Including Original "Paul H. Letters" Copyright © 1996-2024 Paul V. Heinrich / website © 1996-2024 Dirk Ross - All rights reserved.



Tuesday 5 November 2024

Haasttse-baad Tessera Ring Complex: A Valhalla-Type Impact Structure on Venus? 05NOV2024

Haasttse-baad Tessera Ring Complex: A Valhalla-Type Impact Structure on Venus?

A Hidden Breed of Impact Craters Has Been Lurking on Venus Undetected
Michelle Starr, Science Alert, November 5, 2024

Study of Venus's Haasttse-baad Tessera suggests formation by two large impacts
PhysOrg, November 5, 2024

López, I., Bjonnes, E. and Hansen, V.L., 2024. Haasttse‐baad Tessera Ring
Complex: A Valhalla‐Type Impact Structure on Venus?. Journal of Geophysical
Research: Planets, 129(10), no .e2023JE008256. open access

Yours,

Paul H.

Sunday 3 November 2024

Ancient rocks may be dark matter detector 03NOV2024

Ancient rocks may be dark matter detector

Ancient rocks may bring dark matter to light
With new imaging capabilities, the first successful
dark-matter detector might be some old rock.
Virgina Tech, Kelly Izlar, October 30, 2024

Science has found its first candidate for a dark-matter detector
It’s a really old rock.  Dark matter is a mysterious, invisible
substance makes up more than 80 percent of all matter in the universe.
Julia Musto, The Guardian, November 1, 2024

Yours,

Paul H.

Thursday 31 October 2024

Mysterious unidentified fireball lights up sky from California to Texas - September 24, 2024 31OCT2024

 Mysterious unidentified fireball lights up sky from California to Texas - September 24, 2024

Very bright fireball seen from Oregon, Washington,
Nevada, and California, over 200 reports filed
Rishav Kothari, The Watchers, September 25, 2024

Mysterious unidentified fireball lights up sky from California to Texas
Patrick Reilly, MSN, September 25, 2024

Asteroid Enters As Fireball Over California Skies Right After Its Discovery; Video Surfaces
It's the third asteroid this year whose impact was predicted.
By Harsh Vardhan, Mashable, October 25, 2024

Yours,

Paul H.

Wednesday 23 October 2024

What happened when a meteorite the size of four Mount Everests hit Earth? 22OCT2024

What happened when a meteorite the size of four Mount Everests hit Earth?

What happened when a meteorite the size of four Mount Everests hit Earth?
Anne J, Manning, The Haravrd Gazette, October 21, 2024

The open access paper is:

Drabon, N., Knoll, A.H., Lowe, D.R., and Mucciarone, D.A.
2024, Effect of a giant meteorite impact on Paleoarchean surface environments and life. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. 121 (44) e2408721121 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2408721121

Yours,

Paul H.

Thursday 17 October 2024

The cataclysmic origins of most of Earth’s meteorites 16OCT2024

 The cataclysmic origins of most of Earth’s meteorites

The cataclysmic origins of most of Earth’s meteorites have been found
Seventy percent of meteorites can be linked to a just a handful of asteroid
belt collisions, By Robin George Andrews, ScienceNews, October 16, 2024

New research shows most space rocks crashing into Earth come from
a single source, Trevor Ireland, The Conversation, October 16, 2024

The open access preprints are:

Brož, M., Vernazza, P., Marsset, M., DeMeo, F.E., Binzel, R.P., Vokrouhlický,
D. and Nesvorný, D., 2024. Young asteroid families as the primary source
of meteorites. arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.08552.

Marsset, M., Vernazza, P., Brož, M., Thomas, C.A., DeMeo, F.E., Burt, B.,
Binzel, R.P., Reddy, V., McGraw, A., Avdellidou, C. and Carry, B., 2024.
The Massalia asteroid family as the origin of ordinary L chondrites. arXiv
preprint arXiv:2403.08548.

Yours,

Paul H.

Sunday 13 October 2024

Kamil Crater, Egypt, "Strip-mined" and Destroyed by Meteorite Criminals 13OCT2024

Kamil Crater, Egypt, "Strip-mined" and Destroyed by Meteorite Criminals 13OCT2024
by Paul V. Heinrich

Kamil Impact Crater 2023 showing destruction and in 2020.
Imagery © 2024 Google Earth / CNES/ Airbus
Click on image to enlarge.

I was looking at Wikipedia at the write up about the Kamil Crater at 22° 1'5.89"N latitude and 26° 5'15.69"E longitude. A recent addition to the Wikipedia article by Enrique Díaz-Martínez, Spain at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamil_Crater
states:
"According to evidence provided by Google Earth images, Kamil crater morphology and its prototypical rayed structure (well-preserved radiating features) have been destroyed between 2020 and 2023, most probably due to exhaustive plundering of meteorite fragments. The last image of the well preserved crater is of February 2020, whereas it is fully destroyed in the next image dated May 2023, so it was destroyed between those two dates. The size of the wheel tracks visible on trails to/from the former crater indicate that heavy machinery was used for the collection of meteoritic material.”

The Wikipedia update note was added on October 10, 2024 by Enrique Díaz-Martínez, Spain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kamil_Crater&diff=prev&oldid=1250464561

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Ediazmartinez

I looked at the Google Earth images and essentially agree with what is written. Although the exact timeline is open to interpretation, the aerial images do show that this crater, which is a protected site, has been destroyed by people illegally mining it presumably for iron meteorite fragments and spherules. Heavy machinery, presumably electromagnets, and other methods were used to vandalize, desecrate, and otherwise destroy this irreplaceable part of the Egypt's geological heritage for personal gain.

Undoubtedly, these stolen Egyptian meteorites are already in the marketplace for sale somewhere.

2024 The ELEVENTH Year of "CERTAIN Uncertainty" ™ / Meteors, Asteroids, Comets, and MORE!! 
Publisher © 2024 LunarMeteoriteHunter, Dirk Ross, Tokyo, Japan

Wednesday 9 October 2024

Fireball Movie Question- Korea Expedition for Antarctic Meteorites, KOREAMET 08OCT2024

Fireball Movie Question- Korea Expedition for Antarctic Meteorites, KOREAMET  08OCT2024

In [meteorite-list] Fireball Movie Question on Tue, 01 Oct. 2024, Rhett Bourland asked:

>My question is, does anyone know what meteorite they found?

I was not able to determine an answer to this question. A more detailed examination of the below papers might help.

>If you don't know, can someone point me towards some information about the material found by the South Korean team over the years?


I found a few publications using Google Scholar searching for-
"Korea Expedition for Antarctic Meteorites" / "KOREAMET”.

Some of these reports are archived at the "KOPRI depository" at
https://repository.kopri.re.kr/simple-search?query=KOREAMET

KOPRI stands for "Korea Polar Research Institute of Marine Research”.

They include:

이종익, 2009. 2006-2008 Korea Expedition for Antarctic Meteorites (KOREAMET). 
지질학회지, 45(6), pp.621-637.
https://repository.kopri.re.kr/bitstream/201206/6643/1/2010_5_3_2010-003.pdf

최변각, 박창근, 안인수 and 이종익, 2009. Classification and petrological and geochemical characteristics of Antarctic meteorites found by 1st, 2nd and 3rd KOREAMET. 지질학회지,
45(6), pp.593-605.

Park, C., Baek, J., Ha, S., Nagao, K., Park, S., Ahn, I., Moon, J.J., Yoo, I.S. and Lee, J.I., 2015. 
Report on classification of Antarctic meteorites from the 2014/15 KOREAMET season.
https://repository.kopri.re.kr/bitstream/201206/7137/1/221507.pdf

Yours.

Paul H.

Wednesday 25 September 2024

This Might Be the Weirdest Rock Ever Found on Mars 25SEP2024

 This Might Be the Weirdest Rock Ever Found on Mars

Perseverance rover spots unusual striped rock on Mars
by Athanasios Klidaras, NASA, PhysOrg, September 23, 2024

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Captures a Peculiar Rock
with a Striped Pattern, Jackson Chung, September 20, 2024

This Might Be the Weirdest Rock Ever Found on Mars
It's unlike anything ever seen on the Red Planet, but NASA hopes to
find more like it as the Perseverance rover continues its climb up
Jezero Crater. By Adam Kovac, September 24, 2024

Yours,

Paul H.

Monday 9 September 2024

"Suspicious" landform under investigation as possible impact crater

"Suspicious" landform under investigation as possible impact crater

  He saw a suspicious pit on Google Maps. Experts say it could be a crater from an ancient space rock 'Looking at the topography, it's very suggestive of impact,' says French scientist. ...
Rachel Watts, CBC News, Sep 05, 2024

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-meteorite-impact-crater-1.7313418

The Google Earth coordinates are likely 51.236483° -64.696877°

Yours,

Paul H.

Wednesday 19 June 2024

NASA rover discovers mysterious Mars boulder unlike any others - Anorthosite? 19JUN2024

NASA rover discovers mysterious Mars boulder unlike any others - Anorthosite?

NASA rover discovers mysterious Mars boulder unlike any others
Elisha Sauers, Mashable, June 15, 2024
https://mashable.com/article/nasa-mars-rover-boulder-discovery


NASA’s Perseverance Fords an Ancient River to Reach Science Target
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, June 13, 2024
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-fords-an-ancient-river-to-reach-science-target

Yours,

Paul H.

A Giant Interstellar Cloud May Have Caused Quaternary Ice Age 19JUN2024

A Giant Interstellar Cloud May Have Caused Quaternary Ice Age

A Giant Interstellar Cloud May Have Once
Enveloped Earth, Potentially Causing Ice Ages.
Astronomers suggest this cold, dense cloud
compressed our sun’s protective field between
two and three million years ago, leaving the
Earth exposed to cosmic material
Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, June 14, 2024
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-giant-interstellar-cloud-may-have-once-enveloped-earth-potentially-causing-ice-ages-180984529/


The Solar System May Have Passed through
Dense Interstellar Cloud 2 Million Years Ago,
Altering Earth’s Climate, Boston University, June 14, 2024
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/the-solar-system-may-have-passed-through-interstellar-clouds/


The open access paper is:

Opher, M., Loeb, A. and Peek, J.E.G., 2024.
A possible direct exposure of the Earth to the
cold dense interstellar medium 2–3 Myr ago.
Nature Astronomy, pp.1-8.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02279-8

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02279-8


Yours,

Paul H.

Monday 17 June 2024

Suzdalevo Lake (Central Siberia, Russia)—A Tunguska Event-Related Impact Crater? 17JUN2024

Suzdalevo Lake (Central Siberia, Russia)—A Tunguska Event-Related Impact Crater?

Another proposed impact crater has bit the dust.

Kavková, R., Vondrák, D., Chattová, B., Svecova, E., Takac, M., Golias,
V., Štorc, R., Stanghellini, C. and Kletetschka, G., 2022. Suzdalevo Lake
(Central Siberia, Russia)—A Tunguska Event-Related Impact Crater?
Frontiers in Earth Science, 10, no. 777631.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.777631/full

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360188901_Suzdalevo_Lake_Central_Siberia_Russia-A_Tunguska_Event-Related_Impact_Crater?

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel-Vondrak

Yours,

Paul H.

Sunday 16 June 2024

Cubic zirconia found in impact glass from West Clearwater Lake impact structure, Quebec, Canada 16JUN2024

Cubic zirconia found in impact glass from West Clearwater Lake impact structure, Quebec, Canada

Quebec lake meteorite impact yields rare rocks and evidence of extreme heat
by Jeff Renaud, University of Western Ontario, June 6, 2024
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-quebec-lake-meteorite-impact-yields.html#google_vignette

The open access paper is:

Chinchalkar, N.S., Osinski, G.R., Erickson, T.M. and Cayron, C., 2024.
Zircon microstructures record high temperature and pressure conditions
during impact melt evolution at the West Clearwater Lake impact
structure, Canada. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 636, no.118714.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X2400147X

Yours,

Paul H.

Sunday 2 June 2024

Customs and Border Protection Crackdowns on some De Minimis Shipments into the US 02JUN2024

Customs and Border Protection Crackdowns on some De Minimis Shipments into the US

Currently, US Customs and Border Protection is cracking
down on de minimis Shipments from China into the US.
It is now currently limited to air shipments from China.
However, this crackdown could extend eventually to other
countries and ultimately to some degree to marine shipments.
  Because de minimis shipping consists of any goods that
is less than 800 dollars, this crackdown, might eventually
greatly delay the shipping of any package of goods and
lengthen the time it would to ship anything into the
United States. Also, any package of de minimis goods
shipped into the United States will be more closely scrutinized
by the CPB in terms of whether it is properly declared in
description and price by the sender.

  Although it is nothing to worry about now, the situation
could change in the future.


Below are some new articles-

Customs Brokers under scrutiny as US CPB confirms
ecommerce crackdown, the Lodestar
https://theloadstar.com/customs-brokers-under-scrutiny-as-us-cbp-confirms-ecommerce-crackdown/


"Entry Type 86 allows the import of goods into the
US without the payment of duties and taxes, if the
value of the shipment is less than $800, the de minimis
threshold."

Customs brokers caught up in US crackdown on
Chinese ecommerce traffic. the Lodestar
https://theloadstar.com/customs-brokers-caught-up-in-us-crackdown-on-chinese-ecommerce-traffic/


Customs and Border Protection Crackdowns on ECommerce De
minimis Shipments from China to the US

What is Going on With Shipping?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muTPGkhZAXk

Yours,

Paul H.

Thursday 18 April 2024

‘Space junk’ crashes into Florida home from International Space Station, NASA says 18APR2024

‘Space junk’ crashes into Florida home from International Space Station, NASA says

‘Space junk’ crashes into Florida home from International Space Station, NASA says
ALcom, Apr. 16, 2024
https://www.al.com/news/2024/04/space-junk-crashes-into-florida-home-from-international-space-station-nasa-says.html

Object that slammed into Florida home was indeed space junk from ISS, NASA confirms
By Mike Wall, SpaceCom, , Apr. 15, 2024
https://www.space.com/object-crash-florida-home-iss-space-junk-nasa-confirms

Kessler Syndrome and the space debris problem
By Mike< SpaceCom, July 14, 2022
https://www.space.com/kessler-syndrome-space-debris

This feared space-junk cascade called Kessler Syndrome may have already begun.

Yours,

Paul H.

Thursday 14 March 2024

Claims of Extrasolar Spherules from Pacific Ocean Site CNEOS 2014-01-08 Disputed 14MAR2024

Claims of Extrasolar Spherules from Pacific Ocean Site CNEOS 2014-01-08 Disputed

Recently, a preprint has been posted to the arXiv site that disputes proposal that Be,La,U-rich spherules recovered form
Pacific Ocean Site CNEOS 2014-01-0 are from an extrasolar origin. Instead, they argued to be microtektites of terrestrial lateritic sandstone.

The preprint is:

Desch, S., 2024. Be, La, U-rich spherules as microtektites of terrestrial laterites: What goes up must come down. arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.05161.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.05161

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2403/2403.05161.pdf


The proposed extrasolar spherules are discussed in:

Loeb, A., Adamson, T., Bergstrom, S., Cloete, R., Cohen, S., Conrad, K., Domine, L., Fu, H., Hoskinson, C., Hyung, E., Jacobsen, S., Kelly, M., Kohn, J., Lard, E., Lam, S., Laukien, F., Lem, J., McCallum, R., Millsap, R., Parendo, C., Petaev, M., Peddeti, C., Pugh, K., Samuha, S., Sasselov, D., Schlereth, M., Siler, J.J., Siraj, A., Smith, P.M., Tagle, R., Taylor, J., Weed, R., Wright, A., and Wynn, J. 2023.,

Discovery of Spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean site of the CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) bolide. 
Loeb, A., Adamson, T., Bergstrom, S., Cloete, R., Cohen, S., Conrad, K., Domine, L., Fu, H., Hoskinson, C., Hyung, E., Jacobsen, S., Kelly, M., Kohn, J., Lard, E., Laukien, F., Lem, J., McCallum, R., Millsap, R., Parendo, C., Petaev, M., Peddeti, C., Pugh, K., Samuha, S., Sasselov, D., Schlereth, M., Siler, J.J., Siraj, A., Smith, P.M., Tagle, R., Taylor, J., Weed, R., Wright, A., and Wynn, J. 2024. 
Recovery and classification of spherules from the Pacific Ocean site of the CNEOS 2014 January 8 (IM1) bolide.
Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society 8: 39.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ad2370/meta


Related paper, reprint and press release:
Desch, S., and Jackson, A., 2023. Critique of arXiv submission 2308.15623, "Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean Site of the CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) Bolide", by A. Loeb et al arXiv:2311.07699
https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.07699

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.07699.pdf


'Alien' spherules dredged from the Pacific are probably just industrial pollution, new studies suggest. LiveScience, Nov. 16, 2023
https://www.livescience.com/space/extraterrestrial-life/alien-spherules-dredged-from-the-pacific-are-probably-just-industrial-pollution-new-studies-suggest


Gallardo, P.A., 2023. Anthropogenic Coal Ash as a Contaminant in a Micro-meteoritic Underwater Search. 
Research Notes of the AAS, 7(10), p.220.
http://ispcjournal.org/journals/2024/32/PhC_vol_32_Lomas.pdf

Yours,

Paul H.

Saturday 9 March 2024

Interstellar Meteorite was Just a Truck 09MAR2024

Interstellar Meteorite was Just a Truck

Interstellar Signal Linked to Aliens was Actually Just a Truck
  The findings from a Johns Hopkins University-led team raise doubts that materials pulled last year from the ocean are alien
materials from a 2014 meteor fireball John Hopkins University, HUB, March 7, 2024
https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/03/07/alien-meteor-truck/


Seismic Rumble From an 'Alien Technology' Meteor Was Actually a Passing Truck, Scientists Say The rumblings of
\the motor vehicle apparently resembled that of a fireball passing through Earth’s atmosphere.
By Isaac Schultz, Gizmodo, March 8, 2024
https://gizmodo.com/rumble-alien-technology-meteor-actually-truck-2014-1851319770

Yours,

Paul H.