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



Saturday, 19 December 2020

Why the conversation about fossil commerce needs to start over from scratch

Why the conversation about fossil commerce needs to start over from scratch

Although this is about fossil commerce, meteorite commerce shares
many of the same concerns.

Don't Fed On Me: What the AAPS Keeps Getting Wrong ... and Why the
Conversation about Fossil Commerce Needs to Start over from Scratch
https://fossilnews.org/online-content/dont-fed-on-me/

Fossil News, The Journal of Avocational Paleontology, Online Content
https://fossilnews.org/online-content/

Yours,

Paul H.

Friday, 4 December 2020

Drone footage of Arecibo Observatory's catastrophic collapse

Drone footage of Arecibo Observatory's catastrophic collapse

Must have been an exciting few minutes for the drone pilot...
https://players.brightcove.net/679256133001/EkLWnGuil_default/index.html?videoId=6213883083001

Gut-Wrenching Photos Show Damage at Arecibo Observatory
Following Collapse. George Dvorsky, Gizmodo, December 2, 2020
https://gizmodo.com/gut-wrenching-photos-show-damage-at-arecibo-observatory-1845790190

See unreal drone footage of Arecibo Observatory's catastrophic collapse
A drone was filming above the site when the final disaster struck, CNET
https://www.cnet.com/news/arecibo-observatory-catastrophic-collapse-captured-in-unreal-drone-footage/

Yours,

Paul H.

Thursday, 26 November 2020

Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is to be decommissioned

Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is to be decommissioned

Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is lost
By Meghan Bartels, SpaceCom, November 2020
https://www.space.com/arecibo-observatory-radio-telescope-to-be-destroyed

Planetary Society Reacts to Loss of Arecibo Observatory Radio Telescope
By Jason Davis, Planetary Society, November 24, 2020
https://www.planetary.org/articles/planetary-society-arecibo-reaction

Yours,

Paul H.

Sunday, 22 November 2020

Ancient zircons recovered from Martian meteorite

Ancient zircons recovered from Martian meteorite

Ancient zircon minerals from Mars reveal the elusive internal structure of the red planet, 
University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, November 17, 2020
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201117113057.htm

Big Think article by Robby Berman, November 19, 2020
https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/mars-zircon

The paper is:

Maria M. Costa, Ninna K. Jensen, Laura C. Bouvier, James N. Connelly, Takashi Mikouchi, Matthew S. A. Horstwood, Jussi-Petteri Suuronen, Frédéric Moynier, Zhengbin Deng, Arnaud Agranier, Laure A. J. Martin, Tim E. Johnson, Alexander A. Nemchin, Martin Bizzarro. 
The internal structure and geodynamics of Mars inferred from a 4.2-Gyr zircon record. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020;
202016326 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2016326117
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/11/10/2016326117

Yours,

Paul H.




Thursday, 19 November 2020

Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is to be decommissioned

Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is to be decommissioned

Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is lost
By Meghan Bartels, SpaceCom, November 2020
https://www.space.com/arecibo-observatory-radio-telescope-to-be-destroyed

Planetary Society Reacts to Loss of Arecibo Observatory Radio Telescope
By Jason Davis, Planetary Society, November 24, 2020
https://www.planetary.org/articles/planetary-society-arecibo-reaction

Yours,

Paul H.

Scientists Discover Outer Space Isn't Pitch Black After All

Scientists Discover Outer Space Isn't Pitch Black After All

Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News, November 18, 2020
https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/936219170/scientists-discover-outer-space-isnt-pitch-black-after-all

The paper is:
Lauer, T.R., Postman, M., Weaver, H.A., Spencer, J.R., Stern, S.A., Buie, M.W., Durda, D.D., Lisse, C.M., Poppe,A.R., Binzel, R.P. and Britt, D.T., 2020. New Horizons

Observations of the Cosmic Optical Background. arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.03052.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.03052

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2011.03052

Yours,

Paul H.

Saturday, 14 November 2020

Houston Gem and Mineral Society's (Virtual) Annual Show Tomorrow

Houston Gem and Mineral Society's (Virtual) Annual Show Tomorrow

Saturday November 14 is the start of HGMS's annual show. This year, due to the pandemic, their annual show has gone virtual. Those who want to who want to attended click the link below and participate in the virtual show. Please check it out and tell your friends.
https://mailchi.mp/hgms/hgms-annual-show-is-virtual-for-2020-note-the-new-date-2891638

https://hgms.org/2020-virtual-annual-show/

Yours,

Paul H

Tuesday, 10 November 2020

What Is This Thing? Mystery Rock or Meteorwrong?

What Is This Thing? Mystery Rock or Meteorwrong?

On Reddit, there is an item (rock?) labeled "AN/TCS-62" that many people are guessing is either a meteorite or Moon rock at:
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/jr62jh/my_grandpa_gave_this_to_me_before_he_died_does/

Although I disagree with either identification, the members of this list might have fun making their guesses as to what this mystery specimen is.

Have fun,

Paul H.

Second cable breaks at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo telescope

Second cable breaks at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo telescope

Arecibo Observatory suffers more damage as second cable fails It's the second cable snap for Arecibo in just three months.
By Meghan Bartels, SpaeCom, November 9, 2020
https://www.space.com/arecibo-telescope-suffers-more-damage-cable-failure

Second cable breaks at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo telescope
By Daniel Clery, Science News, November 9, 2020
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11/second-cable-breaks-puerto-rico-s-arecibo-telescope

Yours,

Paul H.

Thursday, 29 October 2020

The Hamburg, Michigan H4 chondrite

The Hamburg, Michigan H4 chondrite

Scientists: 2018 Michigan meteorite filled with organic compounds., Dan Robitzski, Futurism
https://futurism.com/the-byte/pristine-meteorite-organic-compounds

The open acccess paper is:
Heck, P.R., Greer, J., and others, 2020. The fall, recovery, classification, and initial characterization
of the Hamburg, Michigan H4 chondrite. Meteoritics & Planetary Science. Early View.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/maps.13584

Yours,

Paul H.

NASA Discovers a Rare Metal Asteroid

NASA Discovers a Rare Metal Asteroid
https://observer.com/2020/10/nasa-discover-asteroid-pysche-metal-10-quadrillion/

The open access paper is:
Becker, T.M., Cunningham, N., and others, 2020.
HST UV Observations of Asteroid (16) Psyche.
The Planetary Science Journal. vol. 1, no. 3
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/abb67e

Yours,

Paul H.

Sunday, 25 October 2020

Clovis range predates and postdates hypothetical Younger Dryas Event

Clovis range predates and postdates hypothetical Younger Dryas Event

Clovis people: Narrow window of tool-making
Tools made by some of North America's earliest
inhabitants were made only during a 300-year period
Texas A&M University, PhysOrg, October 23, 2020
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201023123104.htm

Clovis range is ~13,050 to 12,750 cal yr B.P.
according to Figure 2 of below paper. Thus, this
interpretation has Clovis culture unaffected by
whatever happened at the Younger Dryas Boundary.

The Open Access paper is:
Michael R. Waters, Thomas W. Stafford, David L.
Carlson. The age of Clovis—13,050 to 12,750 cal yr
B.P.. Science Advances, 2020; 6 (43): eaaz0455
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/43/eaaz0455

Yours,
Paul H.

Sunday, 4 October 2020

Spectacular meteor seen in Pennsylvania and Ohio 04OCT2020

 Spectacular meteor seen in Pennsylvania and Ohio

Spectacular meteor seen from 15
states this morning, David Pescovitz,
KDKA-TX, Pennsylvania and Ohio

Bright flash in sky early Wednesday
morning identified as meteor
WKBN, Channel 27, Oct 1, 2020

Yorus,

Paul H.

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Diamonds Found in Ureilites Formed During Gigantic Planetary Collisions 30SEP2020

 Diamonds Found in Ureilites Formed During Gigantic Planetary Collisions

Largest Extraterrestrial Diamonds Ever Discovered:
Cosmic Diamonds Formed During Gigantic Planetary Collisions
Goethe University, Frankfurt, September 29, 2020

The paper is:

Nestola, F., Goodrich, C.A., Morana, M. Barbaro, A.,
Jakubek, R.S., Christ, O., Brenker, F.E., Domeneghetti,
M.C., Dalconi, M.C., Alvaro, M., Fioretti, A.M., Litasov,
K.D., Fries, M.D., Leoni, M., Casati, N.P.M., Jenniskens,
P., and Shaddad, M.H., 2020. Impact shock origin of
diamonds in ureilite meteorites. PNS, Sept 19, 2020.

Yorus,

Paul H.

Sunday, 20 September 2020

Giant crystals of orthopyroxene from Shakla meteorite 20SEP2020

 Giant crystals of orthopyroxene from Shakla meteorite

Giant crystals of orthopyroxene from Shalka meteorite

An unrelated  article about technique used
in dating impact events,

Researchers unlock secrets of the past with
new international carbon dating standard
University of Sheffield, August 12, 2020

"Radiocarbon dating is set to become more
accurate than ever after an international team
of scientists improved the technique for
assessing the age of historical objects."

Various open access papers about IntCal 20
can be found at:

Yours,

Paul H.

Meteorite 'gold rush' after meteor falls over Prescott, Arizona 20SEP2020

 Meteorite 'gold rush' after meteor falls over Prescott, Arizona

Meteorite 'gold rush' after meteor falls over Prescott
By: Chloe Mar, Northern Arizona News, Feb 17, 2020

Expert in Prescott describes Sunday meteor event in northern Arizona
Joey Carrera, AZFamilyNews, Feb 16, 2020

Yours,

Paul H.

Wednesday, 16 September 2020

So, uh, is there a black hole at the center of the Earth? - One of Five Retracted Papers 16OCT2020

 So, uh, is there a black hole at the center of the Earth? - One of Five Retracted Papers

13 Scientists Say in a Real Journal There's a Black
Hole at the Center of Earth, Caroline Delbert, Sept. 28, 2020

Retraction: A Black Hole at the Center of Earth Plays the
Role of the Biggest System of Telecommunication for
Connecting DNAs, Dark DNAs and Molecules of Water
on 4+N- Dimensional Manifold

Retraction: Five papers from Open Access Maced
J Med Sci. Vol. 7 No. 18 (2019): Sep 30 (Global Dermatology)

Yours,

Paul H.

Wednesday, 9 September 2020

Colonisation and alteration of stony meteorites by microorganisms 09SEP2020

Colonisation and alteration of stony meteorites by microorganisms

Tait, A.W., 2017. On the colonisation and alteration
of stony meteorites by microorganisms from the
Nullarbor Plain, Australia: Applications for future
astrobiology exploration on Mars (Doctoral dissertation,
Monash University).
https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/On_the_colonisation_and_alteration_of_stony_meteorites_by_microorganisms_from_the_Nullarbor_Plain_Australia_Applications_for_future_astrobiology_exploration_on_Mars/5120314/1

Tait, A.W., Gagen, E.J., Wilson, S.A., Tomkins, A.G.
and Southam, G., 2020. Eukaryotic Colonization
of Micrometer-Scale Cracks in Rocks: A “Microfluidics”
Experiment Using Naturally Weathered
Meteorites from the Nullarbor Plain, Australia.
Astrobiology, 20(3), pp.364-374.
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2019.2077

Tait, A.W., Gagen, E.J., Wilson, S.A., Tomkins, A.G.
and Southam, G., 2017. Microbial populations of
stony meteorites: substrate controls on first colonizers.
Frontiers in microbiology, 8, p.1227.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01227/full

Yours,

Paul H.

Saturday, 5 September 2020

Meteorite strikes may create unexpected form of silica 05SEP2020

 Meteorite strikes may create unexpected form of silica

Meteorite strikes may create unexpected form of silica
Carnegie Institution for Science, August 26, 2020

The paper is:

Sally June Tracy, Stefan J. Turneaure, Thomas S. Duffy.
Structural response of ??-quartz under plate-impact
shock compression. Science Advances, 2020; 6 (35):
eabb3913 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb3913

Yours,

Paul H.


Monday, 24 August 2020

Antarctic meteorite might explain mystery of life's weird asymmetry 24AUG2020

 Antarctic meteorite might explain mystery of life's weird asymmetry

Astonishingly old Antarctic space rock could
explain mystery of life's weird asymmetry
By Meghan Bartels, SpaceCom, August 21, 2020

Pristine Space Rock Offers NASA Scientists
Peek at Evolution of Life’s Building Blocks
By Lonnie Shekhtman, NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., August 21, 2020

The paper is:

Daniel P. Glavin Hannah L. McLain Jason P.
Dworkin Eric T. Parker and others, 2020
Abundant extraterrestrial amino acids in the
primitive CM carbonaceous chondrite Asuka
12236 First published: 20 August 2020

Yours,

Paul H.

Friday, 21 August 2020

Supernova triggers for end-Devonian extinctions 21AUG2020

 Supernova triggers for end-Devonian extinctions

Exploding stars may have caused mass extinction on Earth,
study shows, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, August 18, 2020

"Killer cosmic rays from nearby supernovae could be the
culprit behind at least one mass extinction event, researchers
said, and finding certain radioactive isotopes in Earth's
 rock record could confirm this scenario."

The open access paper is:

Brian D. Fields, Adrian L. Melott, John Ellis, Adrienne F.
Ertel, Brian J. Fry, Bruce S. Lieberman, Zhenghai Liu,
Jesse A. Miller, Brian C. Thomas. Supernova triggers for
end-Devonian extinctions. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 2020; 202013774

Yours

Paul H.

Saturday, 15 August 2020

Falling Fireballs Crashed in Chile Last Week. They Weren't Meteorites 15AUG2020

 Falling Fireballs Crashed in Chile Last Week. They Weren't Meteorites

Falling Fireballs Crashed in Chile Last Week.
They Weren't Meteorites, Experts Say.
By Nicoletta Lanese October 10, 2019

Chilean officials are investigating a curious
collection of burning objects that fell
onto parts of the country last week

Yours,

Paul H.

Saturday, 8 August 2020

Did subglacial meltwater create Martian channels and valleys? 08AUG2020

 Did subglacial meltwater create Martian channels and valleys?

Early Mars was covered in ice sheets, not

flowing rivers, researchers say

University of British Columbia, August 3, 2020

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200803120154.htm


Summary:


"A large number of the valley networks scarring

Mars's surface were carved by water melting

beneath glacial ice, not by free-flowing rivers

as previously thought, according to new research.'


Grau Galofre, A., Jellinek, A.M. & Osinski, G.R,.

2020, Valley formation on early Mars by

subglacial and fluvial erosion. Nature Geoscience, 2020

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0618-x


Other recent papers:


Shaw, J., Gilbert, R.G., Sharpe, D.R., Lesemann,

J.E. and Young, R.R., 2020. The origins of s-forms:

Form similarity, process analogy, and links to

high-energy, subglacial meltwater flows.

Earth-Science Reviews, 200, p.102994.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825219301710


Rodriguez, J.A.P., Dobrea, E.N., Kargel, J.S., Baker,

V.R., Crown, D.A., Webster, K.D., Berman, D.C.,

Wilhelm, M.B. and Buckner, D., 2020. The Oldest

Highlands of Mars May Be Massive Dust Fallout

Deposits. Scientific reports, 10(1), pp.1-15. Open Access

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64676-z


Yours,


Paul H.

Sunday, 2 August 2020

Volcanic origin for Younger Dryas geochemical anomalies ca. 12, 900 cal B.P. 02AUG2020

 Volcanic origin for Younger Dryas geochemical anomalies ca. 12, 900 cal B.P.

Texas cave sediment upends meteorite explanation
for global cooling by Baylor University August 1, 2020

The paper is:

Sun, N, Brandon, A.D., Forman, S.L., Waters, M.R.
and Befus, K.S., 2020. Volcanic origin for Younger
Dryas geochemical anomalies ca. 12,900 cal B.P.
Science Advances, 6(31), eaax8587

Related papers:

Holliday, V.T., Bartlein, P.J., Scott, A.C. and Marlon,
J.R., 2020. Extraordinary biomass-burning episode
and impact winter triggered by the Younger Dryas
cosmic impact??? 12,800 years ago, parts 1 and 2: a
discussion. The Journal of Geology, 128(1), pp.69-94.

Wolbach, W.S., Ballard, J.P., Mayewski, P.A., Kurbatov,
A., Bunch, T.E., LeCompte, M.A., Adedeji, V.,
Israde-Alcantara, I., Firestone, R.B., Mahaney, W.C. and
Melott, A.L., 2020. Extraordinary Biomass-Burning
Episode and Impact Winter Triggered by the Younger
Dryas Cosmic Impact??? 12,800 Years Ago: A Reply.
The Journal of Geology, 128(1), pp.95-107.

Yours,

Paul H.

Tuesday, 28 July 2020

Thursday, 23 July 2020

Buried impact crater beneath the Everglades, Florida? 23JUL2020

 Buried impact crater beneath the Everglades, Florida?

The below paper proposes the possibility that a buried

 impact crater underlie the Everglades. there should be

enough data around to test.

 

Petuch, E.J., 1987. The Florida Everglades: A Buried

Pseudoatoll?. Journal of Coastal Research, pp.189-200.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7ec5/d3b02541aafb82280c81c50ac87812fa95e5.pdf

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

Wednesday, 22 July 2020

Asteroid shower on the Earth-Moon system 800 million years ago 22JUL2020

 Asteroid shower on the Earth-Moon system 800 million years ago

Asteroid shower rained space rocks on
Earth and the moon 800 million years ago
By Charles Q. Choi, SpaceCom, July 21, 2020

Asteroid shower on the Earth-Moon system
800 million years ago revealed by lunar craters
by Osaka University, PhysOrg, July 21, 2020

The open access paper is:

Terada, K., Morota, T. & Kato, M. Asteroid shower
on the Earth-Moon system immediately before
the Cryogenian period revealed by KAGUYA.
Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17115-6

Yours,

Paul H.

Tuesday, 14 July 2020

High Pressure Polymorph of Feldspar Discovered 14JUL2020

 High Pressure Polymorph of Feldspar Discovered

A new form of the rock-forming mineral discovered

High-pressure experiments reveal unknown variants

of common mineral by Amit Malewar, June 1, 2020

https://www.techexplorist.com/new-form-common-rock-forming-mineral-discovered/32716/

 

Pakhomova, A., Simonova, D., Koemets, I., Koemets,

E., Aprilis, G., Bykov, M., Gorelova, L., Fedotenko, T.,

Prakapenka, V. and Dubrovinsky, L., 2020.

Polymorphism of feldspars above 10 GPa. Nature

Communications, 11(1), pp.1-8.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16547-4

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

Wednesday, 8 July 2020

Moon contains more metal than previously estimated 08JUL2020

 Moon contains more metal than previously estimated

Higher concentration of metal in Moon's
craters provides new insights to its origin
New observations could challenge previous
theories of how the Moon was formed
University of Southern California, July 1, 2020

The paper is:

E. Heggy, E.M. Palmer, T.W. Thompson, B.J.
Thomson, G.W. Patterson. Bulk composition
of regolith fines on lunar crater floors: Initial
investigation by LRO/Mini-RF. Earth and
Planetary Science Letters, 2020; 541: 116274

Yours,

Paul V.