The currently accepted view of how our Moon formed is known as the giant impact hypothesis. The most recent formulation of this model developed by Robin Canup of the Southwest Research Institute, Colorado, is largely in agreement with previous studies. It suggests that the Moon formed from the debris disc created when a Mars-sized body…
Meteor over the skys of Reno Nevada April 22nd 2012 (image: Lisa Warren/NASA) On the evening of Saturday 3rd March, at about 21.40 GMT, there were widespread sightings of a bright fireball travelling from northern Scotland to southern England. Many people phoned the emergency services, but the possibility of an aircraft-related incident was soon ruled…
Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon Science can sometimes be a bit of a lonely pursuit. Sitting at a machine analysing endless samples, producing heaps of numbers, which then have to be processed and evaluated. After that comes the paper-writing stage. Hour upon hour of word processing, bashing out a manuscript to send…
Professor Colin Pillinger in front of the meteorite from Lake House. (image: Andy Tindle) Everyone likes a good detective story. And at the heart of any serious who-dun-it there has to be a tenacious sleuth, who stops at nothing to find the truth. In the finest tradition of the genre here comes the tale of…
Meteorites: The Blog from the Final Frontier 