[meteorite-list] Re: Mars Rocks: The Look

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:48:10 2004
Message-ID: <3BBEAAEA.D04A0280_at_bhil.com>

CMcdon0923_at_aol.com wrote:

> Using Sterling's logic, then we've see Venusian rocks too.
> Anybody want to give a detailed description? We've also seen
> Erosian (?) rocks and boulders...what do they look like?
> Anyone wanna try Europian (ala Europa)? I've seen pictures of
> Coelacanths, but I can't say I've actually SEEN a Coelacanth.

    Actually, the orbital simulations for rocks blasted off the
various inner planets (Brett Gladman, etc.) say there should be
TWICE AS MANY VENUSIAN meteorites on Earth as there are Mars
rocks! So, either the simulations are whacky OR there are Venus
rocks and they have not been seen for what they are.
    Perhaps it looks like a meteorite but has no magnetic
susceptibility, so it gets tossed. Or, they decay out of
recognition very quickly. Or, they arrive at discontinuous
intervals and there aren't any around right now. Or... you pick.
    My pick is that there are Venus rocks and we are not
identifying them as such. It's a horrifying thought, to miss
anything so valuable (no sample returns from Venus for a long,
long time to come).
    Almost certainly SOME ROCK from Eros has made it to the Earth
sometime... The problem, again, is IDENTIFYING what you see.
    As for Europa, read Freeman Dyson's delightful piece in The
Atlantic Monthly:
<http://www.TheAtlantic.com/issues/97nov/space.htm>
where he points out that impacts on Europa would just smash
through the ice and splash the sub-surface ocean out into Jupiter
space by the cubic kilometer, and IF there were aquatic life on
Europe, it would get splashed out with the water and there would
be freeze-dried "fish" orbiting Jupiter, some of which would be
deflected out of Jupiter's orbit, and what about those crazy
Fortean reports of strange sea-life falling from the sky?
    Yeah, sounds whacky, but am I going to argue with Freeman
Dyson? Not on your life. You tell him.
    Like the coelecanth I've never seen one of either, there are
lots of things that are real nevertheless. And speaking of things
too crazy to be real, I've never seen Afghanistan, but
unfortunately it turned out to be real...

Sterling K. Webb
Received on Sat 06 Oct 2001 02:55:39 AM PDT