* Astronomy

Title: Measurement of Li 6 , He 3 , and H 3 in meteorites and its relation to cosmic radiation
Author: Fireman, E. L.; Schwarzer, D.

Norfork (1918), Para de Minas (1934), and Charcas (1804) are measured. A tritium content of (2.7 ± 0.3) x 10^6 H 3 atoms/g at its time of fall is indicated for the Norfork meteorite and of (5.9 ± 1.2) x 10^5 H 3 atoms at its time of fall is indicated for the Para de Minas meteorite. There is less than 1.2 x 10^4 H 3 atoms/g in Charcas. The tritium and helium-3 content of Norfork combine to give it a cosmic-ray age of 0.9 x 10^9 years or greater. The tritium and helium-3 content of Para do Minas combine to give it a cosmic-ray age of 1.7 x 10^9 years or greater. This indicates that if iron meteorites resulted from the breakup of a larger mass, the breakup occurred 0.9 x 10^9 or more years ago.

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