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Space Nomads: Meteorites in Sky, Field, and Laboratory

Chapter 26: Transcriber’s Notes
By Lincoln LaPaz
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About This Book

A largely nontechnical introduction to meteoritics presents meteorites as tangible samples from space and outlines methods for their observation, recovery, and laboratory study. It opens with vivid eyewitness accounts of dramatic falls in both remote and agricultural settings, describing luminous fireballs, airwaves, and local reactions. Subsequent chapters cover field procedures for locating and preserving specimens, criteria for recognizing impact craters, and protocols for weighing, sectioning, chemical and microscopic analysis, and radiometric study. The work surveys related materials such as tektites and impactites, reviews detection techniques and observational networks, and balances popular lore and historical interpretations with contemporary scientific views and practical applications.

FOOTNOTES

[1]Also called aerolites.
[2]The meteorites from this crater-producing fall have been found in both Haviland and Brenham Townships, Kiowa County, Kansas. Either of these names may therefore appear in the literature.
[3]The meteorites from this crater-producing fall have been found in both Haviland and Brenham Townships, Kiowa County, Kansas. Either of these names may therefore appear in the literature.
[4]453.59 grams = 1 pound.
[5]A questionnaire for making an adequate report is obtainable by request from the Institute of Meteoritics, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
[6]Readers who are advanced enough in astronomy to attempt plotting the meteor paths can get the proper star-maps and record sheets for this purpose by joining the American Meteor Society. Members must be at least 18 years old, but applicants between 14 and 18 can become probational members. For details write to Dr. C. P. Olivier, President, American Meteor Society, 521 North Wynnewood Avenue, Narberth, Pennsylvania.
[7]Quite recently, a fourth division, the tektites (discussed in the next chapter), has been recognized by some authorities.
[8]Discussed in Chapter 12.
[9]The Acts of the Apostles, 19:35.
[10]Also baetyl and baetulus, from the Greek word baitylos, a term used for sacred meteorites and stones.
[11]This metallic mass was the first stony-iron meteorite to be identified as such. The pallasites, which make up an important subdivision of the stony-iron meteorites, were named in honor of Pallas.
[12]Very recently, some authorities have concluded that there must have been not one but several meteorite-planets.

Space Nomads
Meteorites in Sky, Field, and Laboratory
By Lincoln LaPaz and Jean LaPaz

Meteorites are the real tokens of space! They are samples of cosmic matter we can actually take in our hands. Science values them greatly as specimens of the only tangible substances we have from remote and inaccessible regions of the universe.

These mysterious “space nomads” are revealing to today’s scientists many amazing and usable facts about conditions in outer space, about the age of our Solar System, and even about the probable constitution of our own home planet.

This is an essential book for everybody who is keeping up with space science and wishes to be well posted on these interesting but potentially dangerous co-voyagers that the astronauts may encounter.

You will also see in SPACE NOMADS:

The awesome event a meteorite-fall can be, with its violent sound and light effects, and its terrific impact.

The excitement and the know-how of the hunt for these cosmic missiles.

How to tell the difference between a true meteorite and a mistaken one. Ditto, meteorite craters.

How to make your own contribution to science by knowing the right way to observe and report meteors and meteorites.

What is inside them, and how they vary in content and structure.

The moon as a meteorite target.

The strange history of the subject—the amusing superstitions and fantastic notions believed until recently about “shooting stars” and “stones falling from the sky.”

And more.

Here is an easy but sound introduction to the rapidly developing science of meteoritics. All of the information is up-to-date, much of it firsthand, for the authors are themselves professional meteoriticists. Daily they are engaged in fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and advanced research at one of the world’s chief centers for this study. (See back of jacket.)

A HOLIDAY HOUSE BOOK
12 UP $3.95

Jacket by Leo Manso

HARVEY CAPLIN PHOTO Lincoln LaPaz

On the moon is a ray-crater named LaPaz in honor of the man who has had a major part in establishing the highly significant theory that the lunar ray-craters were made by the impact of meteorites. Lincoln LaPaz is a leading pioneer as well as a widely recognized authority in meteoritics, an important branch of astronomy. He was born on Lincoln’s birthday, in Wichita, Kansas, where he grew up. Although both his master’s degree, at Harvard, and his doctorate, at Chicago, were in mathematics, his chief interest since boyhood has been in meteorites and meteors. Today he is Director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico, where he also heads the Division of Astronomy.

RAVINI PHOTO Jean LaPaz

Jean LaPaz was born in Hanover, New Hampshire. Since girlhood she has been close to her father in his fascinating work. When she was a high-school student in Ohio, she did some serious fieldwork as a member of the Ohio State University Meteorite Expeditions. Later, she received both a Bachelor of Science degree in geology and a Master of Arts in English from the University of New Mexico. Science and Literature continue to be her mutually favoring interests.

Transcriber’s Notes

  • Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.
  • Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
  • In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.