Martian Fossils On Earth: The Story of Meteorite ALH 84001
METEORITE ALH 84001
1 WHY ARE SCIENTISTS SO EXCITED ABOUT A ROCK Because scientists love the excitement of discovery they sometimes love the search for answers even more than the answers themselves That is why they are so excited about a rock Deep within this rock are structures and substances that will allow scientists to explore one of the most intriguing questions of all time Is there life on other worlds
The rock is known as meteorite ALH 84001 It is about the size and shape of a potato and weighs 1 94 kilograms about 4 pounds A meteorite is a rock that fell to Earth from space Meteorite ALH 84001 landed in the Allan Hills area of Antarctica about 13,000 years ago It was discovered discovered in December 1984 by the scientists of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites ANSMET project originally led by William A Cassidy and now led by Ralph P Harvey ANSMET scientists have found about more than 20,000 meteorites since the project began in 1976 After each meteorite hunting season the ANSMET scientists send their extraterrestrial rock collection to the Lyndon B Johnson Space Center JSC in Houston Houston Texas There the meteorites are numbered and
carefully cut into pieces which are sent to scientists all over the world for study ALH 84001 was the most interesting and unusual item in the Allan Hills 1984 1985 rock collection The meteorite’s name means Allan Hills 1984 1985 season number 001 Some meteorites come from wandering chunks of rock left over from the formation of Earth and other planets of the solar system Other meteorites appear to be fragments of Moon sized bodies that formed and then were broken apart Like the planets meteorites meteorites travel at very high speeds around the sun in paths called orbits If a rock’s orbit brings it near Earth it may enter Earth’s atmosphere and collide with our planet Just as water slows your body when you dive into a swimming pool the atmosphere slows the rock Scientists Scientists call the force that slows your body or the rock friction The friction transforms the rock’s energy of motion into heat The rock begins to melt and the atmosphere begins to glow forming a streak of light that crosses the sky When we on Earth see the glow we call it a meteor or a shooting star although it has nothing to do with stars Most meteors are small or are made of light
