I am a really big fan of PSRD – that’s Planetary Science Research Discoveries to give it its full title. PSRD was jointly founded by planetary geoscientists Jeff Taylor and Linda Martel, who are based at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. The aim of the site is to provide the public with a scientists’…

The Earth is a very beautiful planet. If we hadn’t realised it before, this was made particularly clear in the images taken by Apollo astronauts. A blue and white jewel suspended in the immensity and darkness of space. But that beauty hides a violent past. To form a planet the size of Earth you need…

In a recent post we talked about ordinary chondrites. Why “ordinary”? Well that’s because we have so many of them, nearly 46,000 individuals according to the Meteoritical Bulletin database, or 87% of all officially classified meteorites. No wonder some people think they are a dull. But familiarity can and does breed contempt. They are important samples…

As Space mysteries go things don’t get any bigger than Tunguska! In 1908 something exploded over a remote region of Siberia devastating over 2,000 km2 of forest. Unfortunately, an organised scientific expedition didn’t visit the area until 1927 and were unable to locate any material from the object. We will probably never know for sure…