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Life Signs In The Nakhla Martian Meteorite? |
 Feb 8 2006, 02:22 PM
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 Senior Member  Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430  |
A carbon-rich substance found filling tiny cracks within a Martian meteorite could boost the idea that life once existed on the Red Planet.
The material resembles that found in fractures, or "veins", apparently etched by microbes in volcanic glass from the Earth's ocean floor. The evidence comes from a meteorite held in London's Natural History Museum that was cracked open by curators. ... Details will be presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas, next month. The research team includes scientists who brought evidence for microbial life in another Martian meteorite, ALH84001, to the world's attention in 1998 [1996, actually]. ... Fresh samples The latest data comes from examination of a piece of the famous Nakhla meteorite which came down in Egypt, in 1911, breaking up into many fragments. [It also hit and killed a dog, supposedly: http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/nakhla.html] The full article is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4688938.stm Includes links to the papers. -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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Feb 8 2006, 02:35 PM
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#2
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 593 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 279 |
QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Feb 8 2006, 02:22 PM) [It also hit and killed a dog, apparently.]  So it could contain cur-bone, then?  Andy G |
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Feb 8 2006, 03:57 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1636 Joined: 9-May 05 From: Lima, Peru Member No.: 385 |
How can the scientists identify the origin of meteorites? That puzzles me! It is funny that in Earth we can find Martian meteorites with carbonaceus and any rovers there are not still able to find any life traces.
From the BBC news, the microbes existed before of big impacts. The biggest impacts in Mars would be ones of Hella Plantia, Argyre Planitia, Syrtis and much more and perhaps Gusev according to the size of craters. So the next rovers must visit around big craters which are the most probably that had thrown stones and rocks farther for the hunt of life signs. Rodolfo |
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Feb 8 2006, 06:43 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
QUOTE (RNeuhaus @ Feb 8 2006, 07:57 AM) How can the scientists identify the origin of meteorites? That puzzles me! There are a number of pieces of evidence that can constrain the nature of the host body. For example, volcanic activity would not have taken place on very small bodies. The process of elimination can narrow it further down. In the case of Mars, the surest evidence comes from matching isotope ratios between those measured by Viking and those detected in the meteorites. The particular clincher in this case is that gas bubbles in the rocks match the martian atmosphere in isotope ratios. |
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Feb 8 2006, 07:37 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
QUOTE (AndyG @ Feb 8 2006, 03:35 PM) So it could contain cur-bone, then? Andy G Andy: Be Sirius! Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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| Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Feb 8 2006, 11:22 PM
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Guests |
Well, what do you think? Should we throw him out of the group or not?
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Feb 8 2006, 11:39 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Feb 8 2006, 05:22 PM) Well, what do you think? Should we throw him out of the group or not? Naw -- it's not like he's going to Pluto. He's just getting a little Goofy, is all... -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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| Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Feb 9 2006, 01:33 AM
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Guests |
I read the two LPSC abstracts [#2251 & #2039].
I guess with the pummelling that McKay et al. have taken on ALH84001, it's time for a new "martian meteorite that shows signs of ancient life." Who knows, maybe this latest claim will shake loose some Mars exploration funding the way that ALH84001 did back in 1996. This post has been edited by AlexBlackwell: Feb 9 2006, 01:35 AM |
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Feb 9 2006, 01:58 AM
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 Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8791 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
QUOTE (dvandorn @ Feb 8 2006, 04:39 PM) Naw -- it's not like he's going to Pluto. He's just getting a little Goofy, is all... -the other Doug FLEAS stop it!!! 
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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| Guest_paulanderson_* |
Feb 13 2006, 11:01 PM
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Guests |
Couple more articles, from NewScientistSpace and the Natural History Museum:
Martian Meteorite May Have Held Life http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/d...-held-life.html Martian Meteorite Reveals Stuff of Life http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2006/feb/news_7730.html |
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| Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Mar 22 2006, 07:01 PM
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The ALH84001 debate continues: Relic of life in that Martian meteorite? A fresh look.
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 13th December 2024 - 07:51 PM |
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