[meteorite-list] Tagish Lake Meteorite 'A Gem'

From: Eric Twelker <twelker_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:00:08 2004
Message-ID: <B9618A29.BF3B%twelker_at_alaska.net>

We still have quite a few pieces of Tagish Lake from 60 mg on down. Because
of the low density, they are big (well, big in a small way) for their
weight. Let us know if you are interested.

    Eric Twelker
    twelker_at_alaska.net
    http://www.meteoritemarket.com

> From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
> Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 09:55:07 -0700 (PDT)
> To: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List)
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Tagish Lake Meteorite 'A Gem'
>
>
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2144000/2144150.stm
>
> Rare space rock 'a gem'
> By Helen Briggs
> BBC News
> July 22, 2002
>
> British scientists have confirmed that one of the rarest meteorites ever to
> fall to Earth is from a time when the Solar System was born.
>
> It provides a glimpse of a period, 4.5 billion years ago, when the planets
> were beginning to form.
>
> The chunk of space rock is higher in extra-terrestrial material than any
> other meteorite and may belong in a class of its own, say researchers at
> London's Natural History Museum.
>
> A team led by Dr Sara Russell is one of a handful around the world that is
> analysing slivers of the rock.
>
> It came down over Tagish Lake, a remote area of northern Canada, on 18
> January, 2000.
>
> Fragments landed on a frozen lake and were preserved in ice almost
> immediately.
>
> By a stroke of luck, they were found by someone who knew to keep them cold
> and not to touch them.
>
> "It turns out that this meteorite is a really unique sample," says Dr
> Russell. "It's higher in extra-terrestrial organic material than any other
> meteorite."
>
> Building blocks
>
> Research at the museum has confirmed that the Tagish meteorite is "extremely
> primitive" in its chemical composition.
>
> It has changed little since it first arose "in the very earliest stages of
> the Solar System," says Dr Russell.
>
> Tiny grains in the rock should reveal new information about the dust and
> gases that came together to make the planets.
>
> "Our work on Tagish lake is very much work in progress at the moment," Dr
> Russell told BBC News Online. "What we think we've found is that this is a
> sample of the very earliest building blocks of the materials that went on to
> make up the planets in our Solar System."
>
> The sample gives scientists a chance to learn more about how the planets
> formed.
>
> It could also reveal whether or not other Earth-like planets are likely to
> be found around other young stars.
>
> Space gems
>
> The meteorite is from a class known as the carbonaceous chondrites.
>
> These primitive, carbon-rich space rocks contain organic compounds such as
> amino acids.
>
> They also contain tiny jewels in the form of pre-solar diamonds and
> sapphires.
>
> These would have been made around the stars that were the ancestors of the
> Sun, and can tell scientists about the processes that occur inside stars.
>
> Emma Bullock, a postgraduate student in the department, is working on the
> composition of the meteorite for her thesis.
>
> "It's unlike any other meteorite we've ever seen so it possibly belongs in a
> group all of its own," she says.
>
> "There are [compounds containing the element sulphur] in this meteorite that
> aren't found on Earth and there are also some very unusual shapes of
> sulphide.
>
> "It's got some other very interesting features," she adds. "It's been
> altered by water but not really by heat so that's affected some of the
> minerals."
>
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Received on Mon 22 Jul 2002 02:08:41 PM PDT