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The Jam Jelly Doughnut – the rock on Mars

16 February 2014
Astronomy

At www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-051 … the mysterious rock that caused a fuss a week or so back – it looked like a jelly donut/jam doughnut, turns out to be a piece of lunar rock, white on the outside, and red in the centre. It was not a Martian mushroom (among some of the ideas).

At http://phys.org/print311399990.html … has a story that goes back to the Chelyabinsk meteor of February last year (2013). Mark Bailley of Armagh Observatory was interviewed and makes some interesting remarks. For example, it has been calculated it exploded between 28 and 18 miles up in the sky and it was this  that prevented any serious structural damage. What would have happened if had broken apart somewhat lower, just a few miles above the ground?

At http://phys.org/print311589623.html … we learn that a Near Earth Object will pass close to Earth on February 17th (tomorrow), a year after the Chelyabinsk object. The big one passed by the Earth but the little one, possibly in resonant orbit with the bigger piece, impacted with our atmosphere – so anything is possible.

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