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.

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.

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.

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

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.