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anth
Member
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# Posted: 24 Nov 2006 09:20
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Space Gifts! for the holidays
My Mars Rock Rocks!
It may not be an international space news story, but....
Many years ago, i bought my first meteorite. as a huge space enthusiast i felt there could not be anything better to own than something that had come from space.
To hold a piece of rock and iron that had been drifting between Mars and Jupiter since the creation of the solar system billions of years ago, since before the Earth was formed maybe, was a real thrill for me.
I still highly recommend a meteorite as a great collector's item, or as a gift if you know somebody who would be excited over it.
It was a few years later when i heard about a class of meteorite known as SNC. These rocks had originated from Mars! How the hell did they know that? well, their content is an exact match to the rocks analyzed by the Viking Mars landers in the 70's, and Pathfinder in the 90's.
Gas bubbles trapped deep inside the meteorites are also an exact match for the Martian atmosphere, sampled by many space probes now over many decades.
Mars rock soon became the most expensive stuff on planet Earth. made even more sought after following NASA's discovery of possible fossil remains found in a Mars rock discovered in the South Pole.
Anyway, you may have noticed a slight hint now and again within these forums that i am completely mad about Mars. A slight under currant of martian stories.
You probably have not picked up on it, i hide it very well. 
Anyway, the reason for this post is to say for the first time today, i touched a piece of Mars, held it in my hand! Thanks to Jadzia letting me have one of my Christmas presents early.
It's not that we suddenly got a lot of Money, or that Mars rock has dropped in price. It's more a case of the rocks sold are getting smaller! 
So, if you want a gift that's a real talking point, go google for mars rock. Please check out several sources, for reasons of cost, it varies wildly. Check the sizes, some can lterally be tiny grains, and most importantly, buy from a reliable source.
There's not that many people who can genuinely say "that present is out of this world!" But, mine was.
Thanks jadz. 
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demonvamp
Member
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# Posted: 24 Nov 2006 10:02
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Several years ago a certain cereal brand gave away flakes of various meteorites free in the pack! I still have the ones I managed to collect, but none from Mars 
QD
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anth
Member
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# Posted: 24 Nov 2006 10:24
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I remember those packs with the meteorite bits, i got a couple.
You realize that packaging rocks from outer space with a food product would make a great lead in for a 1950's B-Movie! For all we know we could have Alien organisms growing inside us now, thanks to that cereal brand! 
Seriously though. A meteorite is a great gift, in jewellery, or just as a display item. Ones made mostly of iron, are very inexpensive, i have a chunk of the one that hit in Arizona to form meteor crater.
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demonvamp
Member
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# Posted: 24 Nov 2006 12:14
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You could say it's the gift with impact
QD
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anth
Member
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# Posted: 25 Nov 2006 02:14
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I've run Starry Night software for a few years now. It's a great pckage, that has grown and just got better and better.
You can poke around, and learn loads about the night sky. The software ties into your location, time, and date. When opened it will reveal a sky map of just what is on view outside at that moment. You can then pan a camera view around to look south, north, or whatever.
You can type in any date, or time, and preview the night sky. Printing out hard copies of sky maps is a very useful tool if you have a telescope or binocular's. Or, you can simply have Starry night on your lap top and take it outside with you.
Starry night can be hooked up to the modern computerized telescopes, meaning as you browse and click on objects in the software, your telescope can then obey that command and find it! ( my old Russian cold war era scope has never heard of a computer tho ).
Starry night is packed with animations to display phenomena, such as all the planets of the solar system, comets, asteroids, and nebula. It's a bit like being at the helm of your own star ship. You can go anywhere!
It's also great for tracking artificial objects, such as satelittes or the space station. Giving you advanced knowledge of when it will fly over your house!
Starry night costs about £40, or around $79 i believe. A Pro version is also available for more serious astronomers.
If you fancy giving it a try, download a demo here....
http://www.starrynight.com/digitaldownload/trial_download.php
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