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Space Science Week! -- New Martian Meteorites and What They Tell us about Mars

Location: 
The Planetarium

Dr. Carl Agee

Director, Institute of Meteoritics
Curator of Meteorites IOM
Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, UNM

The only samples of Mars that we have on Earth are a small number of meteorites. A meteorite formally named NWA 7034 (and informally called Black Beauty) was found in the western Sahara in 2011; and this meteorite has changed some of our ideas about Mars. Dr. Carl Agee led the team that was the first to recognize that this meteorite was from Mars and yet was unlike any of the other 100 or so known Martian meteorites. Join Dr. Agee as he discusses what we know about Martian meteorites and what they tell us about Mars. 
After the lecture, attendees will get a private look at the Museum’s special exhibit “It Came from Mars.” The exhibit contains Martian meteorite specimens, including a piece of Black Beauty, on loan from the Institute of Meteoritics.

Dr. Carl Agee is the Director of the Institute of Meteoritics (IOM), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, UNM. Founded in 1944, the IOM was one of the first institutions in the world devoted to the study of meteorites with state-of-the-art laboratory facilities staffed with research scientists and students. The IOM has an extremely valuable meteorite research collection and is currently building a new Meteorite Museum that will be open to the public. Dr. Agee’s long and varied research career has included time as the Chief Scientist for Astromaterials at NASA Johnson Space Center. His major areas of research are the origin and evolution of planetary interiors and high-pressure experimental techniques in mineralogy. He earned his B.A. from the Univ of California at Berkeley and his M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Held at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science1801 Mountain Rd. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104 • (505) 841-2800 Visit: www.nmnaturalhistory.org

Purchase in advance online to guarantee your seats, go to BrownPaperTickets.com.  Online lecture ticket sales stop Noon the day of the lecture. The day of the lecture if seats are available they will be sold at the door on a first-come-first-served basis at the NMMNH&S's Admissions desk. Doors open at 6:15pm.

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science reserves the right to cancel any event that does not reach a minimum of 6 participants.

Price: 
$6 General, $5 Members, $4 Students
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