News – Page 41 – ANSMET, The Antarctic Search for Meteorites

Extremes and Continuance of Importance of Meteorites

January 9, 2016

Why do we collect and study meteorites? Well, have you ever wondered how old our solar system is? Or, what it was like in the solar system just after star formation but before planets got big? How about, how similar is our solar system to others regarding the formation...

Why do we recover more meteorites?

January 8, 2016

ANSMET has been collecting meteorites from the Antarctic blue ice fields for nearly 40 years, and this year's team is really excited to contribute to ANSMET's long and successful record with both lots of meteorites and a wide variety of meteorite types. Over the years, more than 20,000 meteorites...

Nerds of ANSMET 2015-2016: John Schutt

January 7, 2016

Dear readers, you're in for a treat, because I managed to corner our own senior mountaineer Johnny Schutt for an interview. Over tea and freshly baked cheddar garlic biscuits, we got the scoop on the most legendary and mysterious member of our party. Name: John "Johnny Alpine" Schutt, Doctor of...

A beautiful, warm day of searching and a possible HED

January 6, 2016

A correction to yesterday's post: I erroneously said that we had recovered a total of 361 samples, but in fact my enthusiasm got the better of me--it was actually 351. However, since we recovered 41 samples today, that means our season total is now 392. That's starting to be...

The midseason inventory

January 5, 2016

Today the weather was overcast, which gave a strange flat light to the ground. These aren't great conditions in which to search for meteorites because 1) they're harder to spot, and 2) it's harder for us to see changes in topography while we're driving on our skidoos, which might cause...

Hot new meteorites and cool skidoo tricks

January 4, 2016

We had a full and fruitful day of searching today, with 68 samples recovered--and one appears to be a pallasite! If you're not familiar with these lovely meteorites, they are a beautiful mixture of iron-nickel metal and a green-gold mineral named olivine (also called peridot if you're into gemstones)....

Now with photo

January 10, 2016

The nerds of ANSMET 2015-2016: Morgan Martinez (new series)

January 3, 2016

Many of our readers know one or several members of this year's ANSMET team, but there are team members that some of our readers don't know. You may be asking yourself: who are these weirdos with whom my loved one is spending two months? Well you're in luck, because...

Transported overnight to Hoth

January 2, 2016

Sorry for the silence from over here, ANSMET fans--we had a long and successful day of searching yesterday and I was too sleepy to post last night. This morning we awoke to a strange fog and diffuse light, which is delaying our start. The effect is very otherworldly--if a...

New Year’s Eve (before and after double-post)

January 1, 2016

Before: Despite being the last day of 2015 (at least it is in this NZ timezone), we went out for our first major hunt in the South Miller Range. After a half day yesterday resting our sore bodies and minds, we were eager to finally get some meteorites from the...

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