[meteorite-list] Lunar vs. Martian Meteorites

[Gerald Flaherty]

Well said Bernd and credible to my unsophistocated leanings.
Jerry Flaherty
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <bernd.pauli at paulinet.de>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 2:09 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Lunar vs. Martian Meteorites


> Hello Listees and Listoids,
>
> There are twice as many lunar meteorites in my collection than martian 
> meteorites
> and I've been asking myself several times why. We all know Mars is an 
> extremely
> interesting celestial body, especially because it is a much better 
> candidate for the
> existence of (microbial) life than, ... say Venus with its seething 
> temperatures and
> rains of sulfuric acid or our celestial neighbor, the Moon, with its 
> tenuous atmosphere
> that is virtually non-existant (compared to Earth's atmosphere).
>
> Here's my very personal answer: Long before I started collecting 
> meteorites, I used to
> watch the starry sky with all its planets, stars, star clusters, galaxies, 
> nebulae, so
> many other wondrous things, and, of course: the Moon, La Lune, Luna, der 
> Mond.
>
> Mars was seldom more than a tiny circular speck in my 8-inch Celestron 
> telescope.
> There were moments - seconds - when the seeing was so steady that I was 
> able to
> see the different hues and shades of planet Mars - a split-second later it 
> was
> gone and nothing was left but a blurry, fuzzy image in my eyepiece :-(
>
> But whenever I point my telescope toward "la lune", it is always a true 
> feast for the
> eyes (even in bad seeing!), a celestial banquet of sorts and I often feel 
> like delving
> into the depths of lunar craters, rilles, flooded lava plains, rays, 
> domes, and so much
> more. I've always enjoyed those subtle color shades - dazzling white, 
> light gray, dark
> gray, the stark contrast between unlit crater-floors and their rims 
> bathing in glaring
> sunlight and all kinds of delicate in-betweens of hues, especially on the 
> mare floors.
>
> Our Moon is much closer to me - both in distance and emotionally than 
> planet Mars and
> it is an undescribable feeling of closeness, of nearness, of familiarness. 
> So, when I
> look at my lunars, especially my latest "Moon" (Norbert, Martin A., 
> Stefan, and a few
> others probably know which one I am talking about :-), when I hold it in 
> my hands while
> watching its progenitor up in the sky, then I feel like greeting a good, 
> old friend so
> far away and yet so near.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Bernd
>
>
>
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