[meteorite-list] Murchison smells.....

From: Shawn Alan <photophlow_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:13:13 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <817269.43871.qm_at_web113613.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

Mike G and Listers,
?
Thats funny you asked if Murchison smells cause I have a Murchison fragment?and it smells. At first?I thought that the smell might be due to the foam but I am mistaken and the little sugarier rascal smells. If I am not mistaken, I think the Murchison has water in it and I wonder if the water has something to do with why the Murchison is able to retain its smell?
?
Shawn Alan?
?
?
?
?
Galactic Stone & Ironworks >meteoritemike at gmail.com
Tue Feb 16 22:48:55 EST 2010


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Hi Folks!

So it's true about the aroma of Murchison? I wish I had a piece big
enough to smell without actually inhaling it.

If I try to sniff my current Murchison, it will fly up my nose. LOL

Best regards,

MikeG



On 2/16/10, Gary Fujihara <fujmon at mac.com> wrote:

> Ha ha! I concur, and must confess that I too love the smell of

> Murchison in the morning.

>

> Sent from Gary's iPhone

>

> On Feb 16, 2010, at 4:31 PM, Greg Redfern <gredfern at earthlink.net>

> wrote:

>

>> My pristine Jim Strope 80g Murchison is kept under a bell jar. I

>> LOVE the smell of all the aromatic compounds. Smells like a fine

>> cognac.

>>

>> This meteorite is a joy to behold both visually and by inhaling ;-)

>>

>> Greg

>>

>>

>> -----Original Message-----

>>> From: Greg Catterton <star_wars_collector at yahoo.com>

>>> Sent: Feb 16, 2010 6:01 PM

>>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

>>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] organics in Muchison.....

>>>

>>> I have to agree, this has been an awesome discussion.

>>> Murchison is one of my favorite samples in my collection.

>>> When information comes out like this, it always adds something even

>>> more special to it.

>>>

>>> Not an ad for me but, if anyone following this does not currently

>>> have a sample, Gary has some really nice samples at very good

>>> prices on ebay:

>>> http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZfujmonQQhtZ-1

>>>

>>> Its a must have for collectors, and this recent news just goes to

>>> show that the study of this is ongoing.

>>>

>>> Any other links to information on this meteorite would be great!

>>>

>>> Greg Catterton

>>> www.wanderingstarmeteorites.com

>>> IMCA member 4682

>>> On Ebay: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/wanderingstarmeteorites

>>>

>>>

>>> --- On Tue, 2/16/10, Matthias B?rmann <majbaermann at web.de> wrote:

>>>

>>>> From: Matthias B?rmann <majbaermann at web.de>

>>>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] organics in Muchison.....

>>>> To: Zelimir.Gabelica at uha.fr, meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

>>>> Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 4:39 PM

>>>> Hello Zelimir & Murchisionados,

>>>>

>>>> highly interesting indeed: thanks so much for informing us

>>>> about your and your colleagues scientific work and giving us

>>>> so the feeling of being privileged enough to sit in the very

>>>> first row.

>>>>

>>>> If I understand your approach correct, your non-targeted

>>>> focus of investigation leads directly to a highly diverse

>>>> pattern.

>>>>

>>>> The last sentence of the abstract reads: "This molecular

>>>> complexity, which provides hints on heteroatoms

>>>> chronological assembly, suggests that the extraterrestrial

>>>> chemodiversity is high compared to terrestrial relevant

>>>> biological- and biogeochemical-driven chemical space." The

>>>> high level of extraterrestrial chemodiversity vs. the less

>>>> diverse terrestrial "chemical space" - could that mean that

>>>> development of life could depend on a kind of reduction of

>>>> diversity? Caused by selection (= "targetting"?)? Life would

>>>> be essentially linked to a process of picking up elements

>>>> out of the construction kit? But than it begins to play by

>>>> combining them? Wouldn't that point to the necessity to make

>>>> a strong distinction between diversity and complexity? Could

>>>> that mean that the complexity of terrestrial biological and

>>>> biochemical "space" is a result of reduction of (initial)

>>>> diversity?

>>>>

>>>> Perhaps six (crazy) questions too much from a non-natural

>>>> scientist ...

>>>>

>>>> Best regards,

>>>>

>>>> Matthias B.

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: <Zelimir.Gabelica at uha.fr>

>>>> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>

>>>> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 9:58 PM

>>>> Subject: [meteorite-list] organics in Muchison.....

>>>>

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> Darren, list,

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> The media info Darren is speaking about refers to the

>>>> research we (a

>>>> group of scientists) are being conducting since several

>>>> months on

>>>> Murchison, namely a non targeted analysis of its

>>>> extraterrestrial

>>>> organic contents.

>>>>

>>>> In a post I sent by end of last September, I had notified

>>>> the list of

>>>> that work by just mentioning the keywords "Murchison" and

>>>> "organic

>>>> contant".

>>>>

>>>> The paper, that was submitted for publication in due time

>>>> (right in

>>>> time for the 40th anniversary of Murchison fall), was just

>>>> anounced

>>>> released out of press a couple of hours ago.

>>>>

>>>> Here is the reference: PNAS, 107 (7), 2763 -2768 (2010).

>>>>

>>>> Abstract can be read here:

>>>>

>>>> http://www.pnas.org/content/107/7/2763

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> More discussions are available through various media press

>>>> comments

>>>> (easily found by Googling with keys: "Murchison, Phillippe

>>>> Schmitt-Kopplin").

>>>>

>>>> May I just insist that the incredible number of molecules

>>>> we had found

>>>> originated from the fact that the screening was not

>>>> targeted.

>>>>

>>>> Also we never claimed that any of the hundreds of thousands

>>>> of

>>>> molecules we detected had a pre-biotic origin, something

>>>> that seems to

>>>> provoke debate in the media.

>>>> Our work just shows there's no shortage of molecules on

>>>> meteorites in

>>>> general, and in Murchison, taken as reference in

>>>> particular, that

>>>> origin-of-life researchers could investigate...

>>>>

>>>> Those familtar with Ensisheim shows might remember that

>>>> Philippe

>>>> (Phil) was our new enthroned Ensisheim meteorite guardian

>>>> in 2008.

>>>>

>>>> Phil is the head of the lab in Neuherberg (Munich) where

>>>> all the

>>>> measurements (combined FTICR-MS,NMR & GC) were run.

>>>> We all, co-authors, are deeply indebted to him for his

>>>> discern and

>>>> faith in initiating that challenging research and for his

>>>> expertise

>>>> that caused its success beyond any of our initial

>>>> expectations.

>>>>

>>>> So far we have recorded tons of other data on "many more"

>>>> other

>>>> meteorites. More exciting and weird results are coming

>>>> continuously;

>>>> thay will be published in the months to come.

>>>>

>>>> My best wishes,

>>>>

>>>> Zelimir

>>>>

>>>>

>>>> Shawn Alan <photophlow at yahoo.com>

>>>> a ??crit? :

>>>>

>>>>> Darren and List

>>>>>

>>>>> Thank you for the read up on Murchison meteorite on

>>>> how scientist have identified over 14,000 compounds

>>>> and counting. While we are on the topic of Murchison

>>>> meteorite, I came across an article on line that

>>>> points out these interesting facts and finds on the

>>>> Murchison as quoted from the article as follows....

>>>>> "Presolar grains are the oldest materials in the solar

>>>> system," says Philipp Heck of the University of Chicago.

>>>>> "The ages of the grains clearly indicate that they are

>>>> older than the solar system."

>>>>> But just how old?

>>>>> Heck and his colleagues isolated 22 grains from the

>>>> Murchison meteorite, which is well-known for the

>>>>> organic material it contains, and measured how long

>>>> the grains spent in interstellar space before winding

>>>> up

>>>>> in our nascent solar system. The implied grain ages,

>>>> reported in a recent paper of the Astrophysical

>>>> Journal,

>>>>> appear to support a hypothesis that our solar system

>>>> formed after a smaller satellite galaxy crashed into the

>>>>> Milky Way around 6 billion years ago."......

>>>>>

>>>>> "From the isotope abundances, the researchers estimate

>>>> that the majority of grains spent between 3

>>>>> and 200 million years in interstellar space before

>>>> falling into our molecular cloud some 4.6 billion

>>>>> years ago."

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> Here is the link to the article I found on line.

>>>>> http://www.astrobio.net/pdffiles/news_3202.pdf

>>>>>

>>>>> and if your up for a read, here is an article on the

>>>> age of presolar SiC grains found in Murchison

>>>> meteorite.

>>>>>

>>>>> http://presolar.wustl.edu/ref/Gyngard09b.pdf

>>>>>

>>>>> Enjoy

>>>>> Shawn Alan

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> [meteorite-list] Murchison-- chock full o' stuffDarren

>>>> Garrison cynapse at charter.net

>>>>> Tue Feb 16 00:25:30 EST 2010

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>> Previous message: [meteorite-list] West Texas

>>>> Meteorite Hunt - February 15, 2009

>>>>> Next message: [meteorite-list] West Texas Meteorite

>>>> Hunt - February 15, 2009

>>>>> Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [

>>>> author ]

>>>>>

>>>>> http://news.discovery.com/space/meteorite-crammed-with-millions-of-organic-compounds.html

>>>>>

>>>>> Meteorite Crammed with 'Millions' of Organic

>>>> Compounds

>>>>>

>>>>> By Ian O'Neill | Mon Feb 15, 2010 04:52 PM ET

>>>>>

>>>>> A meteorite that hit the town of Murchison, Australia,

>>>> hasn't quit giving up its

>>>>> secrets.

>>>>>

>>>>> The Murchison meteorite is one of the most studied

>>>> space rocks because many

>>>>> pieces were recovered after it was seen breaking up as

>>>> it fell through the

>>>>> atmosphere in 1969. Approximately 100 kg of the

>>>> carbonaceous chondrite was

>>>>> recovered.

>>>>>

>>>>> Carbonaceous chondrites are extremely important to

>>>> scientists as they were

>>>>> formed from material that existed in the solar

>>>> system's planet-forming disk of

>>>>> gas and dust. They are, quite literally, time capsules

>>>> holding onto a 4 billion

>>>>> year old record of the birth of our solar system.

>>>>>

>>>>> In this case, the Murchison meteorite has given us

>>>> another clue as to the

>>>>> abundance of organic chemicals that existed before the

>>>> Earth had formed. In

>>>>> fact, this particular meteorite may have originated

>>>> from material older than our

>>>>> sun.

>>>>>

>>>>> "We are really excited. When I first studied it and

>>>> saw the complexity I was so

>>>>> amazed," said Dr Phillipe Schmitt-Kopplin, of the

>>>> Institute for Ecological

>>>>> Chemistry in Neuherberg, Germany.

>>>>>

>>>>> "Meteorites are like some kind of fossil. When you try

>>>> to understand them you

>>>>> are looking back in time."

>>>>>

>>>>> This new research made use of high resolution

>>>> spectroscopic tools to identify

>>>>> the various compounds inside. Although this meteorite

>>>> has provided scientists

>>>>> with vast amounts of information about specific

>>>> carbon-based organics before,

>>>>> this was the first non-targeted study. In other words,

>>>> the researchers weren't

>>>>> tracking down just one type of chemical, they did a

>>>> broad analysis for all the

>>>>> chemicals it might contain.

>>>>>

>>>>> And what they found came as a shock, it appears that

>>>> the primordial solar system

>>>>> probably had a higher chemical diversity than

>>>> present-day Earth.

>>>>>

>>>>> In this study, 14,000 specific compounds including 70

>>>> amino acids were

>>>>> identified. But this number appears to be the tip of

>>>> the iceberg; the meteorite

>>>>> probably contains millions of different organic

>>>> compounds. More detailed

>>>>> analysis will now be carried out.

>>>>>

>>>>> But why is this important? To understand the diversity

>>>> of organic chemicals that

>>>>> were floating around a primordial solar system will

>>>> help us understand how life

>>>>> may have appeared on Earth. This particular chunk of

>>>> carbonaceous chondrite

>>>>> drifted through the gas and dust of the early solar

>>>> system, collecting all the

>>>>> basic organic chemistry from around that time, does

>>>> that mean diverse organic

>>>>> chemistry is the "norm" for proto-planetary star

>>>> systems?

>>>>>

>>>>> These organic compounds are known to exist on comets,

>>>> asteroids and other

>>>>> planetary bodies, so what makes Earth the hothouse of

>>>> life when everywhere else

>>>>> seems to be lifeless?

>>>>>

>>>>> If organic chemistry is ubiquitous, perhaps planning

>>>> to "seed" young star

>>>>> systems with Earth-based life isn't such a good idea.

>>>> The conditions for life

>>>>> may not be that rare after all.

>>>>>

>>>>> ______________________________________________

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>>>>>

>>>>

>>>>

>>>>

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>>>

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>>

>>

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-- 
------------------------------------------------------------ 
Mike Gilmer 
http://www.galactic-stone.com 
http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone 
------------------------------------------------------------ 
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