* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Tagish Lake meteorite

Blobrana · L

Tagish Lake
British Columbia , Canada
Fell 2000 January 18, 08:43:42 pst (16:43:42 ut )
Carbonaceous chondrite (C2, ungrouped)
A brilliant fireball followed by loud detonations was widely observed over the Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia. The fireball was also detected by satellites in Earth orbit. Dust clouds from terminal fragmentation events were widely observed. Jim Brook recovered several dozen meteorites totalling ~1 kg on the ice of Taku Arm, Tagish Lake, on January 25 and 26 (coordinates of first find given above). Between April 20 and May 8, ~500 additional specimens were located on the ice of Taku Arm and a small, unnamed lake 1.5 km to the east, but only ~200 were retrieved as many had melted down into the ice making their collection time consuming; recovery was prioritised based on meteorites' mass and degree of disaggregation. The total mass collected was between 5 and 10 kg. The strewnfield is at least 16 x 3 km, oriented approximately S30° E.
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Blobrana · L

Around 9:48 on the morning of January 18, 2000, a 150-ton space rock plunged into the earth's atmosphere. As it approached the Canadian remote territories, the meteor travelled at the speed of a fast highway car (67 miles per hour). A scientific consortium of 4 universities and NASA is now trying to uncover the debris and sample the early solar system's unique chemistry.
Indeed, landing between the Yukon Territory and British Columbia in a remote vacation village, the rock volume started its descent totalling about the size of a small truck. At 5 meters across, the rocky core triggered Department of Defence satellite sensors to record its fiery explosion near Tagish Lake. The meteor had finally exploded with the energy of two to three kilotons of TNT.
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Blobrana · L

The Tagish Lake (C2) meteorite fell in British Columbia, Canada, on the 18th January, 2000.
A total mass of 10 kg was recovered.

59° 42' 16"N, 134° 12' 5"W

Blobrana · L

La météorite du lac Tagish

Blobrana · L

First opal-like crystals discovered in meteorite

Scientists have found opal-like crystals in the Tagish Lake meteorite, which fell to Earth in Canada in 2000. This is the first extraterrestrial discovery of these unusual crystals, which may have formed in the primordial cloud of dust that produced the sun and planets of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago, according to a report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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Asteroid Served Up "Custom Orders" of Life's Ingredients

Some asteroids may have been like "molecular factories" cranking out life's ingredients and shipping them to Earth via meteorite impacts, according to scientists who've made discoveries of molecules essential for life in material from certain kinds of asteroids and comets. Now it appears that at least one may have been less like a rigid assembly line and more like a flexible diner that doesn't mind making changes to the menu.
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Blobrana · L

The Tagish Lake meteorite fell at 16:43 p.m. on 18 January 2000 in the Tagish Lake area in northwestern British Columbia, Canada.
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Tagish Lake Meteorite

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The ultimate deep-space time capsule, this small black rock plummeted from space carrying organic material dating back 4.5 billion years. Much of the meteorite remains frozen in the Royal Ontario Museums vaults for research, but a sizable piece is on display in the Teck Suite of Galleries: Earths Treasure and is one of the Museums iconic treasures.

An unusual meteorite that fell on a frozen lake in Canada five years ago has led a Florida State University geochemist to a breakthrough in understanding the origin of the chemical elements that make up our solar system.
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