[meteorite-list] Meteorite Link of the Week #2 : NASA JSC Astromaterials & Acquisition Curation Office

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 20:38:15 -0400
Message-ID: <CAKBPJW_ge0aJb8U+ZdhXvi2ji1yHAo-9_WgRQRS=3+CJ01owzw_at_mail.gmail.com>

Meteorite Link of the Week #2 - http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/

Notes : This is the website of NASA's Johnson Space Center meteorite
curation office. This is the office than handles all of the
astromaterials brought into the NASA collection. This includes
meteorites, Apollo lunar samples, comet particles, solar wind
particles, and others. There is a searchable database that indexes
the entire JSC meteorite collection which comprises (in most part) the
specimens brought back by the ANSMET expeditions.

Only visit this site when you have some time to kill because there is
a lot of material to wade through - endless pages of data and endless
photos. The photos are really nice and are worth a look just for eye
candy purposes (desktop wallpapers anyone?).

This link will take you to the home page of the curation office -
http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/

>From there, you want to select "Meteorites" on the menu of options :
Lunar, Meteorites, Stardust, Genesis, Cosmic Dust, Space Hardware, and
Hayabusa - this will take you to the following link -
http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/antmet/index.cfm

You now find yourself on the homepage of Antarctic Meteorites
(ANSMET). On the left side of the screen, click the box that says
"Newsletter and Classification". A drop-down menu will open up and
you want to click "Meteorite Classification Database".

Ok, here we go down the rabbit hole. You are now at this URL :
http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/antmet/classdb.cfm#AdvSearch

You will want to bookmark this page and keep it handy right next to
your Meteoritical Bulletin Database link. Like the Met Bull Database,
the Antarctic database is searchable and browseable. You will see an
advanced search form with tabs for various types of meteorites. You
can search/browse by name, type, sample number, year, and other
criteria. Let us use an obvious example that everyone knows - the
famous Martian meteorite ALH-84001.

Type "ALH84001" into the Sample Number query box and click "Search" at
the bottom of the form.

You will now see the search results screen (which is similar in
function to the Met Bull database search). Click on ALH-84001 in the
results and you will be brought to this page -
http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/antmet/samples/petdes.cfm?sample=ALH84001

This is the available data and photos for the specimen in question.
Just like the Met Bull database, some entries have more information
available than others. Some have many high resolution photos each.

Now, get yourself a tall cup of coffee and start searching for other
types - CM2, Achondrites, Lunars, Martians, etc. You will see
thousands of them that you have never heard of. And some of those are
hidden aesthetic gems. Some are beautiful specimens, despite spending
many centuries in a wind-swept cold desert. You will also see many
photos in X-pol light.

Have fun and see you next week. :)

MikeG

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Received on Mon 31 Mar 2014 08:38:15 PM PDT