[meteorite-list] Crackpot impact theory

From: Axel Emmermann <axel.emmermann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Sep 25 18:27:24 2005
Message-ID: <KKEDKELDHEAGAPEINLODKENECLAA.axel.emmermann_at_pandora.be>

Hello people,

my original message seems to have been sent to the wrong person. Apologies
to the recipient who's also a list member.

my name is Axel Emmermann and I'm new to his list. Actually Dirk Ross sort
of dragged me in: Hi Dirk ;-)))

I'm not a scientist although my hobbies and interests are quite
scientifically oriented: fluorescent minerals and cosmology/astronomy.
Meteorites are on my radar but only as an interest on the side. I'm not
really up to speed like the rest of you obviously is ;-)))

The reason that I jumped in is that I wonder about the likelihood of a
supernova being responsible for the extinction of the mammoth.
If a SN occurred close enough to earth to send solid comet-like object our
way it would have fried the planet. It is true that SN shock wave sweeps a
compressed front of matter along its path but wouldn't that rather cause
star birth instead of coalescing comets?
On the other hand: how long does a typical gamma ray burst from a SN last?
If it's less than 12 hrs than I'd say that our planet is not really
transparent to gamma rays and that being on the shadow side of the explosion
may save you from it.
The neutrino-front is another matter. That would have been very dense at
close range and neutrinos aren't completely inert. There could be enough
interaction with atomic matter to ignite significant evolutionary change
through DNA-damage or not... I really have no idea. It's a mere thought.

Still there are rumors that the gravity waves from a "relatively nearby" SN
caused the earth to ring like a bell causing the devastating tsunami last
year. Maybe we really underestimate the effects of supernovae?

Best regards

Axel

Axel Emmermann
Lobbesplein 12
B-2640 Mortsel
URL: http://users.pandora.be/axel.emmerman/home/index.htm
===================================================
Mineralogische Kring Antwerpen / Antwerp Mineralogical Society
http://www.minerant.org/index.html
MKA werkgroep Fluorescentie:
    Contact: fluorescentie_at_minerant.org
    URL: http://www.minerant.org/MKA/wkg-fluo.html
MKA werkgroep Technische Realisaties:
    Contact: techniek_at_minerant.org
    URL: http://www.minerant.org/MKA/wkg-tech.html



-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com]Namens Darren
Garrison
Verzonden: zondag 25 september 2005 4:42
Aan: Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
Onderwerp: Re: [meteorite-list] Crackpot impact theory


On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 21:06:58 -0500, "Sterling K. Webb" <kelly_at_bhil.com>
wrote:

> The author, Firestone, is a "real" scientist,
>but the crazy comet made out of a supernova
>he gets from the site holder of this web site:
><http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/>

Here's what another real scientist
http://www.thesolarsystem.org/davidmorrison.html has to say about
his new "theory":



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/24/BAGG9ET78M1.DTL

The Firestone-West proposal drew quick criticism from a leading expert on
cosmic impact events,
David Morrison of NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View.

"Apparently, none of this work has been published in a peer-reviewed
journal," Morrison said in an
e-mail to The Chronicle. "The idea that debris from a supernova explosion
coalesced into
low-density, comet-like objects is unsupported in terms of any science that
I know of." Also, the
claim of tiny impact craters in the tusks "is pretty obviously false,"
Morrison said. "No such
grains could get through the atmosphere."
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Received on Sun 25 Sep 2005 06:28:18 PM PDT