Mineralogy
Monthly Archive: December Mine
Mineral of the month: serandite
Next Stop Mars! New NASA Rover Launched
By Brendt Hyde, Mineralogy Technician
Green with Envy
Every day at the museum is a good day, but when a new object-specimen gets added to the collection, it is a great day. It was a particularly stellar day in Earth Sciences when we were able to acquire this lovely princess cut, 23.24 carat peridot from Myanmar (Burma).
Meteorite or “Meteor-wrong”?
ROM Earth Scientists receive dozens of requests each year to identify possible meteorites. This is especially the case when there is a spectacular fireball similar to the one which recently streaked across southern Ontario on December 12 of this year (the video was captured by astronomers at the University of Western Ontario). Do you think you have found a space rock?
NASA’s Continued Curiosity for Life on Mars
By Brent Hyde, Minerology Technician
Did life ever exist on the red planet? This is a question NASA has been trying to answer for more than 40 years. In the next couple of years, NASA hopes to get some answers.
How Do I Identify a Space Rock?
Originally published in ROM Magazine, Fall 2010.
I found a blackened rock that I think might be a meteorite. How can I tell for sure?
Update from Dawn’s Exploration of Vesta
Dawn Probe to Rendezvous with Asteroid Vesta!
By Brendt Hyde, Mineralogy Technician
Our solar system is a very busy place! Aside from the 9 (no, make that 8!) major planets and their moons, there are 5 dwarf planets, 3 massive asteroid belts containing tens of thousands of smaller irregular bodies, and an untold number of comets.