Martian Rocks Land In Morocco 95
Hugh Pickens writes "Scientists have confirmed chemically a recent and rare invasion from Mars with 15 pounds of fresh Martian rocks falling in Morocco last July. A special committee of meteorite experts, which includes some NASA scientists, confirmed the test results Tuesday certifying that the meteorites recently collected came from Mars. The biggest rock weighs more than 2 pounds. Astronomers think that millions of years ago something big smashed into Mars that sent fragments hurtling through the solar system. Occasionally, some fall on Earth."
No tripods? (Score:4, Funny)
Ok, someone had to say it.
The chances of anything coming from Mars... (Score:2, Funny)
are a million to one, he said.
Re:The chances of anything coming from Mars... (Score:5, Informative)
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I realized that they were quoting something, didn't know it was War of the Worlds but thought it was some new meme thanks.
The points about non time quantified probabilities still stand though.
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> I realized that they were quoting something, didn't know it was War of the Worlds but thought it was some new meme thanks.
It wasn't before, but it probably is now.
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>It wasn't before, but it probably is now.
In the whispering voice of Sir David Attenborough:
- What we are witnessing here is something truly amazing. Be real quiet now and you will see how a new internet meme is born into this world. The interesting thing about these memes, is that no one knows when they are born, how long they will live, but some have been known to be kept a live for extended periods of time in protected environments such as Slashdot. The chances of actually witnessing the birth of a m
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It's not very new - I've seen it before around here.
FWIW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Wayne's_Musical_Version_of_The_War_of_the_Worlds [wikipedia.org] is listening to. One of my favorites.
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It wasn't before, but it probably is now.
The chances of this becoming a new internet meme are ... inconceivable!
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No-one hams it up like Phil Lynott and David Essex. I got the Live version for christmas and it's utter pants compared to the original.
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Meh. Nothing beats Jeff Wayne's musical version. Richard Burton *is* the Journalist as far as I'm concerned and the invasion cannot happen without Justin Hayward doing the vocals.
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Ooooo-Laaah
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Ok, someone had to say it.
As long as Tom Cruise isn't involved I'm ok with it.
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Lose Tom, keep Dakota.
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Nope, dipods. Budget cuts.
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> Nope, dipods. Budget cuts.
"This Thing I saw! How can I describe it? A monstrous tripod, higher than many houses, striding over... no wait... bipod... Staggering over... Aaaand, it just fell down. As a war machine, that doesn't seem very practical."
Darned budget cuts.
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Note that humans are dipod/bipod walkers, and we don't fall down, except maybe Gerold Ford.
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Nor are we three stories tall.
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Welcome to Slashdot, Shaq!
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Nope, dipods. Budget cuts.
iPods then.
They are evil, I've seen their little white tentacles creeping into people's brains and making them act like twitchy zombies.
They Certainly Do Get Around (Score:5, Funny)
"Like Webster's Dictionary They're Morocco Bound..."
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my dictionaries are bound in Fine Corinthian Leather
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And your solution to this is to post more anonymous accusations?
Re:And people wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)
It takes a special kind of person to assume they're making blind judgements (like yourself) and not acting with evidence.
Who knows? We could find out, but you've already concluded that they're just making shit up so there's no point to investigating I suppose.
Lunar rocks have a very well known composition. I'm sure it's possible to discern between Lunar, Earth, Martian, and non-planetary rocks. But you've got no clue how nor have you looked up any possible means of identifying them so it's all just hokum, right?
Is it really? Do you suppose they would do something so stupid, when they could readily be countered?
My brain hurts now. Thanks.
Re:And people wonder... (Score:4, Informative)
Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. That said, it is worthwhile to question so-called experts to find out how they came to their conclusions, rather than saying, "Gosh, he's smarter than me--he's get letters after his name and everything!" At the very least, you learn something.
Of course, if he had RTFA, he might have a clue about how these people determined that these rocks came from Mars:
So, no, it's not like they said, "A rock fell from the sky! It must have been from Mars!"
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for fuck's sake, it's not at all worthwhile for scientists to have to spend most of their time with politics.
peer review exists so [b]actual scientists[/b] can question results, rather than wasting everybody's time asking questions that were answered years ago, but the people asking the questions are too dumb and lazy to look up themselves (and develop the background necessary to understand the citations).
the sheer fucking arrogance of people to think they, with their complete lack of expertise, should be a
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Yes, because we all know that scientists never error and always agree.
Science is not some priesthood that never has to explain to the people who pay their salaries, and need merely agree with themselves. If their explanation can't be communicated to your average college educated person than perhaps they have to rethink it.
The chemical signature of the rocks and the Martian air match
How many core samples of Mars do we have to determine the atmosphere centuries ago when these rocks were supposedly blasted from the martian surface? What the composition of the atmospher
Hib! Hub! Hoop! How! (Score:1)
That does it! We HAVE to invade Mars if we're going to defeat these phantoms! Blow it all up!
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Okay, so let's see. Mars is a large rock. Big enough to have atmosphere. What is Mars' atmosphere made up of? Mars rock.
So let's say an asteroid that was formed in our solar system is of similar material to Mars. Oh, but Mars has activity, what's this mean. Melted rock? magma from it's core?
What similarities would exist in a rock that came from a collision of asteroids made up of similar material (which is probably fairly likely) as Mars?
Just saying...
Mind you, I'm not saying the rocks are not from Mars
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Mind you, I'm not saying the rocks are not from Mars. But I really don't think we've got the data to make such conclusions. And I tend to chalk it up to "I want to get published Mommy".
It's the matter of "case closed" we're not open to alternatives or other thoughts. That's what I'm getting sick of. It's not the science I studied as a kid. Sure you could postulate an idea, test it, conclude that there was a potentiality. But in a game this big, such absolutes are in my book foolish.
I can't tell if you're trolling or being stupid. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not trolling.
You might not have the data, but the scientist team did. Thanks to their work we know the chemical composition of Mars rock. It's distinctive from Earth rock and moon rock. There is conclusive proof that these rocks are from Mars. What have you got up your sleeve that suggests the findings of this study are flawed?
As for the science you studied at school - I'm glad I didn't attend th
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Happens all the time....people like a name. Hype is the game. It's what brings in the grant money and tenure.
So YES, absolutely. I believe that on mere conjecture of some similarities between - oh wait. We don't have any Martian rocks to test here on Earth.
Oh but we do have some rovers who've tested some aspects of Martian soil. See x & y is in both the rock we found on earth and in Mars.
Therefore, we know in our smartness that this is Martian.
Heck, the assumptions of how solar systems are arranged ar
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Is it really? Do you suppose they would do something so stupid, when they could readily be countered?
While I do accept that we have meteorites that originated on various other bodies, in answer to the above I have to write "Why not? The Chinese regularly fake fossils".
Re:And people wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)
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We know the Moon was once a part of Earth because it shares similar chemical makeup to that of Earth.
Really, I am sure there are quite a few who will debate that fact. And if we visit and asteroid and determine it has similar chemical make-up. Must we conclude the asteroid came from Earth as well?
Or would it make more sense to conclude that it was a collection of mass that was available in our solar system. And not necessary derived from our little body of rock at all?
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Much of the matter on Mars and Earth are similar, however the proportions are different. We know that any rock that has been on Mars for any great length of time (relative to the solar system) will have a certain percentage of certain chemical compounds due to the entropy of the matter and atmosphere. The same can be said for Earth, Mercury or any other rocky body that we have data on.
The Moon is a special
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rock gas inclusions exactly match Mars atmosphere (Score:2)
Re:And people wonder... (Score:5, Informative)
Because of their composition, numbnuts. You know, inorganic chemistry is a good place to start.
Start here.
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=mars+meteorites+minerals [google.com]
http://www.imca.cc/mars/martian-meteorites.htm [www.imca.cc]
Try reading something for a change instead of immediately dismissing things you don't instantly understand.
--
BMO
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why take advice that could enrich your life when you could check the post AC button and be a douchebag?
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Well, the "Made on Mars" label is one clue.
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This is like me finding a pair of old eye glasses and exclaiming they must have been Ben Franklins since he wore eye glasses.
No, it's like you finding a pair of old eye glasses, and exclaiming they must have been Ben Franklin's because they look like glasses he was known to wear, they date to the right time, and have the inscription "BF" on them. Could the scientists be wrong? Sure, but the best evidence suggests that these are in fact Martian rocks.
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And you didn't do do your homework ; you came up with some pathetic excuse like blaming it on your dog digging your granny up so you had to have yet another granny-funeral. And the nice Ms Teacher castigated you in front of the class, calling you a lazy little so-and-so. And you
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It seems, (Score:5, Funny)
They put one heck of a throwing arm on those Rovers.
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They were aiming for Venus, you insensitive clod!
FOOLS!!! (Score:2)
THAT'S NO ROCK!!!
(Ok, rest of you reply with some good stuff - I've got nothing)
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Mars Attacks! (Score:5, Funny)
K'Breel Jr. addresses the Council:
"Council Members, Friends, Countrymen, Dad: A few Solar orbits ago, we set about on a secret project on the feasibility of attacking the Blue World, using a plan ("Robert Heinlein - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress") devised by the Blue Worlders themselves. Today I am happy to report that our plan is a smashing success; we have dropped a few test rocks on a place called Morocco. The next phase of our plan involves more rocks, and much heavier rocks, aimed at all of the Blue World's space launching facilities! Glory to Mars! Glory to the Council! Glory to K'Breel!"
Sound like a moive from 2010 (Score:1)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470827/ [imdb.com]
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No! You shouldn't condone the throwing of overlords via solidified minerals. The overlords get bruised up and really ticked.
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orbits and things. it's amazing what you can do with mathematics. like CSI finding where a bullet came from in a musical montage with sticks and lasers and low-cut tops.
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so they did a freeze frame, zoom in, and enhance on the rock and found the little sign that says "made in mars".
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finest quality!
superior workmanship!
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When something rather big hits a rocky planet, such as Earth, or Mars, it ejects quite a bit of rock up into the air. If the impact was hard enough, some of that rock can even be hurtled clear out of orbit.
I've heard it suggested that even Olympus Mons, with its enormous size, could have ejected immeasurable amounts of Martian rock material into outer space itself when it was still an active volcano as well.
It's chemical composition suggests a Martian origin. It's possible it came from somewhere else
Obligatory (Score:3, Funny)
In Soviet Russia, Mars lands on you.
Mmm...Martian Rocks... (Score:2)
Chemically Proven? (Score:1)
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They came from somewhere with an atmosphere chemically very similar to Mars. You can tell rocks that have been in an atmosphere from those that have only been in vacuum, and roughly what sort of atmosphere. There is only one place in the solar system with an atmosphere like that. The only alternative is the much wilder one that they crossed interstellar space from a Mars-like planet elsewhere.
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Plus, IIRC, scientists have worked out a gravitational mechanism by which the rocks could have actually made the journey from Mars to Earth. The odds of them coming from elsewhere are very low given transit constraints.
Meteorite Men (Score:1)
must have been really bummed out they did not find them...
Uhm.... Nasa's new budgetary compliment (Score:1)
The Chances of Anything Coming From Mars (Score:1)
The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one. ....But still they come....
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Something big smashed into Mars (Score:2)
The entrance wound is Hellas Basin and the exit wound is in the neighborhood of Olympus Mons/Tharsis neighborhood.
Deimos is prolly some mars guts, and the projectile is still inside.
Let's see that in CSI graphics!