[meteorite-list] Geology Professor Speaks on Meteorites

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 14:01:11 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200612072201.OAA28760_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/62267

Geology Professor Speaks on Meteorites
By Virginia Stratford
BYU News Net (Utah)
December 6, 2006

Meteorites are no longer just rocks falling from the sky; they are small
morsels of phenomena wedged in Antarctic ice, patiently waiting to be
studied by geologists.

"The same number of meteorites fall on Antarctica as fall around the
rest of the earth, but it's much easier to see them," said Jani
Radebaugh, assistant professor of geological science at BYU and guest
lecturer for the Global Awareness Lecture series sponsored by the
Kennedy Center.

Over 10,000 meteorite samples have been recovered in Antarctica and
provide information on the composition of asteroids, planets and other
solar bodies.

In her lecture, "Antarctic Dreams: Still Life on the Ice with
Meteorites," Radebaugh shared pictures and stories from her observation
trip to Antarctica to study and catalogue meteorites scattered across
the southern region of the South Pole.

"Lots of their characteristics are still intact - one big telling thing
is the very dark, outside crust where it's melted when it's come through
the atmosphere," she said. "That's really a dead giveaway it's a meteorite."

With the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (AMSMET), Radebaugh was
deployed to the deep field for six weeks to locate, identify and then
take sample pieces of meteorites. The samples will then be shipped to
the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center for analysis.

Unbeknownst to her research team, they discovered a rare lunar meteorite
on one trip.

"We all kind of stumbled upon this," she said. "It's got very course
grains so it has cooled slowly."

Radebaugh's AMSNET experience provided an opportunity to explore
meteorite science first-hand, while bearing cold temperatures and living
in a tent pitched on ice.

"We ate a tremendous amount of calories to stay warm," Radebaugh said.
"Every time you got cold out in the field, you had to munch on a
chocolate bar or a meat stick. My friend used to say 'it's meat
stick-thirty.'"
Received on Thu 07 Dec 2006 05:01:11 PM PST