Science

Phoenix Principal Investigator and Wife Carry a Piece of Mars Close to Their Hearts

University of Arizona’s principal investigator for the Mars Phoenix Lander, Peter Smith, not only studies Mars but also has a special place in his heart and on his wedding ring for the red planet. He and his wife Dana have two-of-a-kind, specially designed Martian rings that include a red stone to symbolize Mars, two diamonds […]

Mars_wedding_rings_close_up

University of Arizona's principal investigator for the Mars Phoenix Lander, Peter Smith, not only studies Mars but also has a special place in his heart and on his wedding ring for the red planet. He and his wife Dana have two-of-a-kind, specially designed Martian rings that include a red stone to symbolize Mars, two diamonds for its moons Phobos and Deimos and a piece of Martian meteorite embedded next to them.

How do you know a meteorite is from Mars? More on that after the jump.

Meanwhile, what cool space or science jewelry do you have? Send your pictures of your one-of-a-kind atomic earrings, micro-processor pendants or DNA cufflinks and I'll add them to the science jewelry gallery (I was just admiring the 'Elements' rings on GeekDad...)

Back to how you know a meteorite is from Mars.

Well for one, meteorites often have bubbles of air trapped inside. If you test an air bubble inside a meteorite and you find 95 percent carbon dioxide,
3 percent nitrogen and an abundance of other trace gases in the proper isotopic ratios, you would have a strong indication the rock was from
Mars. From a paper published on the topic in 2000:

Most telling is that the SNC meteorites contain traces of gas which is very similar in elemental and isotopic compositions to the modern Martian atmosphere as measured by Viking landers on Mars and spectroscopy from Earth. The Martian atmosphere appears to have a unique composition in the solar system, so its presence in the SNCs is accepted as strong direct evidence that they formed on Mars.

This coupled with other geological analysis (I didn't understand that part as well) has had the scientific community agree that the SNCs are from Mars. The SNC meteorites are so named based on the three places where they were found: Sherghati, India; Nakhla, Egypt; and Chassigny, France. Meteorite dealers do business on the internet (a quick search turned them up), so if you want to create your own galactic wedding sets, go for it!

The SNC Meteorites are from Mars [Planetary and Space Science]
Univ. of Arizona Team to Call Shots for Mars Robots [AP]

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Photo courtesy Nancy Ostertag (and Peter and Dana Smith)