[meteorite-list] GOLD and DIAMOND Meteorites!!!
From: Jerry A. Wallace <jwal2000_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun May 2 16:58:47 2004 Message-ID: <40956110.3090900_at_swbell.net> Met Cent Folks, Well, ya'll got my imagination a'churnin' again. Whatta Whopper of a Concept. And who's to say that it couldn't happen. It's really just a matter of scale and chance. Long odds, granted, but we have already found stranger surprises in this old universe. I can almost smell the headlines now... REUTERS: 05.06.04, 06:30 AM ET Scientists Using Hubble Telescope Take Pictures of Humongous Collision of Giant Diamond Asteroid and Huge Gold Nugget Asteroid... Scientists at NASA this morning released details of what is believed to be the first observed collision between asteroids composed of a precious metal and a gemstone. An asteroid weighing approximately 210 tons, composed almost entirely of 24 karat gold, and traveling in an long elliptical orbit around Neptune, was photographed as it collided with another asteroid that is thought to have entered our solar system coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the Andromeda Galaxy. It has now been confirmed that the composition of the second asteroid was actually just one monolithic piece of crystallized carbon, otherwise known as 'diamond'. Its weight has been estimated to have been approximately 140 metric tons before impact. The scientists have estimated that the force of the impact has shattered and crumbled the large diamond asteroid into billions of pieces ranging in size from mere microns weighing only milligrams, to pieces that weigh perhaps 10 pounds or more. Various instruments have now analysized the quality of the diamond to be blue/white with almost no inclusions. The effect of the forces generated by the collision on the gold asteroid was to melt the entire asteroid into a liquid state. The pieces of diamond were almost immediately encapsulated into a molten golden matrix which soon cooled in the frigidity of space. One noted scientist at NASA explained that the resulting conglomeration of pieces from the two merged asteroids has resulted in what is known as "impact melt breccia". He further described the millions of pieces as being analogous to a rare type of meteorite known here on earth as "pallasites". One senior scientist involved in the Hubble project has calculated the expected trajectory of the "jewelry cloud"- as it has been referred to by the 'girls of NASA'. According to his calculations, the expected orbit will intersect earth's orbit every three years and should produce some spectacular fireworks in our night skies for approximately five nights during each of the events. Due to the angle at which the intersection with the cloud will occur, it is expected that many of the meteors will survive their fiery plummet through our atmosphere. A related news story three years later... L.A. Times: May 8, 2007 7:21 AM Pacific Stars Are Seen Shining at Night In what can only be described as a "Stars Chasing Pieces of Stars" scenario, Elizabeth Taylor and Zsa Zsa Gabor were seen leading throngs of Hollywood luminaries and celebrities through the Hollywood Hills throughout the night. With a flashlight in one hand and a metal detector in the other, the stars were intent on finding one of the many thousands of gold encased diamonds that were seen to be falling all over our planet for the last several nights. The spectacular meteor shower is expected to last for two more nights and will not be seen again for three more years. A dealer in Italy was quoted as saying, "Bah. Prices in ruin again. Enough bad they were already. Never good again. Damn diamond fairies steal the smiles from the struck ones that have gold. BAH. BAH." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> All ya'll have a fine Sunday evening, Jerry Wallace Odessa, Texas Received on Sun 02 May 2004 04:58:56 PM PDT |
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