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POPSArctic Impact Crater Lake Reveals Interglacial Cycles in Sediments "The coring equipment and other instrumentation was set up using a tripod over the hole in the ice. The scientists were able to extract a core of the topmost 8.5 meters of sediment. The international team of researchers in the field included Guillaume St-Onge; Reinhard Pienitz, principal investigator; Veli-Pekka Salonen of the University of Helsinki, Finland; and Richard Niederreiter, coring expert. Please visit http://www.cen.ulaval.ca/pingualuit/index.html for more information."
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POPSGreat beasts peppered from space "And geoscience consultant Allen West added: "If the particles had gone through the skin, they may not have made it through to vital organs; but this material could certainly have blinded the animals and severely injured them." The mammoth and bison remains all display small (about 2-3mm in size) perforations. Raised, burnt surface rings trace the point of entry of high-velocity projectiles; and the punctures are on only one side, consistent with a blast coming from a single direction. Viewed under an electron microscope, the embedded fragments appear to have exploded inside the tusk and bone, say the researchers. Shards have cut little channels. The sunken pieces are also magnetic, and tests show them to have a high iron-nickel content, but to be depleted in titanium. The ratios of different types of atoms in the fragments meant it was most unlikely they had originated on Earth, the team told the AGU meeting. "
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POPSComet 17P/Holmes Erupts in the Sky "Hi List, In the ancient constellation of Perseus (Rising in the NE just after Sunset and highest in the sky around 2-4 am), a fading comet has suddenly exploded back into life. This comet, 17P Holmes, is suddenly visible to the naked eye, although it had already swung by its perihelion months ago and was now about 2.5 AU from the Sun. (and a little bit more than the Sun-Mars distance from Earth). Initially mistaken for a companion to the Andromeda Galaxy, Comet Holmes was discovered in 1892, and has had a lesser outburst before... Not bad for a Jupiter family (main belt asteroid like) comet estimated at less than 3.5 Km in diameter. What is happing aboard Comet Holmes? Why is it suddenly 100,000 times brighter than it was before? Don't touch that dial and stay tuned for some exciting scenes next week :-) Happy Hunting, Doug" meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
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POPSMassive Fireball Carancas, Peru "Witnesses describe a massive ball of fire which slammed into the ground, creating a mushroom cloud of smoke, steam and dust, and shook the ground like an earthquake. Many windows were broken in the village of Carancas as well. People who arrived at the fall site within minutes of the impact report that the crater rapidly filled with water, which was boiling, and erupting nauseous steam that smelled overwhelmingly of sulfur. Many people reportedly were sickened by the gasses, and media reports of hundreds sickened were vastly exaggerated. The fear created by such a traumatic even likely caused mass hysteria and the fear of the object almost certainly played a part in the reports of illnesses.'