Last week, three members of our group were in Moscow presenting their work at the annual Meteoritical Society meeting, always my favorite scientific conference. I was happy to see Sasha Krot awarded the Leonard Medal — I was fortunate enough to get to work with Sasha at the University of Hawaii.
Columbia in St. Louis
I took my three-year-old soon to the St. Louis Science Center today to see the Columbia capsule from Apollo 11, two days prior to the 49th anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch. He asked about why it looked all “burned” and he could tell from my extreme enthusiasm how awesome it was.
2018 LA: Asteroid to Fireball to Meteorite
This is only the second time an asteroid was observed with a telescope before it hit Earth and then was recovered as a meteorite. The other asteroid, 2008 TC3, turned out to be a rare ureilite with some fascinating characteristics.
Underwater Meteorite Search
An ambitious exploration happened today to find meteorites at the bottom of the ocean from a large fireball off the Washington coast. The best view of the fireball was probably from Ocean Shores, a childhood vacation spot for me. The only meteorite from Washington state that was witnessed to fall (called “falls” to distinguish them from “finds”) is Washougal, a lovely Howardite that fell in the summer of 1939.