Top Document: [sci.astro] Solar System (Astronomy Frequently Asked Questions) (5/9) Previous Document: E.18 What's the difference between meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites? Next Document: Copyright See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge [This question comes up most frequently with reference to ALH 84001, the Martian meteorite that has been suggested as carrying evidence of past Martian life.] Most meteorites are thought to originate from collisions between asteroids in the asteroid belt. However, a small number have characteristics suggestive of a Martian or lunar origin. Why do we think this? The short explanation is that we can compare the composition of a meteorite to what various space probes and missions have told us about the composition of Mars (or the Moon). Moreover, in the case of a candidate Martian meteorite, it may have small pockets of gas trapped within it, which can be compared to the Viking measurements of the Martian atmosphere. Finally, it is possible to simulate launching a small piece of rock from Mars or the Moon (say, from an asteroid impact) and determine its path through space. Because of gravitational perturbations from other planets (notably Jupiter and the Earth), such a small rock could find its way to Earth, on fairly short time scales even (a few million years or so). For more details, see "On the Question of the Mars Meteorite," <URL:http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/pub/lpi/meteorites/mars_meteorite.html> and Michael Richmond's archive of postings by James Head (from the Lunar and Planetary Institute) on this topic, <URL:http://a188-l009.rit.edu/richmond/answers/martian.html>. Finally, the meteorite Northwest Africa #11 (NWA011) has a composition similar to that of many Martian and lunar meteorites, but some important differences as well (notably in the amount of oxygen). This has led some to speculate that NWA011 might be from Mercury(!). User Contributions:Top Document: [sci.astro] Solar System (Astronomy Frequently Asked Questions) (5/9) Previous Document: E.18 What's the difference between meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites? Next Document: Copyright Part0 - Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: jlazio@patriot.net
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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