Space Rocks on Earth (Meteorites)

What is a meteorite?

Well, little bits of rock and dust are always floating around space, and sometimes our planet passes through debris left behind from comets travelling through the system. A meteor is one of these little bits of dust/rock that falls into the atmosphere, usually leaving a hot trail as burns up (most 'shooting stars' are actually dust only a few millimeters across!)



The meteroid (as it is know as before it enters the atmosphere) is heated by passing through the atmosphere, 'so that it glows and creates a shining trail of gases and melted meteoroid particles'. Sometimes the fragments are large enough to make larger fireballs. Most burn up before they reach the ground, and some have been known to have exploded in the air causing great devastation, eg Tunguska :




However, occassionally a meteor will impact with the ground, at which point it is called a meteorite, rather than a meteor. Sometimes the fragements are enormous, and sometimes they're tiny. What they are made of can often tell us where they come from (asteroid, comet, another planet or the moon, perhaps), but the most fascinating thing (especially when you have a piece of one in your hand!) is that they all come from space!!

Recently, Mr Pert and I attended a kind of space conference for schools, where one of the talks was on meteorites. The talk was fascinating, and we thought it would be really cool to have some meteorite samples of our own. Over this last holiday, I had a look on e-bay, and found a UK reputable seller of meteorites, British Jurassic Fossils, and purchased three little ones to start off our collection:



Here is a little about each of them (more information available with the samples and on the internet):

Campo del Cielo, meteorite

This first sample is from Gran Chaco Gualamba, Chaco, Argentina. It is of Iron: Octahedrite, coarse (3.0mm),and was from a meteorite first found 1572. According to Wikipedia, the crater field was 20km by 3km and consisted of 'at least 26 different craters' The way the crater field covers the ground indicates the meteorite must have broken up as it fell through the atmosphere and each of the shattered pieces created their own impact.
This is the Las Viboras fragment:


The biggest of the craters was about 115×91 meters (if you think of the 100m running track, it's a little longer than that, and nearly as wide!) Smaller fragments of the meteorite were found up to 60km further away...
It has been estimated that the main fragment was about 4m in diameter..
our little piece is much smaller, but will have the same history:


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Stone chondrite meteorite, unclassified

Many ordinary chondrites are being found in North West African , . So many researchers don't have the time to classify all of them coming out. This specimen is un classified.

This meteorite could be just packed with inclusions and , chondrules, armored chondrules, shock veins and more showing in the specimens. In addition, an important point to note is that this meteorite is very stable and can be easily displayed.

Mundrabilla Iron Meteorite

This is one is best described by the seller, British Jurassic Fossils:

The first pieces of the Mundrabilla [Western Australia] meteorite were found in 1911. In March of 1966, two large masses of about 8 and 11 tons were found by geologists R. Wison and A. Cooney and described under the name Mundrabilla. In 1979, two more large masses weighing totaling about 1640 kilograms were found about 20 km east of the 1966 location.



Mundrabilla has a very low iridium content and very high troilite content and is designated an anomalous iron. The troilite is present in small nodules accounting for up to 35 % of the volume of the meteorite. The "knuckle-shape" of many individuals is a result of the selective ablation of troilite during atmospheric entry leaving knobby taenite crystals.

Nantan Meteorite

And finally, due to the kindness of British Jurassic Fossils, who donated this wonderful specimen to the school, we have a great, feel-in-your-hand Nantan meteorite. This, I believe is an Nickel-Iron meteorite (hopefully more details to follow...)









Meteorite Fans: If you can't wait until these meteorite samples are shown in one of your classes, please feel free to come and see me in the prep room opposite Lab 8, and (if I have time) you might be allowed a sneak preview!


Teachers in other departments: please feel free to order them for a lesson! Hopefully, we might have a few more over time.. (I believe Mrs O'Grady, geography department, also has a sample of tektite (a piece of Earth rock that has been projectiled into space when a meteorite impacted the ground, and which shows many of the characteristics of meteorites (ultra-heated, has been in space), but consists of material from Earth)...Please remember to see if any of your A level class has a write-ups of the impact lesson we can use :-)

**If anyone has any samples of their own they'd like to donate to the school, we would welcome them to our new collection! And if anyone has any boxes we can display the samples in, they would also be great! [Thanks in advance :-) ]

We are hoping to get one of these digital planetariums for loaning out to students:

Meade My Sky

Just Point and Shoot - The easiest way to explore the night sky


The new Meade mySKY is a revolutionary way to explore our universe. Not a telescope, mySKY instead is a fun, interactive, hand-held, point-shoot-and-identify multimedia travel guide to our universe that will guide you through the night sky better than if you had your own private astronomer standing next to you. This hand-held electronic guide to the heavens locates, identifies, and describes 30,000 celestial objects in the night sky – every object visible to your unaided eye, as well as many thousands you’ll need a separate telescope to see. (Know many astronomers who can locate and identify 30,000 celestial objects on their own?) Featuring a full-colour LCD screen and the added ability to control a Meade computerized telescope, the Meade mySKY is clearly unlike anything else on the market.
mySKY is the ultimate in simplicity to use. No knowledge of the night sky is needed. Just turn it on and mySKY does the rest. It incorporates full GPS Auto Alignment using a 12-channel GPS receiver which aligns itself on the sky without any input from you.

Point it at a celestial object and pull the trigger to identify planets, stars, nebulas, galaxies, constellations, and more – over 30,000 objects. Or select an object to locate from the 30,000 in its memory and mySky will lead you right to it. mySKY even takes you on guided tours of the best objects visible in your sky to your unaided eye – tours that are tailored to your time, date, and location.

Fun, huh?

The Meade 4504 Newtonian telescope

This is one of our telescopes, used by the GCSE Astronomy class, and on open evening. We are hoping to make it more available to other students. We are thinking about whether or not there would be interest in loaning it out on the same basis as the MySky...

This is the Meade 114mm F8 reflector designated either 114-DH4 or 4504. It's NOT the short-tube version but a straight Newtonian. It It uses a 494 Autostar controller for full goto capabilities.

Astronomical Telescope f70070 - for loan

Last summer Uplands received an astronomical telescope to be used by students of the school. We have decided the best way for as many students as possible to take advantage of this equipment is to loan it out to folks who are interested on a first come first served basis.

Hopefully GCSE Astronomy students will be the first in line, but it would be great to see other students interested in taking a closer look at the stars...

If you are interested, please see either Mr Pert (often to be found in Lab 8) for further details

Small print:
Product Name：telescope
Product Model：F70070
Aperture:114mm(4.5″)
Focal length:700mm,f/10
Hybrid diagonal:90o
Metal tripod with slow motion control rod for easy vertical micro adjust ment.
Most height:125cm
Standard 1.25″accessories include:
Eye piece:SR4mm,H12.5mm,H20mm 3X barlow lens,1.5X Erector