, this rock is important to the people of this area and they are keen to find out what it really is. “There is belief that the rock could be a good omen for the area and if there are any benefits from it, the people do not want to lose out.”

Mr Ndlovu said the unique sound, which accompanied the rock made some people believe that there was something supernatural about it.He says the rock was heard in the entire Lukampa area as well as Matshena, Mbuma and Nkalathi areas.

According to Mr Memukeli Khumalo, also from Mjena, Chief Sikhobokhobo sent two of his advisors to have a look at the stone. The chief also requested that the stone be sent to him but the villagers refused. “At that meeting people said they had never seen anything like that. The people refused to let go of the rock because they felt that if it was of significance, then its significance would be here. At that meeting, there was talk of raising spirit mediums so that they could find out what the stone meant but we failed to raise them during the meeting,” he said.When Chief Sikhobokhobo confirmed the incident he alerted the DA who in turn alerted security agents. The Assistant DA, Mr Knowledge Chikanga, then travelled to the area with the police last week.“We wanted to see what it was for ourselves and from a security point of view, establish whether it was of harm or not. The elders from the area held onto the rock but in the end they gave us one piece. We hope to conduct tests on the rock,” said Ms Dube, the DA.The rock weighing 15kg is being kept at Nkayi Police Station.Supt Maswi said the rock would be tested by officials from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to establish its chemical composition.The rock is black and very smooth outside. It is grey inside.

Contacted for comment, officials from the Geological Survey Department said they could not explain the phenomenon since they did not have a geologist in the Matabeleland region although another official said the stone could have come from space. A solid state physicist contacted last night said the object could be a meteorite that dropped into the earth from outer space.“I would say maybe a small meteorite. If it is a stone then it could be a meteorite that dropped from outer space,” said the physicist after the object was described to him.A meteorite is a portion of a meteoroid, which is a solid object in interplanetary space, that survives its passage through the atmosphere and impact with the ground without being destroyed.

According to the online encyclopaedia, www.wikipedia.com, numerous people have over the years reported sounds being heard while bright meteors flared overhead. While some scientists have dismissed the idea of sounds accompanying meteors, given the relatively slow speed of sound, sound recordings made under controlled conditions in Mongolia in 1998 by a team led by Slaven Garaj, a physicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, support the contention that the sounds are real.

Meteorite News 18MAR09

Travel for rock of ages
Leader Community Newspapers Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:25 PM PDT
INTREPID traveller, avid collector, philanthropist, meteorite hunter.

Meteorite lands in Bella Vista - for a day
NWAnews.com Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:29 AM PDT
A 4.6-billion-year-old, 50-pound meteorite landed in Bella Vista on Monday. (Benton County Daily Record)

NASA scientists isolate clues to the secret of life
New Kerala Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:42 AM PDT
Washington, March 18 : NASA scientists analysing meteorite dust have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level.

Clues To A Secret Of Life Found In Meteorite Dust
Science Daily Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:28 PM PDT
NASA scientists analyzing the dust of meteorites have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level.

Staten Island, NY Loud Boom 17MAR09

What Was That?
By MIKE GRAHAM wpix.com
March 17, 2009
STATEN ISLAND (WPIX) --
Staten Island residents had themselves saying "what was that loud boom" last night. Whatever the noise was, it was heard in at least six neighborhoods and rattled nerves and windows at about 7:55p.m. Monday.
Calls to 911 came flooding in and police and firefighters responded but could not solve the mystery of the explosion-like blast. Con Edison said there were no reports of transformer explosions or outages despite the fact that the noise could be heard for miles. Police believe it is possible that fireworks could be to blame. Strange doings indeed in the metropolitan area as last week Westchester and Rockland county residents reported seeing a bright yellow streak in the skies north of the city. Some theorize that may have been a meteorite fireball.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--bigboom0317mar17,0,1312093.story

Staten Island residents report loud boom
March 17, 2009 NEW YORK -
Staten Island residents are trying to figure out what caused a loud boom that was heard in at least six neighborhoods. The explosion-like blast rattled windows of homes at about 7:55 p.m. Monday. It could be heard for miles. Police and firefighters responded to numerous calls to 911, but the loud noise remained a mystery on Tuesday. Police say they found no explosion anywhere in the borough and Con Edison reported no outages or transformer explosions. Police speculated it was caused by fireworks. Last week, witnesses reported big booms of a different sort. A brilliant yellow streak was seen in the skies north of the city, in Westchester and Rockland counties. Some residents believed it was a meteorite fireball.

Meteorite News 16MAR-17MAR09

Meteor dust: Clues to secrets of life
Moldova.org Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:09 AM PDT
U.S. space agency scientists say they've discovered meteor dust contains clues to a long-standing mystery: how life works at its most basic, molecular level.We found more support for the idea that biological molecules, like amino acids, created in space and brought to Earth by meteorite impacts help explain why life is left-handed, said Daniel Glavin of the National Aeronautics and Space ...

Molecules From Space May Have Affected Life On Earth
Universe Today Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:00 AM PDT
A decade ago researchers analyzed amino acids from space, brought to Earth in meteorite which landed in Australia, finding a prevalence of âleft-handedâ amino acids over their âright-handedâ form. Now, a new study of dust from meteorites supports this finding, and offers new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its [...]

Unidentified object from sky hits vehicle in Cottonwood
Anderson Valley Post Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:56 AM PDT
A meteorite may have been what smashed into the windshield of a Cottonwood couple's sport utility vehicle late last month, destroying much of the dashboard and melting some of the glass.

Meteorite hunter: Find near Aquilla nets $10,000
Waco Tribune-Herald Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:32 PM PDTBy Ken Sury

Asteroid to Fly By Earth Wednesday 17MAR09

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2085

Asteroid to Fly By Earth Wednesday
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
March 17, 2009
PASADENA, Calif. -

A small asteroid will fly past Earth early tomorrow morning (Wed., March 18). The asteroid, 2009 FH, is about 50 feet (15meters) wide. Its closest approach to Earth will occur at 5:17 a.m. PDT(8:17 a.m. EDT, 12:17 UTC) at an altitude of about 49,000 miles (79,000kilometers)."This asteroid flyby will be a good viewing opportunity for both professional and amateur astronomers," said Don Yeomans of the Near-Earth Object Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The asteroid poses no risk of impact to Earth now or for the foreseeable future."NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth. The Near Earth Object Observation Program, commonly called "Spaceguard,"plots the orbits of these objects to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.For more information, visit: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

Media contact: DC Agle/JPL 818-393-9011

ASTEROID BUZZES EARTH 17MAR09

Space Weather News for March 17, 2009
http://spaceweather.com
ASTEROID BUZZES EARTH: Newly-discovered asteroid 2009 FH is flying past Earth tonight only 85,000 km (0.00057 AU) away. That's a little more than twice the height of a geosynchronous communications satellite. Experienced amateur astronomers in North America can photograph the 20-meter-wide space rock racing through the constellation Gemini after sunset on March 17th. It should be about as bright as a 14th magnitude star.

Please visit http://spaceweather.com for an ephemeris and updates.

This is the second time in March that an asteroid has flown so close to Earth. On March 2nd, 2009 DD45 passed by only 72,000 km away. Measuring some tens of meters in diameter, 2009 DD45 and 2009 FH are approximately Tunguska-class objects, meaning they pose no global threat but could cause local damage if they actually hit Earth. In years past, asteroids of this size often passed unnoticed, but recent improvements in asteroid surveys have resulted in growing numbers of space rocks caught in the act of near-Earth flybys.

Daylight Fireball Pattaya/Chonburi, Thailand 15MAR09

18.42 Thailand time (early twilight) there was a daylight fireball in the direction of Pattaya or Chonburi (both N of here - pattaya 18 km, and Chonburi about 90 km)Track about 10˚ long, about 20˚ above the horizon, sloping about 20˚ down to the east. Appeared slow, visible tail very short - unspectacular. First evening stars appeared shortly after the event.

Source: Stuart Saunders-Meteorobs
http://lists.meteorobs.org/mailman/listinfo/meteorobs

Astronomers Without Borders Launches New Website 14MAR09

Milky Way under the Iranian Night Sky by www.twanight.org (c)2009

Boundaries vanish when we look skyward We all share the same sky

www.astronomerswithoutborders.org

The star-filled night fascinates us all. People have gazed upward at it in wonder and awe for thousands of years. Regardless of earthly differences in culture, nationality or religion, the heavens are a common meeting ground for all of Earth's inhabitants. The boundaries we place between us vanish when we look skyward. Whoever, whatever or wherever we are, we all share the same sky.
Sharing is an integral part of appreciating the cosmos. Amateur astronomers regularly take their telescopes to public sites and invite others to join them in their exploration of the skies. The veterans relive the thrill of discovery alongside these new space explorers. This passion to share the night sky crosses international borders and cultures as well. The heavens transcend political, ethnic and religious differences. The tensions of everyday life seem to drain away before the wonder and enormity of the skies, and those standing in darkness with heads turned upward never ask people beside them about their origins or beliefs. In that moment, differences are forgotten and we are one beneath the sky we share.It is this bond between people that Astronomers Without Borders hopes to foster. A brief message or the gift of a small telescope can grow into lasting bonds, goodwill and friendships that reach around the world. Understanding replaces ignorance and suspicion. Media images are superceded by the faces of real people. Relationships, support and personal connections supplant stereotypes.
Astronomers Without Borders is people meeting among the heavens. It is only natural to do so. After all, we all share the same sky.

Renewed Interest in in Asteroid Defence 14MAR09

Near Miss Renews U.N. Interest in Asteroid Defence By Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46089

NEO News (03/12/09) UN Report on NEO Threat Mitigation http://planetarydefense.blogspot.com/2009/03/neo-news-031209-un-report-on-neo-threat.html

NEO News (03/07/09) Newsworthy NEAs: 2009DD45 & 2008TN166http://planetarydefense.blogspot.com/2009/03/neo-news-030709-newsworthy-neas.html

Surprise Asteroid Buzzed Earth Monday, National Geographic, March 2, 2009, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090302-asteroid-earth.html

EDITORIAL COMMENT Cosmic Near-miss, Times of India,MArch 11, 2009http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/EDITORIAL-COMMENT--Cosmic-Near-miss/articleshow/4253466.cms

Source: Paul Heinrich

Swedish Fireball of Jan 17 Meteorite Fell in Denmark 13MAR09

Meteoritten, som er blevet fundet på Lolland, er på størrelse med en blomme, og den smuldrer let.
- Foto: NIELS CHRISTENSEN

Forsvundet dansk meteorit er dukket op
Af Elisabeth Astrup og Morten Garly Andersen

Mange danskere i den sydøstlige del af landet observerede i januar en meteor på nattehimlen. Nu er dele af den fundet.
Dele af den meteor, der midt i januar oplyste aftenhimlen i blandt andet de sydøstlige dele af Danmark, er fundet. Det bekræfter Henning Haack, lektor ved Geologisk Museum over for politiken.dk.
Dele af meteoren, meteoritter, er formentlig fundet på Lolland.
17. januar kunne meteoren ses på himlen fra nordtyskland, sydsverige og de sydøstlige egne i Danmark.
Troede den var landet i Østersøen Ud fra de mange henvendelser, som eksperter har modtaget om meteoren har eksperter hidtil vurderet, at meteoritterne var landet et sted i Østersøen syd for Lolland-Falster.
　 Meteorer er sten, som kommer ind i Jordens atmosfære, og som på grund af deres høje hastighed trækker lysende ildspor efter sig på himlen.
http://politiken.dk/videnskab/article668819.ece

Meteor över Skåne slog ner i Danmark 13MAR09

Meteor över Skåne slog ner i Danmark
Delar av den meteor som många människor i södra Skåne, sydöstra Danmark och norra Tyskland såg den 17 januari har påträffats på Lolland, skriver danska tidningen Politiken på nätet.

18 januari 2009 Bröderna fångade meteoren på film 17 januari 2009 Spektakulärt fenomen lyste upp Sydsverige
Delarna, meteoriter, har påträffats på Lolland bekräftar lektor Henning Haack vid Geologiskt museum i Köpenhamn.Hittills har man på grundval av de många uppgifter från allmänheten som kommit in trott att meteoriden störtade i havet söder om Lolland-Falster.

Vägde flera ton
Till TV 4 Nyheterna Öresund säger Haack att fyndet väger ungefär 30 gram – att jämföra med de flera ton som meteoren tros ha vägt då den trädde in i atmosfären. Fyndet gjordes av en tysk meteoritjägare som i tre veckor intervjuat ögonvittnen och sedan ägnat en vecka åt att leta efter nedslagsplatsen. Delarna ska nu ställas ut på Geologisk museum. Det är första gången sedan 1951 som en meteorit hittats i Danmark.

News Source: http://www.expressen.se/1.1497429
Meteor över Skåne slog ner i Danmark
Av TT
Publicerad: 2009-03-13 18:10
http://www.expressen.se/1.1497429

Upcoming International Meteor Conference-Croatia Sep 24-27, 2009

International Meteor Conference
Porec, Croatia, September 24-27, 2009
=====================================
This year, the International Meteor Conference (IMC) will take place from September 24 to 27 in Croatia, at a beautiful location on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, located on the Istrian Peninsula. The IMC is one of the highlights of the meteoric year and a unique opportunity to meet like-minded people from all over the world and to exchange experiences. In particular, you have the opportunity to present your own results or those of your observing group by giving a presentation. In that case, you will see the paper of your presentation published in the proceedings that will be compiled after the event.
Participation in the 2009 IMC costs 160 euro for IMO (International Meteor Organization) members. This sum includes full board in the conference hotel, all sessions, the conference excursion, a 2009 IMC T-shirt, and the conference proceedings. Early registrants get a reduction of 10 euro. You can register by filling out the electronic registration form and paying the registration fee, or making a prepayment of at least 75 euro.
Registration and Conference information: http://www.imo.net/imc2009

Rummager's galactic find turns out to be stolen meteorite 11MAR09

Photo of postcard by Mike Jensen- Jensen Meteorites
http://jensenmeteorites.com/Postcards/CanyonDiablo.htm

Rummager's galactic find turns out to be stolen meteorite
by Jim Stingl
Posted: Mar. 11, 2009
This story begins not in a galaxy far away, but at a Milwaukee rummage sale a few years ago. Tom Lynch paid $10 for an odd hunk of metal he figured might be copper or bronze with potential salvage value.
He had no idea it had dropped from space into the Arizona desert some 50,000 years ago...(more)
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/41069052.html

Cosmos May Produce Meteors Starting March 12th 11MAR09

COSMOS IS FALLING:
The first fragments of shattered satellite Cosmos 2251 are about to reenter Earth's atmosphere. According to US Strategic Command, fragment 1993-036PX will reenter on March 12th, followed by 1993-036KW on March 28th and 1993-036MC on March 30th. These are probably centimeter-sized pieces that will disintegrate in the atmosphere, posing no threat to people on the ground.

more... http://spaceweather.com/

Mystery in Brazílian Sky Calls Attention of Scientists 11MAR09

Brazílian Sky Calls Attention of Scientists
Brazil
Brasília em Tepo Real 10/03/2009 07h01m
-translation by Babelfish
An identified flying object illuminated for some seconds in the night Saturday in the DF and Goiás. Scientists investigate the phenomenon and they do not discard that a meteorite has entered in the atmosphere.
Scientists try to unmask the mystery around the torch of light in green tone that cut the sky of the capital of the country in the Saturday night. Inhabitants of the Federal District described a flying object not identified (Ovni) with a different brightness and behavior of an airplane.
Astronomers believe to be a meteorite or dissolute piece of the Lulin comet. Equipment of the University of Brasilia (UnB) had not yet registered a north-eastern explained signal of Goiás, where inhabitants also say to have witnessed a phenomenon similar to the testified one for the brasilienses.
More in the Post office


Original story:
Mistério no céu de Brasília chama atenção de cientistas
"Brazílian Sky Calls Attention of Scientists"
Brasilia em Tepo Real
Brasília
10/03/2009 07h01m

Um objeto voador não identificado iluminou por alguns segundos a noite de sábado no DF e em Goiás. Cientistas investigam o fenômeno e não descartam que um meteorito tenha entrado na atmosfera terrestre.
Cientistas tentam desvendar o mistério em torno do facho de luz em tom verde que cortou o céu da capital do país na noite de sábado. Moradores do Distrito Federal viram um objeto voador não identificado (Ovni) com brilho e comportamento bem diferentes de um avião.
Astrônomos acreditam se tratar de um meteorito ou pedaço desgarrado do cometa Lulin. Equipamentos da Universidade de Brasília (UnB) registraram um sinal ainda não explicado no nordeste de Goiás, onde habitantes também dizem ter presenciado um fenômeno parecido com o testemunhado pelos brasilienses.
Leia mais no Correio

http://www.emtemporeal.com.br/index.asp?area=2&dia=10&mes=03&ano=2009&idnoticia=71448

Source: Gabriel, Brazilian Society of Meteorite Study, Brazil
Thank you, Gabriel!

Second Loud Boom in NY 10MAR09

Another mystery boom wakes people in region
A second loud boom may have rattled windows in parts of Rockland County yesterday - and its origin remains as mysterious as the explosive noise that blew through southern Westchester County over the weekend.The Journal News - Mar 10 5:37 PM

Westchester County, New York Meteor? 9MAR09

Doppler image of NY 7MAR09 meteor debris by Marc Fries

Meteorite may have hit Westchester County, NY
Pocono Record
Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:58 AM PDT
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Thought your neighbor's party was getting way out of hand?

What's that sound? Possible NY Meteorite
News Channel 34
Binghamton
Mon, 09 Mar 2009 07:16 AM PDT
White Plains, N.Y. (AP) - Thought your neighbor's party was getting way out of hand? A loud "boom" heard in Westchester County over the weekend might have been a meteorite.

Big Boom In White Plains May Have Been Meteorite
WCBS-TV
New York
Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:00 AM PDT
Thought your neighbor's party was getting way out of hand? A loud "boom" heard in Westchester County over the weekend might have been a meteorite. The sound early Saturday has been likened to a window-rattling explosion.

Meteorite May Have Hit Westchester County
WCBS 880
New York
Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:54 AM PDT
Thought your neighbor's party was getting way out of hand?

Possible meteorite in Westchester County
WRGB
Albany
Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:52 AM PDT
A loud "boom" heard in Westchester County over the weekend might have been a meteorite. The sound early Saturday has been likened to a window-rattling explosion.

Loud boom over Westchester might have been meteor
The Journal News
Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:40 AM PDT
The loud boom heard throughout southern Westchester early Saturday morning might have been a meteorite tearing through the atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour.

Meteor? sighting over Fort St. John, B.C.,Canada 9MAR09

Strange sighting in the sky above Fort St. John
Energetic City.CA
Monday, March 2, 2009

There's no official confirmation yet of anything unusual in the area but residents east of Fort St. John report seeing something strange falling from the sky on Saturday afternoon.
Vincent Miller says he saw it at 1:17pm , while travelling north at on road 239...
[Hear audio]
Mr. Miller says it all happened very quickly but it looked like it came down less than five miles away.
However, he's heard no reports of any sitings of debris on the ground.
He puts his farm about 14 miles straight east of Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada, on the north side of the Beatton River.

Exploring the Pingualuit Impact Crater 7MAR09

Photo by Charles O`Dale for the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society

April, 9, 2009

Exploring the Pingualuit Impact Crater

by Charles O’Dale, Ottawa Centre (codale0806@rogers.com)

Introduction

The Pingualuit Impact Crater, located in northern Quebec at N 61° 16´ W 73° 40´, was the first structure in Canada for which an impact origin was proposed. The structure is classified as a simple crater, 2.8 km in diameter and 400 m deep. It is slightly larger than the smallest crater on the Moon that is observable from our planet (Meen 1951). The inner slopeof the 3.4-km-diameter rim averages 30° and the outer slope averages 10°. The rim extends to a diameter of ~4.6 km and continues gradually outward to merge with the surrounding terrain at ~6.6 km. The peak of the rim is ~160 m above the inner lake level and 120 - 150 m above the regional terrain. The lake within the crater, with a depth of over 250 m, is one ofthe deepest in North America. It is also one of the clearest in the world with a transparency of over 35 m. Dating using the isotope ratio 40Ar-39Ar (Grieve 2006) gives the impact structurean age of 1.4 ± 0.1 Ma. The Pingualuit Impact Crater was formerly named New Quebec Crater and, previous to that, Chubb Crater.

NOTE: Whole article is to be published soon and I will add more photos later.