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Re: (meteorobs) An Image of a Micrometeorite?
I got into this myself about 5 years or so. I had read articles in
two publications that inspired me. They are as follows:
Kapral, Charles A., The Journal of the Association of Lunar and
Planetary Observers, vol. 36 (1993 Feb.), pp. 176-8.
Christy, Darwin P., Meteor News, No. 104 (Spring 1994), pp. 1-4.
I bought a fairly good microscope from Edmunds Scientific and used
the technique the articles suggested of putting a double-well
microscope slide outside for 24-hour periods. I only looked at the
slide if there was no rain, snow, or winds, as I only wanted the
particles that were settling to the surface. Based on two photographs
in the Meteor News article and descriptions in both, I carefully
scanned the slides looking for suspect particles. I kept good records
for about 5 months, but a string a bad weather at the time of the
1996 Perseids prevented me from getting the data I had been looking
forward to. In addition, my books began taking more of my time and a
particular incident knocked the wind out of my sails.
I got all excited on May 4, 1996. I got home from work, grabbed the
slide, and began scanning. Up to that time, the highest number of
particles I had ever found on one slide was 9. On this occasion, I
only counted the particles in one of the two wells on the slide and
that one well contained 257 spherical particles. Were these particles
from the Eta Aquarid meteor shower? I put the slide into an enclosed
container and carefully took it to work the next day. I work at a
university medical school and am friends with many of the scientists
in the medical labs. I went to a Neurosurgeon's lab who is very
interested in astronomy and we sat down at one of the high powered
microscopes. Several photographs were taken of the spherical
particles, but most contained a feature I was not expecting--three
little equally-spaced nodules. I was suddenly suspicious that I was
detecting something terrestrial instead of extraterrestrial. Another
friend at the university worked at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I
sent the pictures to him and personally delivered the slide. It was
late June before the results came back. The slide was filled with
pollen.
I occasionally looked at slides into the beginning of 1997, but every
major meteor shower was rained or snowed out either during the peak
or in the immediate days that followed. I was never able to get the
string of good weather I required for the experiment. Since then it
has been difficult to find the one hour of scanning time per day to
do this. I do hope to try the whole experiment again at a later date.
Sincerely,
Gary
> > Anyone know where I can find an image of a micrometeorite on the web? I've
>searched mighty hard to
>> find something, but have yet to find one that has been recovered on the
>earth's surface or
>> atmosphere. There are pictures on the JSC NASA site that show one's
>collected in space, but none
>> from the earth's atmosphere. I'm looking for a URL rather than hints.
>>
>> --
>> Wayne T. Watson (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet)
>>
>
>Wayne:
>
> I have also checked the web with few results. I suggest that you check
>back issues of the Meteoritical Society Journal, now called MAPS. These may
>be available in a good science library. Also an I.A.U. publication of
>Symposium No.90, Solid Particles in the Solar System, edited by Ian Halliday
>and B. A. McIntosh, chapter, Analysis of Interplanetary Dust Collections by
>Brownlee et al. I know of no popular literature on this subject I'm afraid.
>Perhaps others have suggestions! Can't help you with a web source.
>
>Ed Majden
>
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