[meteorite-list] GCSP meteorite display

From: Linton Rohr <lintonius_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:07:39 -0700
Message-ID: <BCCC3CAF752E49C9B252BAED91A690DE_at_D190TH71>

Greetings met-list,
I spent last week at the Grand Canyon Star Party, which ranks right up there
with the Tucson show as one of the highlights of my year. Saw quite a few
nice meteors while observing, and took a few boxes of meteorites from my
collection along to display before dark.
Halfway through the week, I drove around to the North Rim, where I learned
they had recruited a couple of NASA engineers to do evening presentations,
as well as the nightly observing. The following day their boss showed up as
well. I shouldn't name names, but they're all involved in the developement
and deployment of nuclear power modules for future Lunar and Martian
missions.
The next day turned out to be cloudy, precluding any solar observing at the
lodge, so I invited some of the astronomers over to my cabin and set up my
display on the foot of my bed. Next thing I know the NASA guys are joining
us too, examining specimens with LED headlights and my loupe. They
especially liked the Lunar and Martian specimens. It was like a bunch of
kids in a candy store.
I tried to give a Martian specimen to the project manager the next day, out
of appreciation for their participation, but he wouldn't take it on the
basis of being a government employee. I heard they will all be returning
next year though, and may even get some astronauts to come along. Cool.
A lot of you probably have friends or connections in such positions, but as
a small time collector, I was downright giddy to have NASA guys drooling
over my collection. So I just had to share.
Linton
Received on Fri 18 Jun 2010 05:07:39 PM PDT