The Colour of Meteorites

[Grey Cloud]

I'm posting this under the 'Mad Idea' banner.

Meteorite colour mystery 'solved'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8468999.stm

The Earth "changes the colour" of asteroids by shaking them up as they pass, according to scientists.

He explained to BBC News that his team used an infrared telescope to study the colour of asteroids in space, and compared that data to measurements taken from meteorites - chunks of asteroids that actually landed on Earth - that were examined in the lab.

Lemme guess. They are red.

"Most asteroids have reddish tinge," he said. "The solar wind damages the minerals and turns them red - like sunburn.

Gee, how 'bout that - I'm a scientist.

"As they get close to the Earth, it gives them earthquakes," he told BBC News. "The earth just shakes it enough that the the rubble flips over - resurfacing it."

What? It flips every last piece of rubble just once?

[quoteDr Chapman, who was not involved in the study, wrote an accompanying article in Nature explaining its significance.
He wrote that the observations provided "proof that near-Earth asteroids are transformed by tidal forces when they come anywhere near our planet".[/quote] Can someone explain what 'tidal forces' are, please? I thought the Moon and gravity dictated the Earth's tides.

[MrAmsterdam]

"Most asteroids have reddish tinge," he said. "The solar wind damages the minerals and turns them red - like sunburn.

Gee, how 'bout that - I'm a scientist."

Okay. This is really funny. check my post on; asteroid seismology question
http://thunderbolts.info/wp/forum/phpBB3/v ... 05&start=0

So we have sunburn, tidal waves, local seismology and spaceweather as explanations but.... it can only happen once in less than one million years.

I'm no scientist, but how about some interaction between the astroid and the earth's geocorona

[StevenJay]

I'm convinced that the people who write tripe like this, cut their journalistic teeth writing childrens' books.