03 February 2007

2007 Meteor/Meteorite News-UPI/AP newswires

2007 Meteor/Meteorite News
Sources: -UPI/AP newswires

Asteroid nears Mars at 8 miles per second
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- An asteroid on a likely collision course with Mars could give scientists a look at what lies beneath the surface of the red planet.

Mars capable of forming organic compounds
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. space scientists have determined Mars, as well as similar planets, are capable of forming organic compounds -- the building blocks of life.

Watercooler Stories
Man eats record 103 burgers ... $53,000 charge at strip club challenged ... - Meteorite fails to draw high bids ... Recycled metal hippo stolen in New Zealand ... Watercooler stories from UPI.

Meteorite fails to draw high bids
NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A piece of famous space rock -- a meteorite -- was pulled from a New York auction after it failed to generate high enough bids.


2 big meteorites don't sell at NY auction, but battered mailbox nets nearly $83K
Author: RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer
Date: October 29, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two of the world's most famous meteorites failed to attract buyers at an auction Sunday, while an ordinary metal mailbox zapped by a falling space rock in 1984 was sold for the unearthly price of nearly $83,000.
A 30-pound chunk of the Willamette Meteorite, which was found in Oregon in 1902 and has been steeped in ownership controversies for more than a century, was offered by Bonhams auction house at an estimated value of $1.3 million but was withdrawn from sale after...
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Watercooler Stories
College night -- bring the little ones ... Better pull your pants up in this Ga. Town ... For some, science confirms shroud faith ... Pair became successful meteorite hunters ... Watercooler stories from UPI.

Pair became successful meteorite hunters
SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Two men who met at a gem show years ago have parlayed their shared interests to become a successful team of U.S. meteorite hunters.


NASA launches spacecraft on double-encounter mission in asteroid belt
Author: MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
Date: September 27, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
NASA took aim at the heart of the asteroid belt Thursday, launching a spacecraft on a nearly decade-long journey that will include two never-before-attempted close encounters.
The scientific probe Dawn is on a 3 billion-mile course that will have it meeting up with an asteroid named Vesta in 2011 and a dwarf planet called Ceres in 2015. They are the biggest members of the crowded asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and scientists hope that by studying them up close, some of the...
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Comet impact might have caused extinctions
BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led team of scientists suggests a comet or meteorite exploding near Earth about 12,900 years ago was responsible for prehistoric extinctions.


Correction: Peru Meteorite story
Date: September 21, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
In a Sept. 19 story about a crater in Peru, The Associated Press misidentified an expert who said it was caused by a meteorite. His name is Jose Ishitsuka, not Isisuka. He is an astrophysicist with the Geophysical Institute of Peru, not a geologist with Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute. ...
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Experts now say a rare meteorite likely caused Peru crater
Author: EDISON LOPEZ Associated Press Writer
Date: September 20, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Peruvian astronomers said Thursday that evidence shows a meteorite crashed near Lake Titicaca over the weekend, leaving an elliptical crater and magnetic rock fragments in an impact powerful enough to register on seismic charts.
As other astronomers learned more details, they too said it appears likely that a legitimate meteorite hit Earth on Saturday -- an rare occurence. The Earth is constantly bombarded with objects from outer space, but most burn up in the atmosphere and never reach...
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Possible Peruvian meteor strike reported
LIMA, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Officials Thursday were investigating claims as many as 200 people became ill after a possible meteorite strike in a remote region of Peru.


Officials confirm meteorite struck Peru but question whether it sickened people
Author: MONTE HAYES Associated Press Writer
Date: September 19, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A fiery meteorite crashed into southern Peru over the weekend, experts confirmed on Wednesday. But they were still puzzling over claims that it gave off fumes that sickened 200 people.
Local residents told reporters that a fiery ball fell from the sky and smashed into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border Saturday morning. Jose Mechare, a scientist with Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute, said a geologist had confirmed that it was a...
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Peru investigates reports that meteorite causing illnesses
Date: September 19, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Officials are investigating unconfirmed reports that a meteorite crashed in southern Peru over the weekend and caused dozens of people to become sick.
Local media have reported eyewitness accounts of a fiery ball falling from the sky and smashing into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border Saturday morning. Officials have said it was a meteorite. Jorge Lopez, director of the health department in the southern state of Puno, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that 200 people...
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Correction: Meteorite story
Date: September 18, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
In a story Sept. 14 about the historic Willamette Meteorite, The Associated Press misspelled the first name of a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Her name is Siobhan Taylor, not Siobahn. ...
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American Indian group says planned sale of meteorite piece is 'insensitive'
Author: LARRY McSHANE Associated Press Writer
Date: September 14, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The Willamette Meteorite is a sacred icon to the Oregon-based Clackamas Indians. The tribe has its own name for the massive space rock, Tomanowas, and holds an annual religious ceremony with the meteorite in its home at the American Museum of Natural History.
Now a chunk of the 10,000-year-old meteorite is up for auction, and the tribe is denouncing its sale. But the owner of the fragment, noting the vast majority of the 15.5-ton meteorite remains untouched, said his sympathy for the...
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Debris from meteorite impact 1.85 billion years ago in Canada found in Minnesota
Date: July 15, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A forest fire has led to a chance discovery of debris from the impact of a meteorite 1.85 billion years ago, more than 450 miles away at Sudbury, Ontario.
Geologists had scheduled a field trip in May along the Gunflint Trail in northeastern Minnesota, but most areas they wanted to explore were closed because of a wildfire that charred more than 118 square miles. Geologist Mark Jirsa of the Minnesota Geological Survey went up the trail to scout new locations and, in a spot he had never...
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The Almanac
UPI almanac for Saturday, June 30, 2007.

Object that fell from sky was a piece of space junk
Author: JANET FRANKSTON LORIN Associated Press Writer
Date: May 11, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home earlier this year was not a meteorite after all, but probably a piece of space junk, scientists said Friday.
The silvery object was made of a stainless-steel alloy that does not occur in nature and is most likely "orbital debris" -- part of a satellite, rocket or some other spacecraft, said Rutgers University geologist Jeremy Delaney. "There's huge amounts of...
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Meteorite recovered after Kansas tornado
GREENSBURG, Kan., May 8 (UPI) --

UPI NewsTrack TopNews
News from United Press International, around the world around the clock ...

Chemist: Mystery rock from a meteorite
SEATTLE, April 27 (UPI) -- A University of Washington engineer said a mystery rock -- said to be from an unidentified flying object -- is probably a meteorite fragment.


Mammoth, meteorite or bezoar? Christie's is offering all 3 in unusual auction
Author: MARIE-LAURE COMBES Associated Press Writer
Date: April 16, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
For sale: a 15,000-year-old Siberian mammoth skeleton.
On Monday, Christie's auction house in Paris, which usually sells fine art and furniture, is hosting an unusual auction of paleontological curiosities, including several prehistoric mammals. Skeletons of a 10,000-year-old, 13.5-foot-long rhinoceros and a 7.5-foot-high cave bear are also going under the hammer. The skeletons are currently owned by a private collector, but buyers may include museums or artists, said...
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Flaming objects miss jet in air over New Zealand; experts say they were likely meteors
Author: EDUARDO GALLARDO Associated Press Writer Date: March 28, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Pilots of a Chilean commercial jetliner spotted flaming objects falling past their plane as it headed for a landing in New Zealand, airline officials said Wednesday.
U.S. experts suggested the objects were likely meteors burning up in the earth's atmosphere and questioned Australian media reports they were probably pieces of a falling Russian spacecraft. LAN Chile airline said in a brief statement that the pilot, who was not identified, "made visual contact with...
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Tyrannosaurus skull, 10-foot mammoth tusk auctioned in New York
Author: MARCUS FRANKLIN Associated Press Writer
Date: March 26, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The skull of a large carnivorous dinosaur and the tusk of a shaggy-coated mammoth from the Ice Age sold for a combined $372,000 at a natural history auction Sunday, auction officials said.
The auction, which also featured a meteorite and other items, brought in a total of $1.55 million. "This is the highest-grossing collection of natural history sold at auction since such sales figures began in 1995," said I.M. Chait Auctioneers' director of natural...
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ESA student winners identified
PARIS, March 20 (UPI) --

Research team seeks organist
LONDON, March 12 (UPI) --

Suspected meteorite crashes through bedroom window of home in Bloomington, Ill., experts say
Date: March 7, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
When Dee Riddle heard the breaking glass, she thought her bathroom mirror must have shattered.
What she found was quite different: A grayish metallic object about the size of a deck of cards had crashed through a bedroom window and into a computer table. Intrigued scientists from nearby Illinois State University said it was likely a meteorite.
"In my 36 years of investigating meteorite calls, this looks like the real thing," said Robert Nelson, a geology...
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Space station moves to avoid debris
MOSCOW, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. and Russian officials changed the International Space Station's orbit to keep it clear of debris from a satellite destroyed by China, a report says.

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Report says man causing global warming ... Prosthetic arm feels more real ... Woman dies after mammogram mistake ... Space station moves to avoid debris ... News from United Press International.

Meteorite goes on exhibit for a day
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A meteorite said to be "as old as the solar system itself" went on display for the first time since crashing into the roof of a New Jersey home Jan. 2.

It came from outer space; N.J. finds a meteorite in the bathroom
Author: CHRIS NEWMARKER Associated Press Writer
Date: January 10, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A hole in the roof, a bathroom full of debris and a strange, silvery rock near the toilet -- the Nageswaran family soon realized they needed an astronomer, not a contractor, to fully explain what damaged their house.
Scientists determined it was a meteorite that crashed through the roof of their central New Jersey home more than a week ago. While extraterrestrial rocks fall to the Earth with some regularity, it is rare for them to strike homes.
"The fact that...
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Object from sky ID'd as meteorite
FREEHOLD, N.J., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The mysterious object that came through the roof of a house in New Jersey, gutting a second-floor bathroom, was a meteorite, experts said Friday.

Scientists say object that fell into home in NJ is a meteorite; landed in homeowner's bathroom
Date: January 5, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A mysterious rocklike object that crashed through the roof of a home and landed in the bathroom was a meteorite, experts said Friday.
For now, scientists are calling the dense metallic object "Freehold Township" after the place where it fell. It's about the size of a golf ball but weighs about 13 ounces, as much of a can of soup. Magnets held near it are attracted to it. Rutgers University geologists Jeremy Delaney, Gail Ashley and Claire Condie and...
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Watercooler Stories
'Spaceship Earth' sculpture crashes ... Unusual rock may be a meteorite ... Professors accused of fast test taking ... Manatee rescued off Texas coast ... Watercooler stories from UPI.

Mysterious metallic object crashes through roof of house in New Jersey, puzzles police
Author: CHRIS NEWMARKER Associated Press Writer
Date: January 4, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Authorities were trying to identify a mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a house in eastern New Jersey.
Nobody was injured when the golf-ball sized object, weighing nearly as much as a can of soup, struck the home and embedded itself in a wall Tuesday night. Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft. The rough-surfaced object, with a metallic glint, was displayed Wednesday by police.
"There's some great...
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Unusual rock may be a meteorite
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J., Jan. 4 (UPI) --

19 December 2006

Times of India- Meteor/Meteorite News 2006

Times of India 2006
Meteorite Related Articles

GSI, PRL get only crumbs from meteorite shower
Ahmedabad
9 Aug 2006 ... AHMEDABAD: The Geological Survey of India (GSI) was shocked to find that most of the meteorite fragments it collected from villagers through ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1879050.cms-
53k- -Cached- Similar Pages

Meteorite shower in Gujarat - India - The Times of India
2 Aug 2006 ... Fragments of meteorites (a stony or metallic mass of matter that has fallen to the earth's surface from outer space) did fall in and around ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1838636.cms-
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Meteorite buzz keeps city awake
India - The Times of India
RAJKOT: Was it raining 'meteorite fragments' again on Wednesday night and that too in one particular locality? When excited residents, including mayor ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1849992.cms-
43k- -Cached- Similar Pages

Spectacle of meteorite showers in Gujarat
Science - Health
...Meteoric objects were found scattered in many part of Saurashtra and Kutch regions, though there were no reports of any injuries after the meteorite shower. ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1838415.cms-
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Astronomers’ delight: Meteorite recovered
Science - Health
...1 Aug 2006 ... BHUJ: It's official — fragments of meteorites did fall in and around Vandhiya village of Bhachau taluka near Surajbari bridge linking Kutch ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1838532.cms-
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Valsad meteorite causes stir
Ahmedabad - Cities - The Times of India
AHMEDABAD: As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Sylacauga meteorite impact -- when a meteorite hit this little known town in the US and made ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/940544.cms-
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Meteorite shower: Villagers panic, fear more ill
Ahmedabad
...RAJKOT/BHUJ: They are still under the shadow of the devastating earthquake of 2001. And, when the meteorite shower struck on Monday night, ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1838472.cms-
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Valsad meteorite causes stir
Ahmedabad-Cities-The Times of India
This nine pound meteorite had broken through the ceiling of her house. Little did she know that this incident would earn her town – Sylacauga a permanent ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Ahmedabad/Valsad_meteorite_causes_stir/articleshow/msid-940544,curpg-2.cms-
Cached- Similar Pages

GSI to study meteorites shower in Kutch
Science-Health & Science ...GANDHINAGAR:
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has despatched its officials to take custody of the meteorites that fell in Kutch region of Gujarat on ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1838394.cms-
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Villagers worship 'celestial' rocks
Ahmedabad - Cities - The ...RAJKOT/BHUJ:
The fear of an impending doom brought about by the meteorite shower on Monday has been replaced by a religious fervour, with superstitious ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1849719.cms-
51k Cached- Similar Pages

Mail to a friend
GSI, PRL get only crumbs from meteorite shower. Subject. Receiver's Email. ( For more than one recipient, type addresses seperated by commas ). Your Name ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/mail/1879050.cms-- -Cached

Mail to a friend
Two more pieces of meteorite found in Orissa. Subject. Receiver's Email. ( For more than one recipient, type addresses seperated by commas ). Your Name ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/mail/212496.cms-
15k- -Cached- Similar Pages

Mail to a friend
Meteorite buzz keeps city awake. Subject. Receiver's Email. ( For more than one recipient, type addresses seperated by commas ). Your Name. Your Email ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/mail/1849992.cms
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GSI to study meteorites shower in Kutch
Health/Sci-The Times of India
Goyal said since most of the meteorites that hurtle towards the earth at a speed of more than 6000 kms per hour they get burnt in the space itself as their ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/GSI_to_study_meteorites_shower_in_Kutch/articleshow/msid-1838394,curpg-2.cms-
Cached

It could be radioactive, warns GSI scientist-Health/Sci
The Times ...BHUJ: A day after residents from Kutch picked up meteorite pieces that had ... Goyal said, "There is every possibility the meteorites may be radioactive. ...http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1838539.cms-
Cached

Scientists celebrate 50 years of Apsara-India
The Times of India... research reactor Apsara, which has played a key role in research in areas as diverse as forensic science and the study of lunar and meteorite fragments. ...http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1855491.cms-
Cached

Two more pieces of meteorite found in Orissa-Kolkata -Cities-The ...
KENDRAPADA: Two more pieces of meteorite were found on Monday in Kendrapada district by the villagers of Sanamarichi of Rajanagar block and Subarnapur ...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-212496,prtpage-1.cms--Cached

11 November 2006

2006 Meteor/Meteorite News UPI/AP newswires

2006 Meteor/Meteorite News-
Sources /text-UPI/ AP newswires


Turkmen president spread his name, portrait and musings throughout country
Author: The Associated Press
Date: December 21, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A look at some of the notable initiatives of the late Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled Turkmenistan for two decades:
-- Named himself Turkmenbashi, or "Father of all Turkmen." -- Also gave the name Turkmenbashi to a major Caspian port, the month of January, Central Asia's largest mosque, an amusement park, the country's highest mountain and a meteorite that landed on Turkmen territory.
-- Banned opera and ballet, and started a...
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Study: Samples of comet dust show a mix of materials from distant reaches of the solar system
Author: ALICIA CHANG AP Science Writer
Date: December 14, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Detailed observations from the first comet samples returned to Earth are debunking some of science's long-held beliefs on how the icy, celestial bodies form.
Scientists expected the minute grains retrieved from a comet Wild 2 to be made up mostly of interstellar dust -- tiny particles that flow through the solar system thought to be from ancient stars that exploded and died. Instead, they found an unusual mix of primordial material as if the solar system had turned itself...
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Scientists find unusual meteorite in Kansas field using technology that might aid them on Mars
Author: ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated Press Writer
Date: October 17, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists were excited when they pulled a 154-pound meteorite from deep below a Kansas wheat field, but what got them most electrified was the way they unearthed it.
The team Monday uncovered the find 4 feet under a meteorite-strewn field using new ground-penetrating radar technology that someday might be used on Mars. It was that technology which pinpointed the site and proved for the first time that it could be used to find objects buried deep in the ground and to make an accurate...
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Meteorites used to study solar activity
OULU, Finland, Sept. 26 (UPI) --

Unusual meteorite found in Antarctica
CLEVELAND, Sept. 19 (UPI) --

Meteorite plummets through Norwegian roof
MOSS, Norway, Aug. 9 (UPI) --


Ten years later, few experts believe Mars meteorite contains traces of life
Author: MATT CRENSON AP National Writer
Date: August 5, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
It was a science fiction fantasy come true: Ten years ago this summer, NASA announced the discovery of life on Mars.
At a Washington, D.C., news conference, scientists showed magnified pictures of a four-pound Martian meteorite riddled with wormy blobs that looked like bacterial colonies. The researchers explained how they had pried numerous clues from the rock, all strongly supporting their contention that microscopic creatures once occupied its nooks and crannies. It was arguably the...
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Meteorite dust showers Norway outhouse
OSLO, Norway, July 17 (UPI) --


Discovery astronauts to look for dings in shuttle caused by space junk
Author: SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer
Date: July 13, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Discovery's crew will check the shuttle's wing for damage from space junk or tiny meteorites in a first-of-its-kind procedure Friday, two days after a spacewalking astronaut accidentally let go of a spatula that now circles Earth with other orbital trash.
NASA said the spatula posed no risk to the crew, but it planned to use a 50-foot extension boom attached to the shuttle's robotic arm to look for damage from micrometeoroids, the dust-sized particles...
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Second meteorite in a month hits Norway
STAVANGER, Norway, July 10 (UPI) --

The Almanac

Norwegian meteorite impact site located
OSLO, Norway, June 12 (UPI) --

Large meteorite hits northern Norway
OSLO, Norway, June 9 (UPI) -- A large meteorite struck in northern Norway this week, landing with an impact an astronomer compared to the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima.


Meteor in Antarctica may have caused mass extinction 250 million years ago
Author: MICHAEL CASEY AP Environmental Writer
Date: June 8, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A massive crater in Antarctica may have been caused by a meteor that wiped out more than 90 percent of the species on Earth 250 million years ago, a geologist said.
The 300-mile-wide crater lies hidden more than a mile beneath a sheet of ice and was discovered by scientists using satellite data, Ohio State University geologist Ralph von Frese said Wednesday. Von Frese said the satellite data suggests the crater could date back about 250 million years to the time of the Permian-Triassic...
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Australian fossils offer evidence of life from 3.4 billion years ago
Author: SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer Date: June 7, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The best evidence yet for the oldest life on Earth is found in odd-shaped, rock-like mounds in Australia that are actually fossils created by microbes 3.4 billion years ago, researchers report.
"It's an ancestor of life. If you think that all life arose on this one planet, perhaps this is where it started," said Abigail Allwood, a researcher at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology and lead author of the new study. It appears Thursday in the journal...
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Soaring prices for meteorites as the space rocks penetrate art world
Author: PAT MILTON Associated Press Writer
Date: April 12, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A meteorite believed to have come from an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter sold for $93,000 at an auction of rare space sculptures.
The 355-pound chunk of iron, thousands of years old and discovered in the Campo del Cielo crater field in Argentina, was one of 10 meteorites that went for high prices at a Bonhams' New York natural history auction. The pristine meteorite, known as "Valley of the Sky," was purchased Tuesday by a private collector in...
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Lunar rocks suggest meteorite bombardment
CORVALLIS, Ore., April 12 (UPI) -- New studies indicate many of the lunar rocks returned by the Apollo space missions show signs of melting about 3.9 billion years ago.


Rare aesthetic meteorites set for auction block
Author: PAT MILTON Associated Press Writer Date: April 10, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The art world's interest in meteorites has skyrocketed, with collectors and curators buying up the outer-space rocks for display in museums, galleries or on a cocktail table at home.
Meteorite hunters will get a chance to bid for some of the world's most coveted extraterrestrial rocks when they go on sale Tuesday at Bonhams' New York natural history auction. Among the highlights are a small slice of the 15.5-ton Williamette, the crown jewel of...
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Mars rock study is inconclusive
CORVALLIS, Ore., March 23 (UPI) --

Largest crater discovered in Sahara
BOSTON, March 4 (UPI) -- Boston University researchers have discovered the remnants of the largest crater of the Great Sahara of North Africa.

Bacteria survived Columbia explosion
SAN MARCOS, Texas, Feb. 22 (UPI) --

Jockstrip: The world as we know it
Taking a leak could be less of a crime... Asian with rude-sounding name changes it... Students unmask fake duke... Thief gets sample of moon rock... Rubik's cube record set at 11.13 seconds... The world as we know it from UPI.

Thief gets sample of moon rock
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Jan. 16 (UPI) --

03 February 2005

2005 Meteor/Meteorite News-UPI/AP newswires

2005 Meteor/Meteorite News-
Sources: UPI/AP newswires

DEC 2005-JAN 2005

Studies challenge notion that Mars once was warm and wet
Author: ALICIA CHANG AP Science Writer
Date: December 21, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two new studies are challenging the notion that the desolate Martian plains once brimmed with salty pools of water that could have supported some form of life.
Instead, the studies argue, the layered rock outcrops probed by NASA's robot rover Opportunity and interpreted as signs of ancient water could have been left by explosive volcanic ash or a meteorite impact eons ago. That would suggest a far more violent and dry history than proposed by the scientists operating...
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Only two larger ones of...
challenge notion that Mars once was warm and wet
Author: ALICIA CHANG AP Science Writer
Date: December 21, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two new studies are challenging the notion that the desolate Martian plains once brimmed with salty pools of water that could have supported some form of life.
Instead, the studies argue, the layered rock outcrops probed by NASA's robot rover Opportunity and interpreted as signs of ancient water could have been left by explosive volcanic ash or a meteorite impact eons ago. That would suggest a far more violent and dry history than proposed by the scientists operating...
Geologists: No Mars water, just meteorites
TEMPE, Ariz., Dec. 21 (UPI) --

DEC

Huge meteorite discovered underground in area of Kansas rich in space rock
Date: November 11, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A rare 1,400-pound meteorite was discovered seven feet underground by a collector in an area long known for producing prized space rocks. Using a metal detector mounted on a three-wheel vehicle, Steve Arnold of Kingston, Ark., found the huge meteorite two weeks ago in Kiowa County's Brenham Township in southern Kansas. The meteorite is classified as an oriented pallasite, a type noted for a conical shape with crystals embedded in iron-nickel alloy. Only two larger ones of...
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NOV

Meteorites may have caused ancient lava
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 28 (UPI) --

OCT

Meteorite unlocks solar system secrets
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 27 (UPI) --

SEP

AUG
Red planet may not have been hot
PASADENA, Calif., July 22 (UPI) --

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Drilling set at Chesapeake Bay meteor site ... British butterfly popuation is decreasing ... U.S. healthcare costs are double Canada's ... Prostate treatment with low side effects ... News from United Press International.

Drilling set at Chesapeake Bay meteor site
BALTIMORE, July 18 (UPI) --


Norwegian fjords, world's largest meteorite crater among new U.N. protected sites Author: ALEXANDRA ZAVIS Associated Press Writer Date: July 14, 2005 Publication: Associated Press ArchiveNorwegian fjords and the world's oldest and largest meteorite crater in South Africa were among seven natural wonders added Thursday to the United Nation's list of protected World Heritage Sites. The additions were made at the 29th session of the U.N. Environmental, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage Committee, taking place this week in the South African coastal city of Durban. The vast crater southwest of Johannesburg was formed... Click here for complete article ($1.50)


JULY

JUNE

The Almanac

Meteorite momument in Scotland
GLASGOW, Scotland, May 21 (UPI) --

MAY
Scientists size up 'backyard' meteorite
CHICAGO, April 14 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists are studying a meteorite that literally landed in their back yard.

APR

In the Stars: A second chance for exolife?
WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- A weekly series by UPI examining new discoveries about the cosmos. This week: Dying stars go through a stage where they expand to many times their original size, and new research suggests this stage might be long enough in some cases for life to take hold

Residents report streak of light over southern Oregon, Washington state
Author: WILLIAM McCALL
Associated Press Writer Date: March 13, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Dozens of residents in the Pacific Northwest reported seeing a bright streak of light as it flashed across the sky, startling witnesses from southern Oregon to the Seattle area, according to officials. Scientists said the flaming object was probably a meteor, and that it likely disintegrated before any fragments fell into the Pacific Ocean. "It was like a big ball of fire," said Summer Jensen, who was in her living room Saturday night when she saw the flash of...
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Meteorite dust sheds clues to solar system ST. LOUIS, March 4 (UPI) --

MAR

Living bacteria found in ocean sediments
CARDIFF, Wales, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Welsh scientists said they have found living bacteria inside sediments about 16 million years old and located about a half-mile below the ocean's surface.

Lady Luck watches over Mars rovers
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The spectacular success of NASA's twin Mars rovers is due obviously to the skills and determination of the scientists and engineers involved in the mission, but luck also contributed to an amazing degree.

FEB

Suspected Meteorite Hits Cambodia
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — An unidentified object that crashed to Earth in northwestern Cambodia (
search) has some villagers believing it may have divine power, police said Wednesday.
The hard, black rocklike object, weighing about 9.9 pounds, fell from the sky into a field about 19 miles north of Sisophon early Monday morning, said Sok Sareth, the Banteay Meanchey province police chief.
Hundreds of villagers rushed to the site to pray, believing it had divine power.
Local police initially thought a land mine had exploded in the area — a former war zone. The object made a hole 15.75 inches deep and burnt nearby grass and leaves.
Sok Sareth said he transferred the object to his office for further investigation by geologists and land mine clearing experts, ignoring requests from villagers to return it.
"Some people said others who have been possessed by spirits told them that unless the object is returned to where it landed, people in the community will experience hunger or disease," he said.
"But I don't believe that. Some people just made it up to try to profit from it."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145536,00.html


Meteorite lands in Cambodian rice paddy
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Jan. 26 (UPI) --


NASA rover finds meteorite on surface of Mars, offering clues to how planet's surface changes
Author: JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press Writer
Date: January 19, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
NASA's Opportunity rover has determined that a strange bubbly rock on the surface of Mars is actually a meteorite, offering a new clue into how the martian surface is made and remade.
Scientists are not so much interested in the meteorite itself. Rather, they want to see if other objects nearby also are meteorites and how martian winds are reshaping the planet. If sand is continually blowing in and being deposited on the surface, burying things and building up terrain over...
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NASA rover finds meteorite on surface of Mars
Author: JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press Writer
Date: January 19, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
In a stroke of luck, the NASA rover Opportunity has discovered a basketball-size metal meteorite sitting on the surface of Mars, the mission's main scientist said Tuesday.
Scientists believe the meteorite might lead to clues about how martian winds are reshaping the planet's surface. Opportunity came upon the meteorite last week while performing other tasks. Tests confirmed it was a nickel-iron meteorite, said Steve Squyres, a Cornell University scientist who is...
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JAN 2005

07 April 2004

Flaming Pigeons Source of Egyptian Fireball Reports (?)15JUL04

Flaming Pigeons Source of Egyptian Fireball Reports (?)

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 20 17:32:23 EDT 2004

In "Fireball (sic) story from Egypt July 15" it was
written:


>> Dear All,

>> Does anybody hear about an event in the south

>> of Egypt where about 100 houses were burnt

>> due to fireballs falling on roofs and inflaming

>>the >> houses? >> Here is news report in Russian:

>> http://www.newsru.com/world/15jul2004/shar.html

>> Of course, maybe it is distortion by mass-media,

>>but anyway...

>> Best wishes,

>> Andrei Ol'khovatov


I found this version of the Egyptian Fireball Story

"Blazes in Egypt start "balls of fire" rumors
Reuters, Sun Jul 18,12:31 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=5706645
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=857&ncid=757&e=10&u=/nm/20040718/od_uk_nm/oukoe_odd_fire

"CAIRO (Reuters) - A series of fires in the southern
Egyptian province of Sohag has destroyed some 160
houses, giving rise to rumors that spirits are at
work or mysterious balls of fire are falling from
the sky, a local official SAYS.

But the causes are mundane -- kerosene stoves,
cigarette butts and electrical short circuits,
Brigadier Ezzat Aboul Kassem told Reuters on
Sunday. Flaming pigeons, their feathers set
alight in the blazes, may explain talk of
balls of fire, he added."

""Investigations have shown that there are burned
pigeons on top of some of the burned houses and
it's probable that they fell there after catching
fire at other houses," he said. "Maybe that
explains the rumors of balls of fire falling
from the sky.""

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

03 February 2004

2004 Meteor/Meteorite News-UPI

2004 Meteor/Meteorite News-
Source: links and text-UPI/AP newswires

Streak of light startles central Florida
ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 19 (UPI) --

In the Stars: Titan's critical secret
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew closer to Saturn's giant moon Titan on Monday than any other device built by humans. The mission, in one of the far corners of the solar system, is attempting to answer a very large, critical question -- does life exist anyw

Colo. family finds softball-size meteorite
BERTHOUD, Colo., Oct. 12 (UPI) --


Residents report bright lights in sky over at least five states
Date: July 8, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A meteor shower Wednesday night lit up the sky from Texas to western Tennessee, prompting a flood of reports to law enforcement officers throughout a five-state region.
The lights flashed across the sky shortly after 9 p.m. in portions of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the spotting was a meteorite, probably several.
"The front part was fiery red and it had a greenish glow behind it and a...
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Meteorite-Washington
Date: June 3, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
SEATTLE -- Withhold BC-Meteorite-Washington. The identity of the source of the story cannot be confirmed.
The AP ...
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Flashes, booms reported over western Washington state; officials say meteor possible source
Date: June 3, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Bright flashes and sharp booms were reported in the skies over the Puget Sound area early Thursday, and experts said a meteor or falling "space junk" may have been the source.
Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests. Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said scientists were looking into the cause of the skybursts...
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Meteor lights up sky over western Washington state
Author: TIM KLASS Associated Press Writer
Date: June 3, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A meteor about the size of a computer monitor flashed across the Northwest sky early Thursday, setting off booms that stunned witnesses.
"There was some question as to whether it was a piece of space junk burning up, but it was not," said Geoff Chester, a spokesman for the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "As far as I've been able to figure out, it was simply a rock falling out of the sky, as they are wont to do on...
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Scientists find signs of ancient crater possibly linked to mass extinction
Author: RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer
Date: May 13, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Millions of years before the dinosaurs vanished, an even bigger mass extinction wiped out more than 90 percent of the species on Earth. Now scientists think they may have evidence of an impact crater that contributed to the "Great Dying."
The Permian-Triassic Extinction took place some 250 million years ago in a vastly different world from today. Scientists have debated its cause for years. The end of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago is widely thought to have...
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New mineral from the moon discovered, named
Author: RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer
Date: April 26, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A chunk of the moon that landed on Earth as a meteorite contains a new mineral, which scientists have named after a researcher who years ago predicted the unusual process that formed the material.
Grains of the material, made of iron and silicon, were found in pieces of a meteorite that was discovered in Oman on the Saudi peninsula, said Lawrence A. Taylor of the University of Tennessee, a member of the research team that reported the find. The process that led to the...
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Scientists say giant meteorite struck western Wisconsin millions of years ago
Author: JULIET WILLIAMS Associated Press Writer
Date: April 26, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The muddy brown hills and rolling farmland here look like others in Wisconsin. Tall grasses, cornfields and a bubbling brook yield to rocky outcroppings and rows of trees.
But scientists years ago saw something different about those rocks and concluded an ancient catastrophic event occurred here, although what type of calamity remained a mystery. They believe they have finally solved the puzzle: A 650- to 700-foot meteorite crashed into the earth at speeds up to 67,500 mph.
The...
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Robot rover on Mars finds evidence that rocks were soaked in water in past
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: March 3, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Mars may once have been a wet place where life could flourish, according to NASA scientists who say a robot rover has found evidence that rocks on the Red Planet "were once soaked with liquid water."
"The ground would have been suitable for life," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, the lead investigator for science instruments on the rover Opportunity. "That doesn't mean life was there. We don't...
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Robot rover on Mars finds evidence that rocks were soaked in water in past
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: March 2, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Water percolating through the soil once created a friendly environment that would have been ideal for life to flourish on Mars, NASA scientists say.
It not known how long this environment lasted or if any organism actually developed. But scientists directing robot rovers prowling the Martian surface said Tuesday the evidence now is clear that some rocks "were once soaked with liquid water." "The ground would have been suitable for life,"...
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05 December 2003

2003 Meteorite News AP-newswire

2003 Meteorite News
AP-newswire

Mars rovers seek to resolve competing clues about planet's past
Author: ANDREW BRIDGES AP Science Writer

Date: December 20, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The prospect of life on Mars has charged the public imagination for more than a century, ever since astronomers first spied what they thought were canals dug to irrigate the planet's ruddy surface.
But after spacecraft and Earth-based telescopes began taking a closer look at the planet, evidence of the canals -- and the Martians who presumably created them -- quickly vanished. Instead, the scrutiny showed Mars to be a dusty, frigid world, shrouded by an atmosphere too thin...
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Researchers find evidence meteorite caused extinction 250 million years ago
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: November 20, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A massive asteroid may have collided with the Earth 251 million years ago and killed 90 percent of all life, an extinction even more severe than the meteorite impact that snuffed out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
A new study, based on meteorite fragments found in Antarctica, suggests the Permian-Triassic event, the greatest extinction in the planet's history, may have been triggered by a mountain-sized space rock that smashed into a southern land mass. "It...
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Renovated Hall of Meteorites opening at American Museum of Natural History
Author: DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press Writer
Date: September 16, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Have you ever wanted to touch a piece of the universe?
Well, you can. The newly renovated Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites is reopening Saturday at the American Museum of Natural History, allowing visitors to again come in contact with objects as old as the sun.
"We display some of the first rocks formed in the solar system," said Denton Ebel, curator of the hall.
The exhibition centers on Ahnighito, a 34-ton fragment of the 4.5 billion-year-old...
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Renovated Hall of Meteorites opening at American Museum of Natural History
Author: DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press Writer
Date: September 15, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Have you ever wanted to touch a piece of the universe?
Well, you can. The newly renovated Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites is reopening Saturday at the American Museum of Natural History, allowing visitors to again come in contact with objects as old as the sun.
"We display some of the first rocks formed in the solar system," said Denton Ebel, curator of the hall.
The exhibition centers on Ahnighito, a 34-ton fragment of the 4.5 billion-year-old...
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Utah man sentenced to nearly six years for advertising stolen moon rocks Date: August 27, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A man convicted of trying to sell moon rocks stolen from NASA was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.
Gordon Sean McWhorter, 27, of Salt Lake City, was convicted in June and received a five-year, 10-month sentence Tuesday. He could have been sentenced to 25 years for stealing property of value to the United States and interstate transportation of stolen property. McWhorter, who has maintained his innocence, did not appear for his April trial in Orlando and was arrested three days...
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Russian scientists locate site of meteorite crash
Date: June 20, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Russian scientists say they have found the spot in Siberia where a giant meteorite came crashing to Earth last year.
The researchers from the Kosmopoisk, or Space Search, research group told Rossiya state television Thursday that they believe a burned-out tract of taiga about 700 miles north of the city of Irkutsk is the spot where one or more meteorites fell on Sept. 25. Vadim Chernobrov, Kosmopoisk's coordinator, said the meteorite crash was "comparable to the...
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Researchers say Earth may have formed earlier in history of solar system
Date: June 5, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The Earth became a major planetary body much earlier than previously believed, just 10 million years after the birth of the sun, researchers say.
Experts now believe that the inner solar system planets -- Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars -- actually began forming within 10,000 years after the nuclear fires of the sun were ignited about 4.5 billion years ago, says Stein B. Jacobsen, author of an analysis appearing Friday in the journal Science. Early in its life, the sun was surrounded by...
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Man convicted in theft of moon rocks from NASA
Date: June 5, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A man was convicted Wednesday of attempting to sell a collection of moon rocks and meteorites stolen by three NASA interns last year.
Gordon McWhorter, 27, was convicted in federal court of stealing property of value to the United States and interstate transportation of stolen property. He faces up to 25 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Sentencing is scheduled Aug. 27. His attorney said he plans to appeal.
McWhorter was the only defendant tried for the July 15 thefts from...
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Meteor lights up Midwestern sky, showering homes with rocks
Author: RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press Writer Date: March 28, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The midnight sky flashed an eerie blue early over four Midwestern states as a meteorite exploded in the atmosphere, sending rocks as big as softballs crashing through some houses.
Residents in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin reported seeing the disintegrating meteorite flash across the sky about midnight Thursday. Police were soon deluged with reports of falling rocks striking homes and cars. Chris Zeilenga, 42, of Beecher, Ill., said he and his wife, Pauline, were watching TV war...
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Meteor lights up Midwestern sky, showering homes with rocks
Author: RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press Writer
Date: March 27, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The midnight sky flashed an eerie blue early Thursday over four Midwestern states as a meteorite exploded in the atmosphere, sending rocks as big as softballs crashing through some houses.
Residents in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin reported seeing the disintegrating meteorite flash across the sky about midnight. Police were soon deluged with reports of falling rocks striking homes and cars. Chris Zeilenga, 42, of Beecher, Ill., said he and his wife, Pauline, were watching TV war...
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Odds and Ends
Author: The Associated Press
Date: March 3, 2003 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Farmer Gary Wennihan may have made a meteoric rise to wealth.
Wennihan, 60, was tossing aside rocks in his soybean field to prevent damage to his combine when he picked up a strange-looking rock in the fall of 2000. It turned out to be a rare meteorite scientists say could be worth as much as $1 million.
Ben Rogers, a Northwest Missouri State University student who attends Wennihan's church, offered to take it to his geology professor.
After polishing away...
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28 September 2003

Orissa, Kendrapara District, India Meteorite wrecks houses in India 28SEP03

Meteorite wrecks houses in India
BBC NEWS
Sunday, 28 September, 2003, 17:39 GMT 18:39 UK
At least 20 people are reported to have been injured after a meteorite crashed to Earth in eastern India.
Reports say hundreds of people in the state of Orissa panicked when the fireball streamed across the sky.
Burning fragments were said to have fallen over a wide area, destroying several houses.
An official in Orissa said the authorities were assessing the damage and trying to recover what was left of the meteor.
Reports from Kendrapara district in Orissa, where the meteor came to Earth, said windows rattled as it passed overhead.
"It was all there for just a few seconds but it was like daylight everywhere," one resident said.
Rarity
Experts estimate about 100 tons of extraterrestrial dust grains fall to earth each day.
Occasionally, a dark pebble or fist-size object will rain down, with boulder-sized objects or bigger being a historical rarity.
The only recorded fatality from a meteor was an Egyptian dog that had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in 1911.
Seven decades later, scientists recognised the dog had been struck by a meteorite from Mars.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3146692.stm

05 February 2002

2002 Meteorite News AP-newswire

Scientists say Earth formed faster than had been thought
Author: RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press Writer Date: August 28, 2002 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists have found evidence that Earth made its final step to planet status about 30 million years earlier than previous research had suggested.
Working independently, two groups of scientists analyzed meteorites that contain telltale clues about planetary formation and compared them to rocks from Earth. Both teams reached the same conclusion: Earth's metallic core formed about 30 million years after the solar system's birth.
The findings contrast with...
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Scientists find impact crater buried off England's eastern seaboard
Author: The Associated Press Date: July 31, 2002 Publication: Associated Press Archive
With unprecedented detail, scientists have mapped a small but well-preserved crater formed by a meteorite they believe smacked into Earth 60 to 65 million years ago.
The impact crater, buried beneath the North Sea's rich oil and gas fields off England's eastern seaboard, measures about six miles wide and sits beneath 120 feet of seawater and more than 900 feet of sediment. Researchers believe the so-called Silverpit crater was formed after the catastrophic impact...
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Four charged in alleged plot to sell stolen moon rocks from the Apollo missions
Author: RACHEL LA CORTE Associated Press Writer Date: July 23, 2002 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Three space center employees and another man were charged in an alleged plot to sell stolen moon rocks from the Apollo missions for $1,000 to $5,000 a gram, the FBI said.
A 600-pound safe full of moon rocks and meteorites was stolen from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and officials realized it was missing July 15, space center spokesman Kyle Herring said. It contained lunar samples from every Apollo mission. Undercover FBI agents arrested Thad Roberts, 25, Tiffany Fowler, 22, and...
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Four arrested, accused of stealing moon rocks from Houston space center
Author: RACHEL LA CORTE Associated Press Writer Date: July 23, 2002 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Three student employees and another man were charged with stealing a safe full of moon rocks and meteorites from the Johnson Space Center in Houston and trying to sell them, the FBI said Monday.
The items offered for sale by the suspects were kept in a 600-pound safe that was noticed missing July 15, space center spokesman Kyle Herring said. The safe contained lunar samples from every Apollo mission. Undercover FBI agents arrested Thad Roberts, 25, Tiffany Fowler, 22, and Gordon...
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Scientists debate cause of mysterious mile-wide depression in rural Nebraska
Author: KEVIN O'HANLON Associated Press Writer Date: July 21, 2002 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A mysterious mile-wide dent in the earth has generated a debate among scientists about whether the depression was the catastrophic creation of a meteorite, or the patient work of Mother Nature.
Wakefield Dort Jr., a retired University of Kansas geology professor, will make his case for the crater's unearthly origin at the annual Meteoritical Society meeting in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Nebraska scientists have their doubts.
"It is not a crater. There is no...
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Lowly moon rock -- a piece of U.S. space history -- at center of court fight
Author: CATHERINE WILSON Associated Press Writer Date: June 29, 2002 Publication: Associated Press Archive
In a cross between science fiction and a children's tale, a moon rock gets dug up from its peaceful valley, flies aboard Apollo 17 to Earth, visits Honduras and winds up in a U.S. court.
"It's one of these curious little cases," said Keith Rosenn, a University of Miami law professor recruited by the judge as a consultant on Honduran law. "But it is a real case with grown men arguing about it." The extensively...
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Chiropractor offers piece of sacred meteorite to Oregon Indian tribes
Author: JEFF BARNARD Associated Press Writer Date: February 14, 2002 Publication: Associated Press Archive
David Wheeler read about the impending auction: Two chips from the Willamette Meteorite, a 15 1/2-ton rock considered sacred by an Indian tribe but ensconced in a New York museum for decades, were to be sold off.
He thought maybe he could offer a little healing. Wheeler, an Oregon chiropractor, paid $3,375 for the thumbnail-sized piece of the colossal meteorite and is donating it to the tribe.
"I have a lot of respect for the native cultures," Wheeler...
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Chiropractor offers piece of sacred meteorite to Oregon Indian tribes

Date: February 13, 2002 Publication: Associated Press Archive
An Oregon chiropractor paid $3,375 for a thumbnail-sized piece of a 15 1/2-ton meteorite and is donating it to an Indian tribe that holds the big rock to be sacred.
David Wheeler bought the sliver at an auction last weekend in Tucson, Ariz. The gray piece is from the colossal Willamette Meteorite, which is displayed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Wheeler said he is donating the fragment because "I have a lot of respect for the native...
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05 February 2001

2001 Meteorite News AP-newswire

Sugar compounds found in meteorites; bolsters theory that ingredients of life came from outer space
Author: ALEX DOMINGUEZ Associated Press Writer Date: December 19, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive Sugar compounds, an indispensable ingredient for life today, have been found in meteorites, bolstering the theory that chunks of rock from outer space delivered the materials that gave rise to life in Earth. Another key ingredient, amino acids, has already been found in meteorites. George Cooper of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., said that while it has not been proved that meteorites delivered the materials that led to life, the discovery means... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Researchers says NASA's Mars researchers have failed to prove case for bacteria fossils in Martian meteorite
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: November 20, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive A group of researchers say NASA scientists have failed to prove their contention that a Mars meteorite contains evidence of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. A group led by Peter R. Buseck of Arizona State University said that the NASA researchers have inadequate evidence showing that tiny crystalline structures in Mars meteorite ALH84001 were formed by bacteria billions of years ago as the rock was sitting on the Martian surface. A study with Buseck as the first author appears... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Asteroid photos show complex surface with dust 'ponds' likely formed after impacts, researchers say
Author: WILLIAM McCALL Associated Press Writer Date: September 26, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive Photos taken by the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid show a landscape littered with boulders, small rocks and other debris that appear to have partly eroded and settled into mysterious "ponds" of thick dust, researchers say. The photos taken by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft, called NEAR, add evidence to the theory that even the weak gravity of an asteroid can hold on to much of the flying debris created when struck by another object such as... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Geologists scour Colorado countryside for remnants of meteor seen from Idaho to New Mexico
Author: JUDITH KOHLER Associated Press Writer Date: August 30, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive Geologist Jack Murphy is in hot pursuit of remnants of a fireball spotted in the Western skies. Murphy heads a team of meteor hunters at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science that is chasing reports of a white ball described as up to 40 times brighter than the moon. Data from an acoustic tracking system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico suggest the meteor weighed roughly a ton and plummeted toward earth at 11.25 miles a second on Aug. 17. ... Click here for complete article ($1.50)


Newly discovered Mars meteorite could be window into Red Planet
Author: ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS Associated Press Writer Date: June 16, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A fist-sized meteorite, one of only 18 rocks on Earth known to have come from Mars, has been found by Swiss scientists in the Oman desert -- a prize discovery that could help determine if the planet ever sustained life.
Scientists at the University of Bern announced the find Friday and said they are just beginning to examine the meteorite. Most of the other 17 Martian rocks have been snapped up by collectors, they said, so few are fully available for study. "I suspected from...
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Meteorites from moon, Mars found
Date: April 8, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Researchers have discovered two new examples of the rarest space rocks found on Earth: meteorites from the moon and Mars.
The two rocks are the 15th and 17th meteorites to be found from the moon and Mars, respectively, making them the least common among the estimated 22,000 meteorites discovered on this planet. News of the discoveries was announced this month and will be reported in the July 2001 bulletin of the Meteoritical Society, an international organization devoted to the study of...
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Meteorite disappoints scientists after a year-long study
Author: The Associated Press Date: April 6, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
To scientists' disappointment, a meteorite that fell on a frozen Canadian lake has been found to contain none of the organic ingredients believed necessary to have initiated life on Earth.
Many scientists believe that simple life arose on Earth more than 4 billion years ago after meteorites crashed through the atmosphere, carrying amino acids and other biochemical compounds from outer space. The fragments of a 220-ton meteorite that were sprinkled on Tagish Lake in British...
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Study: Crystal in meteorite proves life once existed on Mars
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: February 27, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A crystal found in a meteorite from Mars could only have been formed by a microbe and may be evidence of the oldest life form ever found, researchers say.
Scientists at the Johnson Space Center in Houston say that a crystalized magnetic mineral, called magnetite, found in a Martian meteorite is similar to crystals formed on Earth by bacteria. "I am convinced that this is supporting evidence for the presence of ancient life on Mars," said Kathie Thomas-Keprta, an...
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Researchers say crystal in meteorite proves life once existed on Mars
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: February 27, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A controversial finding that a meteorite from Mars might contain evidence of life has been boosted by the discovery of a magnetic crystal that researchers say could have been made only by a microbe.
In a study appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston say a crystalized magnetic mineral called magnetite, found in a Martian meteorite, is similar to crystals formed on Earth by bacteria. "I am...
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Astronomers find key ingredients for formation of life
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: February 20, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Complex carbon molecules and water, which are key ingredients for life, have been found in the dust and gas around distant stars. The findings boost the theory that the cosmic stew of life is common in the universe.
Astronomers reported Monday that orbiting observatories probing the space around both young and dying stars have found vast waves of water vapor and clear traces of carbon molecules that can play a basic role in organic chemistry. "This strengthens greatly the...
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Japanese team finds 3,554 meteorites in Antarctica
Date: January 23, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Japanese scientists have found 3,554 meteorites in Antarctica during a three-week search, a collection that could yield clues about the rest of our solar system, a government official said Tuesday.
The finds were made around the Yamato mountain range about 186 miles from Japan's base on the rim of Antarctica, said Shigeru Kure of Japan's science ministry. A meteorite is a meteor that survives the destructive effects of a flight through the atmosphere and falls to...
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