PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet, 13/2000 - 31 January 2000
--------------------------------
QUOTES OF THE DAY
"Several texts suggest that
some kind of upheaval resulting in
civil disorder occurred at the end of
the Old Kingdom, says Dr.
Donald B. Redford, professor of classics
and ancient Mediterranean
studies. Until now, there has been
no archaeological evidence of
these events. [...] Final
positions of the bodies -- arms placed
over the heads and bodies sprawled in
contorted attitudes exactly
as they fell -- indicate that the
individuals died of trauma.
Masses of mud bricks covered the
bodies with the uppermost layer
fire-blackened indicating destruction of
the surrounding area."
"Leaving behind it a bright trail
of light of a fine Silver
Colour, which continued Visible about 20
minutes, altho' but half
an hour after Sunset, and then gradually
disappeared, after
changing from a Strait line to a very
crooked one. [Meteors are]
bodies altogether foreign to this Earth,
but meeting with it, in
its Annual Orbit, are attracted by it,
and on entering our
Atmosphere take fire and are exploded,
something in the manner
Steel filings are, on passing thro' the
flame of a Candle.
[It made a] glorious appearance at the
distance of a few miles,
yet from its prodigious Magnitude it
must have been quite
terrible. [Had the] Cataract fallen on
the plain whereon
Philadelphia stands, half its
inhabitants would probably been
[sic] drowned."
-- David
Rittenhouse in a letter to Benjamin Franklin
on the the meteor fall of 31 October
1779
(1) FOSSILISED BACTERIA FOUND IN METEORITES, RUSSIAN
SCIENTISTS CLAIM
Brig Klyce <bklyce@panspermia.org>
(2) FIREBALL DEBRIS FOUND IN IRELAND
BBC Online News, 31 January 2000
(3) ARMCHAIR EXPLORATION OF ANTARCTIC METEORITES
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(4) YUKON METEOR FLASH CAUGHT ON FILM
Space.com, 28 Januray 2000
(5) EARLY UNDERSTANDING OF METEORITES
Rolf Sinclair <rolf@santafe.edu>
(6) EVIDENCE FOR CATASTROPHIC COLLAPSE OF EGYPTIAN OLD KINGDOM
Bob Kobres <bkobres@uga.edu>
(7) MORE VICTIMS DISCOVERED OF POMPEII CATASTROPHE
Discovery Online, 31 January 2000
================
(1) FOSSILISED BACTERIA FOUND IN METEORITES, RUSSIAN
SCIENTISTS CLAIM
From Brig Klyce <bklyce@panspermia.org>
Dear Benny --
At a conference in Denver, July 20-22, 1999, a pair scientists
from the
Russian Academy of Sciences presented sharp images that look very
much
like fossilized microorganisms taken from fragments of several
carbonaceous meteorites. The Russian scientists are Stanislav I.
Zhmur,
Institute of the Lithosphere of Marginal Seas, and Lyudmila M.
Gerasimenko, Institute of Biology. The conference was
"Instruments,
Methods and Missions for Astrobiology II," the third in a
series
organized by NASA's Richard Hoover. In December, The
Conference
Proceedings became available from SPIE, the conference sponsor.
We contacted Dr. Zhmur and asked permission to publish some of
those
images on the Cosmic Ancestry website. He agreed. He comments:
"Comparative analysis of bacteriomorphic structures
from the
carbonaceous meteorites, Murchison, Efremovka and Allende,... and
morphology of microorganisms of modern and ancient
terrestrial
cyanobacterial community showed that they are analogous. This
gave
us reason to consider that these bacteriomorphic structures are
fossilized remnants of microorganisms. The lithified remnants
...are
tightly conjugated with the mineral matrix, removing the
possibility
that they are contaminants. The selection of microfossils capable
of
being interpreted as biological is quite wide. Some of them are
demonstrated in the pictures."
Six photos can be seen at http://www.panspermia.org/zhmur1.htm
Brig Klyce
Acorn Enterprises LLC
Memphis, TN
http://www.panspermia.org
===============
(2) FIREBALL DEBRIS FOUND IN IRELAND
From the BBC Online News, 31 January 2000
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_622000/622499.stm
Woman finds space fireball debris
By BBC News Online's Damian Carrington
Meteorites which spectacularly crashed on the British Isles two
months
ago have been recovered. It is the first time the remnants of a
fireball have been found for many years.
The golf-ball sized fragments of space rock were discovered lying
on a
local road by a grandmother, who wishes to remain anonymous.
Samples have been sent to the Natural History Museum in London
and Dr
Sara Russell, a meteorite expert told BBC News Online:
"There's no
doubt, they're definitely from a meteorite."
Booming explosions
The rock, billions of years old, fell to Earth at 2200 on 28
November,
1999. Witnesses in County Carlow, Republic of Ireland, said the
fireball lit up the night sky and sent out booming explosions.
Justine O'Mahony of the Carlow People newspaper said: "It
caused a lot
of excitement. A lot of people heard explosions in the sky and
talked
about flashing lights."
Meteorite dealer and collector Rob Elliott, based in Scotland,
told BBC
News Online: "The reports of loud detonations gave me a
strong
suspicion that some part of the meteor would have survived."
So, Mr Elliott contacted the Carlow People, who ran a story
telling
local people that he would pay up to £20,000 for large pieces of
the
meteorite.
A second story a week later prompted the arrival of an anonymous
envelope containing earth and 13 stones, ones of which turned out
to be
a meteorite. The lack of a customs declaration delayed the
parcel.
It took a third story in the paper, and the dismissal of some
crank
calls, to flush out the person who found the fallen rocks.
First since 1865
The meteorites, totalling 220 grams in weight, are the first
recovered
in Ireland since 1865. And they are the first fallen rocks found
anywhere in the British Isles since 1991.
Only 17 meteorites have ever been found in the British Isles.
Meteorites can be extremely valuable, worth up to $50,000 per
gram. The
premium prices are paid for the rarest specimens, which are lunar
meteorites. These rocks have been blasted off the Moon by an
impact and
have then fallen to Earth. Only three have been found outside
Antarctica. The international treaty in place on the frozen
continent
means those found there cannot be sold.
Oddly, Martian meteorites are more common, but still reach $4,000
per
gram..
"Meteorites have really grown in value over the last few
years," said
Dr Russell. "The fuss in 1996 over the possible bacteria in
the Martian
meteorite really captured people's imagination and they really
started
collecting very seriously."
Very rare find
However, Mr Elliott claims he will seek only to cover his costs -
£2,000 - with the Irish meteorite and will make specimens
available to
scientists.
The Natural History Museum will verify the space rock and will
retain a
piece for its collection by way of payment. The final stamp of
authenticity is given by the International Meteorite Nomenclature
Committee. Traditionally, the meteorite is named after the
nearest post
office to where it fell.
"We get several people bringing material into the museum
every week,"
said Dr Russell. "But it is very rare that it turns out to
be a
meteorite. There has only been one in the last year and that came
from
Tunisia."
Copyright 2000, BBC
==============
(3) ARMCHAIR EXPLORATION OF ANTARCTIC METEORITES
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
Carnegie Mellon University
Contact: Meg Siegel, msiegel@andrew.cmu.edu,
412-268-5765
January 27, 2000
Interactive Web Site "Big Signal" Allows Public To
Explore Antarctica
Through a Robot's Senses
PITTSBURGH -- Big Signal (www.bigsignal.net),
an interactive Web site
and interface for remote experience that features the daily
activities of
Nomad, a robot that has been searching for meteorites in
Antarctica since
Jan. 17, is now available to the public.
The Web site and interface were also deployed at the Carnegie
Museum of
Natural History, where it will be available to users at a
Macintosh
computer cluster for the next month. It will also be used by
teachers in
classrooms at Pittsburgh's Arsenal Middle School, Greenfield
Elementary
School, Columbus Middle School, as well as suburban locations
including
Peters Township Middle School, Keystone Oaks High School and
Quaker
Valley Middle School.
Big Signal, a two-year project directed by Peter Coppin, a
research fellow
in the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry in Carnegie Mellon's College
of Fine Arts,
gives users the experience of exploring a remote location through
Nomad's
sensors, including a 360-degree panoramic camera and other
sensors that
allow students to engage in remote geology. Big Signal receives
information
from Nomad daily, making the robot's expedition easily accessible
to users.
Nomad, a planetary rover prototype, is funded by NASA and was
created at
Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. The principal researcher on
the Nomad
project is William L. "Red" Whittaker and the project
manager is Dimitrios
Apostolopoulos.
"Big Signal extends the senses of ordinary people to a
faraway place and
lets users engage in a real remote experience" said Coppin.
"The goal of
Big Signal is to place students in a real scientific setting by
giving them
access to the same data that a scientist would access."
NASA recently gave Coppin and colleagues at the Robotics
Institute a
three-year $500,000 grant to develop "EventScope," an
enhanced system
based on Big Signal. EventScope will allow its users to feel as
if they
are conducting their own scientific explorations when NASA sends
rovers
to other planets. Pittsburgh-based Three-Rivers Connect and the
Heinz
Endowments are providing more than $70,000 in matching funds for
EventScope.
The Big Signal project has received more than $100,000 from
foundation
sources, including the Heinz Endowments, Grable Foundation and
the Henry
Clay Frick Fund of the Buhl Foundation. Engineers from Carnegie
Mellon's
Robotics Institute, Carnegie Institute of Technology and The
Center for
Innovation in Learning have contributed to the project. William
Cassidy,
professor of geology and planetary science at the University of
Pittsburgh,
and Kurt Schwehr of NASA's Ames Research Center, have also
contributed
to Big Signal. Web hosting has been provided by Electronic
Information
Network, a collaborative project of the Allegheny County Library
Association (ACLA), Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the
Commission
on the Future of Libraries in Allegheny County.
Experience Nomad's search for meteorites at
www.ri.cmu.edu/~meteorobot2000
To join Nomad's search for meteorites in Antarctica, visit
www.bigsignal.net
==============
(4) YUKON METEOR FLASH CAUGHT ON FILM
From Space.com, 28 Januray 2000
http://www.space.com/space/yukon_flash_000128.html
By Robin Lloyd
Senior Science Writer
28 January 2000
An alert Canadian man snapped an illuminating sequence of photos
of the
gaseous trail left in Earth's atmosphere minutes after a recent
meteor
explosion over the Yukon Territory.
The flash occurred around 8:45 a.m. Pacific Time on Jan. 18 over
the
remotely populated stretch of northwestern Canada, said Ewald
Lemke, a
63-year-old realtor who posted the images he took on his Atlin
Realty
online web site.
Lemke writes that he started taking pictures outside his realty
office
in Atlin, British Columbia, just south of the Yukon border,
within two
minutes of the "flash," at which time the vapor trail
appeared reddish
(below).
"I had all the lights on in the office and was working on
the computer and this whole
room lit up," Lemke said.
"The whole room was three times brighter. So what's going
on? I ran
outside thinking something had exploded but I didn't hear a
noise. The
noise came some time later," he said.
He continued to take photographs as the trail changed (below).
The final picture in a quick series of four was taken 14 minutes
after
the first in the series (below), with the vapor trail extending
significantly.
By 18 minutes after the flash, Lemke says the trail extended
beyond the
frame allowed by the camera's lens (below).
Finally, 45 minutes after the flash, the trail was still visible
under
a cloud, as shown in the photo at the top of this story. Lemke
used a
digital camera for the shots, because it's a long drive to get
conventional film developed, he said.
NASA dispatched its Airborne Sciences ER-2 from the Dryden Space
Flight
Center in the Mojave Desert in California to the scene on Jan.
21,
where it combed the skies in search of traces of the massive
meteor.
The meteor exploded 16 miles (25 kilometers) with the energy of
two to
three kilotons of TNT, ratlling houses, knocking snow off roofs
and
shaking seismic monitors in the region.
The explosion produced two sonic booms and a sizzling sound over
Alaska
and northwestern Canada, according to a NASA news release.
Lemke said it sounded like a snow load falling onto his building.
"But
there was no snow, so I wondered what the heck it was," he
said. "Then
when people talked about a sonic boom, I connected the two
events."
Two small paddles mounted on the ER-2 and coated in sticky
silicon oil
collected particles during the one-day, round-trip expedition.
The
paddles have been sealed hermetically and returned to NASA's
Johnson
Space Center where they will be analyzed by cosmic meteorologist
Michael Zolenski.
The results will come in two weeks, NASA says, giving scientists
an
opportunity to learn more about the meteor's origin and
composition.
Chief Pasadena Correspondent Andrew Bridges contributed to this
story.
Copyright 2000, Space.com
===============
(5) EARLY UNDERSTANDING OF METEORITES
From Rolf Sinclair <rolf@santafe.edu>
Hi Benny --
Here is an interesting observation of a meteor observed in
Pennsylvania in 1779 that showed a prescient early understanding
of its nature. Note that this predates the apocryphal nonsense
about "not believing stones fall from the sky"
erroneously
attributed to Thomas Jefferson. It does bring up the question of
when (and by whom) the nature of meteors (and meteorites) as
extraterrestrial solid bodies in orbit around the sun was first
realized. Do you have any comments on that? I am quoting from the
paper "Benjamin Franklin's Reconciliation of Popular
Astrology and
Scientific Astronomy" by Monika Elbert (Montclair State
University) presented at the January 1999 INSAP meeting in Malta.
Rolf Sinclair
In a letter to Benjamin Franklin, David Rittenhouse describes
most
poetically a meteor which fell on 31 October 1779:
"Leaving
behind it a bright trail of light of a fine Silver Colour, which
continued Visible about 20 minutes, altho' but half an hour after
Sunset, and then gradually disappeared, after changing from a
Strait line to a very crooked one" (Rittenhouse, 31 December
1780,
179). Rittenhouse speculates that meteors are "Bodies
altogether
foreign to this Earth, but meeting with it, in its Annual Orbit,
are attracted by it, and on entering our Atmosphere take fire and
are exploded, something in the manner Steel filings are, on
passing thro' the flame of a Candle" (31 Dec. 1780).
Moreover, Rittenhouse is awed by the power, velocity, and
potential damage of the meteor; it made a "glorious
appearance at
the distance of a few miles, yet from its prodigious Magnitude it
must have been quite terrible" (31 Dec. 1780). Rittenhouse
concludes by saying that he is thankful that the meteor fell on
"uninhabitable Mountains" because had the
"Cataract fallen on the
plain whereon Philadelphia stands, half its inhabitants would
probably been [sic] drowned" (31 Dec. 1780).
Reference: Rittenhouse, David. The Scientific Writings of
David
Rittenhouse. Ed. Brooke Hindle. N.Y.: Arno
Press, 1980.
David Rittenhouse (1732-96) was a self-taught native of
Philadelphia, Pa., who was noted for the instruments he both
developed and manufactured. He developed an interest in astronomy
and physics to the professional level, and made the first
telescope and established the first observatory in what was to
become the United States. "Rittenhouse Square" in
Philadelphia is
named after him.
=============
(6) EVIDENCE FOR CATASTROPHIC COLLAPSE OF EGYPTIAN OLD KINGDOM
From Bob Kobres <bkobres@uga.edu>
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/penn-mfm012800.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 28 JANUARY 2000 (28 JANUARY 2000 GMT)
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer
aem1@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State
Mendes find may hold clues to Old Kingdom demise
University Park, Pa. -- The remains of 18 people apparently left
as
they fell during an altercation at the end of the Old Kingdom in
Egypt
may shed light on the last days of the Old Kingdom, according to
a Penn
State researcher.
"Several texts suggest that some kind of upheaval resulting
in civil
disorder occurred at the end of the Old Kingdom," says Dr.
Donald B.
Redford, professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies.
"Until now, there has been no archaeological evidence of
these events."
Toward the end of the Old Kingdom at about 2100 B.C., the state
declined in wealth. The Nile's annual discharge replenishing the
fertility of fields diminished and famine was frequent, according
to
Redford, a faculty member in the College of the Liberal Arts.
The remains were found at Mendes in Egypt, two hours north of
Cairo in
the central portion of the Nile delta and 50 miles from the
coast. The
site shows occupation during a long period from prehistory
through the
26th dynasty or about 500 B.C. and includes a temple, necropolis
and
harbor as well as habitation areas. Redford, along with Douglas
Brewer
of the University of Illinois and Robert Wenke of the University
of
Washington, has been excavating at the site since 1991.
Final positions of the bodies -- arms placed over the heads and
bodies
sprawled in contorted attitudes exactly as they fell -- indicate
that
the individuals died of trauma. Masses of mud bricks covered the
bodies
with the uppermost layer fire-blackened indicating destruction of
the
surrounding area.
"The date of this destruction is clear from the ceramic
record and the
stratigraphy that place it in the second half of the 6th
Dynasty," says
Redford. "The presence of flimsy mud-brick walls built over
the debris
is an apparent attempt to reuse the area afterwards."
Another interesting aspect of the 1999 summer dig was the
discovery of a
series of curved walls and platforms, including a courtyard
surrounded
by curved walls in the temple area.
"Typically, the Egyptians did not create curvilinear walls,
but relied
on straight line walls and sharp angles," says Redford.
"These curved
structures are interesting and puzzling."
This semicircular court, which the expedition has not completely
excavated, is the area where the 18 individuals were found.
In another area of the site, the deputy director, Susan Redford,
found
11 granite sarcophagi that once contained the embalmed bodies of
rams.
The temple at Mendes was originally dedicated to the ram god and
the
practice was to choose a perfect ram as the embodiment of the
gods.
"By 343 B.C., the Persians were tending towards
monotheism," says
Redford. "They pulled the sarcophagi out of their burial
chamber,
destroyed the mummified rams and threw the sarcophagi out."
During this season the excavators located the original vaulted
cubicles
where the sarcophagi had originally rested. One sarcophagus was
still
partly in place as were bronze fittings from the doors. Redford
believes
that this burial vault dates from about 800 B.C. or the Third
Intermediate period, but is unsure where the Egyptians interred
earlier
rams.
In 1991 the archaeologists excavated the royal necropolis and in
1995
began working on the temple area. The existing temple was built
in three
phases and was destroyed probably in the Middle Ages. Redford
plans to
return to Mendes this summer.
===============
(7) MORE VICTIMS DISCOVERED OF POMPEII CATASTROPHE
From Discovery Online, 31 January 2000
http://www.discovery.com/news/archive/news20000128/brief2.html?ct=3891ef90
48 More Vesuvius Victims Discovered
Jan. 28, 2000 -- Nearly 2,000 years after Mount Vesuvius covered
Pompeii and the nearby towns of Herculaneum and Stabiae with 9 to
20
feet of hot ash and pumice, new light is being shed on the most
famous
eruption in history.
The 300 fugitives who sought refuge on the beach of Herculaneum
did not
die from slow suffocation as long assumed, but from extreme
thermal
shock.
By studying bone fractures and the position of the remains,
anthropologists at Naples University have established beyond a
doubt
that the fugitives were wrapped in a 750-degree Fahrenheit cloud
and
died in a fraction of a second.
The recent finding has its roots in an 18-year dig led by
archaeologist
Mario Pagano near the ancient seashore. Begun in 1981, the
excavation
has unearthed 48 nearly-intact bodies trapped by death as they
packed
into 12 storerooms on the beach to escape the molten lava and
boiling
mud pouring down from the crater.
Archaeologists found bodies of adults on the surface, many
carrying
money and valuable objects; deeper down, they found children and
newborns.
"This is a significant and precious sample of Herculaneum's
population
at the time of the eruption. By studying the skeletal remains and
the
objects the fugitives carried with them, we have been able to
make
an accurate picture of the daily life in the town and its last
hours,"
says Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, superintendent of archaeology at
Pompeii.
Studying the bone fractures and the position of the remains,
anthropologists at Naples University have established beyond a
doubt
that the fugitives died instantly from extreme thermal shock when
the
surge hurled down on the beach area.
Following the technique invented in 1863 by Giuseppe Fiorelli,
the
archaeologists made casts of the dead, using modern silicone
rubber
instead of plaster. Like the famous casts of 13 victims made in
1966 in
Pompeii's Garden of the Fugitives, the 48 impressions offer an
appalling frozen picture of the city's last hours. The casts will
be
shown in the exhibition "Ancient People of Herculaneum"
at the end of
March.
"It is indeed an impressive find," says Pedar W. Foss
of DePauw
University in Indiana, author of a forthcoming book on Pompeii.
"While our understanding of the eruption sequence of Mount
Vesuvius has
been greatly enhanced over the last 15 years, we still have much
to
learn about the particular reactions of the inhabitants, and
their
group behavior, on that August day in A.D. 79."
By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News Brief
Copyright 2000, Discovery.com
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