Collecting meteorites in Antarctica with ANSMET (image Linda Martel, ANSMET) It is an astonishing fact that of the nearly 42,000 officially recognised meteorites logged on the Meteoritical Society database just over 29,000 were collected in Antarctica. That means that close to 70% of the worlds classified meteorites come from the most remote and inhospitable place…
Image of Vesta’s south polar region showing large central peak that rises 22km above the surrounding terrain (vertical scale 1.5 x horizontal). (image: NASA) As the NASA Dawn spacecraft continues its study of the asteroid Vesta the images being released have become increasingly detailed and breathtaking. It is true that the huge southern crater, with…
Asteroid 4 Vesta (right) and an onion (Vesta image: Ben Zellner, Georgia Southern University; Peter Thomas, Cornell University; NASA) If you want to look inside an onion, all you need to do is cut it with a knife. Easy! But, if you want to look inside an asteroid, the problem is not so straightforward. One…
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on its way to Vesta and Ceres after lifting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7.34 am (EDT) on 27 September 2007 It seems as if unmanned probes are finally getting the media attention they deserve. The long journey home of Hayabusa was, in the truest sense, a space odyssey.…
Meteorites: The Blog from the Final Frontier 