New Comet Dust Mineral Discovered

Red Orbit ^ | Thursday, June 12, 2008

[SunkenCiv]

The mineral, a manganese silicide named Brownleeite, was discovered within an interplanetary dust particle, or IDP, that appears to have originated from comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup. The comet originally was discovered in 1902 and reappears every 5 years. The team that made the discovery is headed by Keiko Nakamura-Messenger, a space scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston... The Earth accretes about 40,000 tons of dust particles from space each year, originating mostly from disintegrating comets and asteroid collisions. This dust is a subject of intense interest because it is made of the original building blocks of the solar system, planets, and our bodies. The mineral was surrounded by multiple layers of other minerals that also have been reported only in extraterrestrial rocks. There have been 4,324 minerals identified by the International Mineralogical Association, or IMA. This find adds one more mineral to that list. The IMA-approved new mineral, Brownleeite, is named after Donald E. Brownlee, professor of astronomy at the University of Washington, Seattle. Brownlee founded the field of IDP research.

[SunkenCiv]

Brownlee also professes that life may be unique to Earth, and that humans are destroying the climate.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

mineral in comets site:freerepublic.com

Google

[Grizzled Bear]

I think a chunk of it fell off and landed in my back yard. Its a soft ball sized glowing, green meteor. Its kinda cool because the ones that size usually burn up in the atmosphere.

Oh well, I guess I’ll just put it in my rock collection and continue my experiment with static electricity. There’s a storm brewing and I expect to get some fireworks...

/OBSCURE HM REFERENCES...

[SunkenCiv]

May I be the first to smile, then say, “huh?”

[Grizzled Bear]

Watch “Heavy Metal,” specifically “Den.”

[SunkenCiv]

I’ll pass. I liked “Den” when it was serialized in the mag, but the movie sucked.

[Grizzled Bear]

Yeah, it sucked. But it was a “guilty pleasure.” Especially since, until fairly recently, the only videos available were the old theater boot leg copies.

Still, the B-17 part was pretty cool.

[ZOOKER]

I think a chunk of it fell off and landed in my back yard. Its a soft ball sized glowing, green meteor. Its kinda cool... Oh well, I guess I’ll just put it in my rock collection...

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T OPEN IT!

[wastedyears]

Oh, he's one of those people, huh?

[Grizzled Bear]

I wonder how much they’ll pay for it up at the college...

[wastedyears]

I’ve never seen that movie from start to finish. Always just bits and parts.

[Grizzled Bear]

I’m sorry. I’ve seemed to have killed your thread.

:-(

[Grizzled Bear]

Maybe I spoke too soon...

[SunkenCiv]

:’D

[SunkenCiv]

THREAD KILLER!!!

;’)

[Grizzled Bear]

I’ve never seen that movie from start to finish. Always just bits and parts.

The only worthwhile parts are the B-17 and "Hanover-fist." Unless you're into cartoon porn...

[SunkenCiv]

Hey! How did you know about the cartoon por- uh, never mind...

[Grizzled Bear]

It was an inspired guess. I could understand “Betty Boop,” but I still don’t get what you see in “Olive Oyl.”

[Grizzled Bear]

I guess I am a thread killer. I’m a bad bear.