This just landed in my inbox from NPR:
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/11/176714430/origin-of-meteorite-is-a-puzzle-to-scientists?ft=3&f=122101520&sc=nl&cc=sh-20130413
It's about a meteorite that could have possibly come from mercury... although it turns out it probably didn't.
I guess it has a similar chemical makeup as Mercury. It's very low in iron which was one of the things that ruled out it coming from Mars or simply being an Earth rock.
Furthermore, it turns out that this rock has the same magnetic field as Mercury. I'm not exactly what that means but it seems pretty far out. I should do some reading on magnetic fields.
The one chink in this theory is that the meteorite is extremely old. So old that it predates Mercury being solid enough to create such rocks. The current theory is that it actually comes from the asteroid belt.
Either way this is apparently a very fascinating meteorite. There's a great slide show of a bunch of other meteorites on the page linked above. It includes a one from Mars, one from the moon, and one that's actually the oldest rock ever found. It was formed in the gas cloud that used to surround the sun!
It never occurred to me that meteorites could be from other planets. I
always assumed they where just free floating rocks in space. Now that
we're learning about how all this works it makes much more sense that more relatively large rocks would be formed on other planets than that they would form on their own in space.
Showing posts with label NPR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NPR. Show all posts
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Space Collisions
Just finished listening to this little thing on the NPR website.
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/29/175741693/segment-2
This one was from last week's "Science Fridays". It was a segment about collisions and their effects on our solar system.
The most interesting part was about the creation of the moon. I'd heard before that the moon might have been formed from part of the earth but I never really understood what that meant. In particular I always imagined that some solid object, like a comet or astroid, had hit the already solid earth and sent off a chunk which became the moon.
It turns out that this was a total misunderstanding. For one thing, if the collision took place, it happened while the earth was still somewhat molten. And it wasn't a collision with a small thing, it was a collision with another planet sized thing, which was also not solid.
Even more interesting it turns out that this model isn't really supported by some current evidence. Most of what the moon is made up of is the same stuff the earth is made up of. If it was formed by a collision of the earth and another planet then the moon should be made up of some of that other planet's material.
Despite this evidence, the scientists being interviewed said he'd "bet his career that some kind of a giant impact that formed the moon". He's just not sure what kind.
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/29/175741693/segment-2
This one was from last week's "Science Fridays". It was a segment about collisions and their effects on our solar system.
The most interesting part was about the creation of the moon. I'd heard before that the moon might have been formed from part of the earth but I never really understood what that meant. In particular I always imagined that some solid object, like a comet or astroid, had hit the already solid earth and sent off a chunk which became the moon.
It turns out that this was a total misunderstanding. For one thing, if the collision took place, it happened while the earth was still somewhat molten. And it wasn't a collision with a small thing, it was a collision with another planet sized thing, which was also not solid.
Even more interesting it turns out that this model isn't really supported by some current evidence. Most of what the moon is made up of is the same stuff the earth is made up of. If it was formed by a collision of the earth and another planet then the moon should be made up of some of that other planet's material.
Despite this evidence, the scientists being interviewed said he'd "bet his career that some kind of a giant impact that formed the moon". He's just not sure what kind.
Monday, April 1, 2013
New Type of Super Nova
Just read this article about a "New Type of Super Nova"
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/27/175497906/astronomers-say-theyve-discovered-new-type-of-supernova
This appears to be a much smaller type than the type they use as standard candles. They do however come from binary stars just like the other ones (these ones come from binary stars with white dwarfs). Astronomers also think these ones come from much younger stars since none are found in elliptical galaxies which have less young stars.
It's interesting for me reading these articles since I now know what terms like "elliptical galaxies" and "standard candle" mean. I feel like I've always read scientific articles in mainstream press but I must of just unconsciously skipped over these words. I wonder how many words I skip over without even knowing it.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/27/175497906/astronomers-say-theyve-discovered-new-type-of-supernova
This appears to be a much smaller type than the type they use as standard candles. They do however come from binary stars just like the other ones (these ones come from binary stars with white dwarfs). Astronomers also think these ones come from much younger stars since none are found in elliptical galaxies which have less young stars.
It's interesting for me reading these articles since I now know what terms like "elliptical galaxies" and "standard candle" mean. I feel like I've always read scientific articles in mainstream press but I must of just unconsciously skipped over these words. I wonder how many words I skip over without even knowing it.
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