by APOD Robot » Sun Dec 11, 2011 5:06 am
Searching for Meteorites in Antarctica
Explanation: Where is the best place on Earth to find
meteorites? Although
meteors fall all over the world, they usually just sink to the bottom of an
ocean, are buried by shifting terrain, or are easily confused with
terrestrial rocks. At the bottom of the Earth, however, in East
Antarctica, huge sheets of
blue ice remain pure and barren. When traversing
such a sheet, a dark rock will
stick out. These rocks have a high probability of being
true meteorites -- likely pieces of another world. An explosion or impact might have catapulted these
meteorites from the
Moon,
Mars, or even an
asteroid, yielding valuable information about these distant worlds and our early
Solar System. Small teams of
snowmobiling explorers so far have found thousands. Pictured above, ice-trekkers search a field 25-kilometers in front of
Otway Massif in the
Transantarctic Mountain Range during the
Antarctic summer of 1995-1996. The week marks the
100th anniversary of humans first reaching the Earth's South Pole.
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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111211.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_111211.jpg[/img] [size=150]Searching for Meteorites in Antarctica[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Where is the best place on Earth to find [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorites]meteorites[/url]? Although [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110306.html]meteors fall[/url] all over the world, they usually just sink to the bottom of an [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean]ocean[/url], are buried by shifting terrain, or are easily confused with [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocks]terrestrial rocks[/url]. At the bottom of the Earth, however, in East [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap991116.html]Antarctica[/url], huge sheets of [url=http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/blueice.html]blue ice[/url] remain pure and barren. When traversing [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHDggWDNYdc]such a sheet[/url], a dark rock will [url=http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/geomorphology/GEO_9/geo_images_9/Fig9.12.jpeg]stick out[/url]. These rocks have a high probability of being [url=http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/744.html]true meteorites[/url] -- likely pieces of another world. An explosion or impact might have catapulted these [url=http://star-bits.com/ID.htm]meteorites[/url] from the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010218.html]Moon[/url], [url=http://planetary.org/explore/topics/mars/]Mars[/url], or even an [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020724.html]asteroid[/url], yielding valuable information about these distant worlds and our early [url=http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html]Solar System[/url]. Small teams of [url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/marslife/slide_14.html]snowmobiling explorers[/url] so far have found thousands. Pictured above, ice-trekkers search a field 25-kilometers in front of [url=http://geology.cwru.edu/~amlamp/BDM/GRO/GRO63/GRO63text.html]Otway Massif[/url] in the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transantarctic_Mountains]Transantarctic Mountain Range[/url] during the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica]Antarctic[/url] summer of 1995-1996. The week marks the [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/16pole.html]100th anniversary[/url] of humans first reaching the Earth's South Pole.
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