The Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University is pleased to announce the application opportunity for the 2018 Nininger Meteorite Award for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing research in meteoritical sciences!   The Nininger Meteorite Award recognizes outstanding student achievement in the meteoritical sciences as embodied by an original research paper.  Papers must cover…

The Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University is pleased to announce the application opportunity for the 2019 Nininger Student Travel Award for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing research in meteoritics and planetary sciences. The Nininger Student Travel Award supports travel to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) of up to 4 School…

In 2013, two small fragments of the Tissint Martian meteorite were "planted" in Arizona's Sonoran Desert in order to deliberately expose them to terrestrial desert weathering. The first piece was recovered for analysis after 12 months of exposure, and the remaining fragment  in 2016 (read about Tissint's recovery from the Arizona desert here). During their…

July 27th marks the first observed meteorite fall in Arizona's Valley of the Sun!  While multiple Valley residents reported fireball sightings to the American Meteor Society that evening, Center for Meteorite Studies Curator Professor Laurence Garvie speculates that many additional witnesses likely mistook the meteorite's entry into Earth's atmosphere for monsoon lightning. So far, only…

Scientists believe the solar system was formed some 4.6 billion years ago when a cloud of gas and dust collapsed under gravity, possibly triggered by a cataclysmic explosion from a nearby massive star or supernova. As this cloud collapsed, it formed a spinning disk with the sun in the center. Piece by piece, scientists have…