[meteorite-list] A New Nearby Oddball Planet
From: cdtucson at cox.net <cdtucson_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 3 May 2011 12:10:16 -0400 Message-ID: <20110503121016.Q6ZKF.351634.imail_at_fed1rmwml35> Sterling, I was throwing out a guess based on what people have found and was later determined to be meteor wrongs based on the fact that they did not jive with other metal meteorites found previously. In other words; Maybe, just maybe . Not all metal meteorites have to be mostly iron. ' I have heard that platinum came from space and it can be found as single nuggets without other silicate material attached to it. If we have anything to learn from this new heavy planet is that maybe planets can have heavier cores than Earth and iron meteorites. Maybe some of this oddly heavy material has been blasted off and ends up as meteors and then meteorites? We have seen hundreds of nearly pure manganese type conglomerates laying around on desert pavements as well as on our ocean floors. These have been determined to not be the same so the ones in deserts could be actual low iron meteorites. Perhaps knocked off of this new planet. Brownleeite ( manganese) was discovered as quite a surprise whereas had this discovery had been Fe Ni metal nobody would have been surprised. So, maybe this surprise is telling us something? Maybe it is telling us that other elements are out there and perhaps this is our chance to begin to recognize some of them. Another amazing chunk of metal looking meteorite (wrong) turned out to be primarily Bornite. Bornite with beautiful regmaglypts and a perfect shape for an iron meteorite. And lets not forget the NJ fall through a roof that was deemed space junk but never was actually anylized as such. Nobody knows exactly where it did come from to this day. Just a few guesses. maybe now that we know heavy stuff is out there we can begin to look for heavier meteorites that are not mostly that light weight stuff we call iron? Geoff had an iron meteorite that seemed to be an obvious meteorite that later turned out to be wrong. Maybe Geoff was right after all? Maybe it came from this heavy planet? Carl -- Carl or Debbie Esparza Meteoritemax ---- "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net> wrote: > Carl, > > Molly Be Damned only has a density of 10.22 despite its > boiling point of 4912K -- it's too light. > > We need to add something to an iron ball (density 8) > that is dense enough to raise the average to 11.0. We need > a minor component of density 18.0 or more. > > Tungsten has a density of 19.25 and a melting point of > 3680K and a boiling point 5828K. It would be "frozen" > solid at the 3000K surface temperature of the planet, but > the Molly Be Damned would be a liquid ocean... > > I'll give you sparkling lakes of Molly Be Damned in the > Valleys of the Tungsten Mountains... > > In reality -- hard to remember this planet is real, isn't > it? -- there must be a crust of dense refractory minerals > made from all the denser and refractory elements. Perhaps > this planet is the fried remains of a small gas giant core > that spiuraled in close? > > One thing I can guarantee -- it's one weird place. > > > Sterling K. Webb > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <cdtucson at cox.net> > To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; "Sterling K. > Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net> > Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 6:35 PM > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A New Nearby Oddball Planet > > > > Sterling, > > It's Mostly Molybdenum along with a few heavier elements, based on the > > brownleeite that we know is out there. > > > > -- > > Carl or Debbie Esparza > > Meteoritemax > > > > > > ---- "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net> wrote: > >> Back in January, there was a List discussion of a planet > >> of the Kepler 10 (unnamed) star which has a density of > >> 8.8, as heavy as iron and an argument about whether > >> an entirely iron planet could exist and how. > >> > >> Now we have a (roughly) terrestial planet with a density > >> of 11.0, or about the density of a solid lead ball... Iron > >> ain't gonna do it. > >> > >> http://www.space.com/11544-densest-alien-planet-55cancrie.html > >> > >> Nearby Alien Planet Nearly Dense as Lead > >> > >> Astronomers have pinned down some details of an > >> exotic nearby alien planet that's almost as > >> dense as lead. > >> > >> The exoplanet, called 55 Cancri e, is 60 percent > >> larger in diameter than Earth but eight times > >> as massive, researchers revealed Friday (April 29). > >> That makes the alien world the densest solid planet > >> known -- twice as dense as Earth. [2 x 5.5 = 11.0] > >> > >> Astronomers previously thought 55 Cancri e took > >> about 2.8 days to orbit its parent star. But the > >> new study reveals that the exoplanet is so close > >> to its host star that it completes a stellar lap > >> in less than 18 hours. > >> > >> "You could set dates on this world by your wristwatch, > >> not a calendar," study co-author Jaymie Matthews, > >> of the University of British Columbia, said in a statement. > >> > >> Updating views of 55 Cancri e: > >> > >> The super-dense alien world is part of a multiplanet > >> solar system about 40 light-years from Earth, in the > >> constellation Cancer (The Crab). Its sunlike parent > >> star, 55 Cancri, is bright enough to be seen from > >> Earth by the unaided eye, researchers said. > >> > >> This wide-angle photograph of the night sky shows > >> the location of 55 Cancri, a star where astronomers > >> have found five planets, including a hot, dense > >> super-Earth. > >> > >> This wide-angle photograph of the night sky shows > >> the location of 55 Cancri, a star where astronomers > >> have found five planets, including a hot, dense > >> super-Earth. > >> > >> Since 1997, astronomers have discovered five planets > >> circling 55 Cancri (including 55 Canrci e in 2004). > >> All five alien worlds were detected using the so-called > >> radial velocity -- or Doppler -- method, which looks > >> for tiny wobbles in a star's movement caused by the > >> gravitational tugs of orbiting planets. > >> > >> Initially, astronomers thought 55 Cancri e had an > >> orbital period of about 2.8 days. But last year, > >> two researchers -- Harvard grad student Rebekah > >> Dawson and Daniel Fabrycky of the University of > >> California, Santa Cruz -- re-analyzed the data. > >> They suggested that the alien planet might actually > >> zip around its host star much faster than that. > >> > >> So Dawson and Fabrycky joined up with a few others > >> to observe 55 Cancri e more closely. The team trained > >> Canada's MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars) > >> space telescope on the planet's star, then watched > >> for the tiny brightness dips caused when 55 Cancri e > >> passed in front of -- or transited -- it from the > >> telescope's perspective. > >> > >> This is the same technique used by NASA's prolific > >> Kepler space observatory, which has found 1,235 > >> alien planet candidates since its March 2009 launch. > >> > >> The team found that these transits occur like clockwork > >> every 17 hours and 41 minutes, just as Dawson and > >> Fabrycky had predicted. The starlight is dimmed by > >> only 0.02 percent during each transit, telling the > >> astronomers that the planet's diameter is about > >> 13,049 miles (21,000 kilometers) -- only 60 percent > >> or so larger than Earth. > >> > >> Using this information, the researchers were able to > >> calculate 55 Cancri e's density. > >> > >> "It's wonderful to be able to point to a naked-eye > >> star and know the mass and radius of one of its planets, > >> especially a distinctive one like this," said study > >> lead author Josh Winn of MIT. > >> > >> The research was released online Friday at the website > >> arXiv.org, and it has been submitted for publication > >> in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. > >> > >> A scorching-hot world > >> > >> Because 55 Cancri e is so close to its parent star, > >> it wouldn't be a very pleasant place to live. > >> Temperatures on its surface could be as high as > >> 4,892 degrees Fahrenheit (2,700 degrees Celsius), > >> researchers said. > >> > >> "Because of the infernal heat, it's unlikely that > >> 55 Cancri e has an atmosphere," Winn said. "So this > >> is not the type of place where exobiologists would > >> look for life." > >> > >> If you could somehow survive the heat, however, > >> the view from the planet's surface would be > >> exotic and spectacular. > >> > >> "On this world -- the densest solid planet found > >> anywhere so far, in the solar system or beyond -- > >> you would weigh three times heavier than you do > >> on Earth," Matthews said. "By day, the sun would > >> look 60 times bigger and shine 3,600 times brighter > >> in the sky." > >> > >> But the appeal of 55 Cancri e is not limited to > >> such gee-whiz factoids. Because it's so close to > >> Earth, the planet and its solar system should > >> inspire all sorts of future work, researchers said. > >> > >> "The brightness of the host star makes many types of > >> sensitive measurements possible, so 55 Cancri e is > >> the perfect laboratory to test theories of planet > >> formation, evolution and survival," Winn said. > >> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> > >> With a surface temperature of nearly 5000F (or ~2700K), > >> this can't be a lead world -- it would have boiled away by > >> now. A solid iron planet would just barely survive -- iron > >> boils at 3134K. > >> > >> A planet of 75% iron with a 25% crust of Tungsten would > >> have a density of 11, and I suppose that if everything less > >> refractory than tungsten had boiled away, you could get > >> such a planet... > >> > >> Here's everything heavier than iron and its density. > >> > >> I got tired of entering boiling points but you can see > >> that the dense elements have high boiling points... > >> > >> Boiling points alone do not tell the story; vapor > >> pressures are high above the melting point and > >> such elements could slowly escape. > >> > >> Tungsten is the best bet. MP 3680K, BP 5828K. > >> and moderately abundant in the universe, about > >> like uranium. > >> > >> 76 Os Osmium 22.61 BP 5285K > >> 77 Ir Iridium 22.56 BP 4701K > >> 78 Pt Platinum 21.46 BP 5869K > >> 75 Re Rhenium 21.02 BP 5869 > >> 93 Np Neptunium 20.45 BP 4273K > >> 94 Pu Plutonium 19.84 BP 3501K > >> 79 Au Gold 19.282 BP 3129K > >> 74 W Tungsten 19.25 BP 5828K > >> 92 U Uranium 18.95 BP 4404K > >> 104 Rf Rutherfordium 18.1 > >> 73 Ta Tantalum 16.654 BP 5731K > >> 91 Pa Protactinium 15.37 > >> 98 Cf Californium 15.1 > >> 97 Bk Berkelium 14.79 > >> 95 Am Americium 13.69 > >> 80 Hg Mercury 13.5336 > >> 96 Cm Curium 13.51 > >> 99 Es Einsteinium 13.5 > >> 72 Hf Hafnium 13.31 > >> 45 Rh Rhodium 12.41 > >> 44 Ru Ruthenium 12.37 > >> 46 Pd Palladium 12.02 > >> 81 Tl Thallium 11.85 > >> 90 Th Thorium 11.72 > >> 43 Tc Technetium 11.5 > >> 82 Pb Lead 11.342 > >> 47 Ag Silver 10.501 > >> 42 Mo Molybdenum 10.22 > >> 89 Ac Actinium 10.07 > >> 71 Lu Lutetium 9.84 > >> 83 Bi Bismuth 9.807 > >> 69 Tm Thulium 9.321 > >> 84 Po Polonium 9.32 > >> 68 Er Erbium 9.066 > >> 29 Cu Copper 8.96 > >> 28 Ni Nickel 8.912 > >> 27 Co Cobalt 8.86 > >> 67 Ho Holmium 8.795 > >> 48 Cd Cadmium 8.69 > >> 41 Nb Niobium 8.57 > >> 66 Dy Dysprosium 8.55 > >> 65 Tb Terbium 8.229 > >> 64 Gd Gadolinium 7.895 > >> 26 Fe Iron 7.874 > >> > >> You put together a planet from the list... > >> > >> > >> Sterling > >> > >> ______________________________________________ > >> Visit the Archives at > >> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > >> Meteorite-list mailing list > >> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > > > ______________________________________________ > > Visit the Archives at > > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > > Meteorite-list mailing list > > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list >Received on Tue 03 May 2011 12:10:16 PM PDT |
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