News from the meteor library: a Meteoritic Protein

Roberto Gorelli points our attention at a recently published meteor related paper.

Hemolithin: a Meteoritic Protein containing Iron and Lithium

This paper has been submitted for publication by Malcolm. W. McGeoch, Sergei Dikler and Julie E. M. McGeoch.

Abstract: This paper characterizes the first protein to be discovered in a meteorite. Amino acid polymers previously observed in Acfer 086 and Allende meteorites [1,2] have been further characterized in Acfer 086 via high precision MALDI mass spectrometry to reveal a principal unified structure of molecular weight 2320 Daltons that involves chains of glycine and hydroxy-glycine residues terminated by iron atoms, with additional oxygen and lithium atoms. Signal-to-noise ratios up to 135 have allowed the quantification of iron and lithium in the various MALDI fragments via the isotope satellites due to their respective minority isotopic masses 54Fe and 6Li. Analysis of the complete spectrum of isotopes associated with each molecular fragment shows 2H enhancements above terrestrial averaging 25,700 parts per thousand (sigma = 3,500, n=15), confirming extra-terrestrial origin and hence the existence of this molecule within the asteroid parent body of the CV3 meteorite class. The molecule is tipped by an iron-oxygen-iron grouping that in other terrestrial contexts has been proposed to be capable of absorbing photons and splitting water into hydroxyl and hydrogen moieties.

You can download this paper for free:  https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2002/2002.11688.pdf (33 pages).

Older meteor library news:

2020

• Orbital dynamics of highly probable but rare Orionid outbursts possibly observed by the ancient Maya, by J. H. Kinsman and D. J. Asher (22 February 2020).
• A new method for measuring the meteor mass index: application to the 2018 Draconid meteor shower outburst, by D. Vida, M. Campbell-Brown, P. G. Brown, A. Egal, and M. J. Mazur (11 February 2020).
• A Two Year Survey for VLF Emission from Fireballs, by C. Y. Sung, P. Brown and R. Marshall (11 February 2020).
• Observational Signatures of Sub-Relativistic Meteors, by Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb (6 February 2020).
• Supercatastrophic disruption of asteroids in the context of SOHO comet, fireball and meteor observations, by Paul Wiegert, Peter Brown, Petr Pokorny, Quanzhi Ye, Cole Gregg, Karina Lenartowicz, Zbigniew Krzeminski and David Clark. (28 January 2020).
• Physical properties of Taurid meteoroids of various sizes, by Jiří Borovička and Pavel Spurný. (27 January 2020).
• The orbital clusters among the near Earth asteroids, by Tadeusz J. Jopek. (27 January 2020).

2019

• Parker Solar Probe Observations of a Dust Trail in the Orbit of (3200) Phaethon, by Karl Battams, Matthew M. Knight, Michael S.P. Kelley, Brendan M. Gallagher, Russell A. Howard, and Guillermo Stenborg. (22 December 2019).
• Meteoroid Stream Formation Due to the Extraction of Space Resources from Asteroids, by Logan Fladeland, Aaron C. Boley, and Michael Byers. (2 December 2019).
• Estimating trajectories of meteors: an observational Monte Carlo approach – II. Results, by Denis Vida, Peter G. Brown, Margaret Campbell-Brown, Paul Wiegert and Peter S. Gural. (27 November 2019).
• Estimating trajectories of meteors: an observational Monte Carlo approach – I. Theory, by Denis Vida, Peter S. Gural, Peter G. Brown, Margaret Campbell-Brown and Paul Wiegert. (11 November 2019).
• Meteor shower activity profiles and the use of orbital dissimilarity (D) criteria, by Althea V. Moorhead. (25 October 2019).
• A fireball and potentially hazardous binary near-Earth asteroid (164121) 2003 YT1, by Toshihiro Kasuga, Mikiya Sato, Masayoshi Ueda, Yasunori Fujiwara, Chie Tsuchiya, and Jun-ichi Watanabe. (18 October 2019).
• Spectral and orbital survey of medium-sized meteoroids, by Pavol Matlovic, Juraj Tóth, Regina Rudawska, Leonard Kornoš and Adriana Pisarcíková. (7 August 2019).
• Rising from Ashes or Dying Flash? Mega Outburst of Small Comet 289P/Blanpain in 2013, by Quanzhi Ye (叶泉志) and David L. Clark. (19 June 2019).
• Discovery of a Meteor of Interstellar Origin, by Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb. (10 June 2019).
• A Mathematical Model for Simulating Meteor Showers, by M. Cardinot and A. Namen. (4 June 2019).
• The 2019 Taurid resonant swarm: prospects for ground detection of small NEOs, by David Clark, Paul Wiegert and Peter G. Brown. (28 May 2019).
• Analysis of the June 2, 2016 bolide event over Arizona, by Csaba Palotai, Ramanakumar Sankar, Dwayne L. Free, J. Andreas Howell, Elena Botella and Daniel Batcheldor. (25 May 2019).
• Identifying Interstellar Objects Trapped in the Solar System through Their Orbital Parameters, by Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb. (5 May 2019).
• Meteor Shower Modeling: Past and Future Draconid Outbursts, by A. Egal, P. Wiegert, P. G. Brown, D. E. Moser, M. Campbell-Brown, A. Moorhead, S. Ehlert and N. Moticska. (1 May 2019).
• Meteoroid structure and fragmentation, by M. D. Campbell-Brown. (24 March 2019).
• Solar cycle variation in radar meteor rates, by M. D. Campbell-Brown. (26 February 2019).
• A New Meteoroid Model, by Valeri V. Dikarev, Eberhard Grün, William J. Baggaley, David P. Galligan, Markus Landgraf, Rüdiger Jehn. (12 February 2019).
• Lunar impacts, by Costantino Sigismondi. (12 February 2019).
• Lunar impact flashes, by C. Avdellidou and J. Vaubaillon. (10 February 2019).
• The Geminid parent body: (3200) Phaethon, by Patrick A. Taylor, Edgard G. Rivera-Valentín, Lance A.M. Benner, Sean E. Marshall, Anne K. Virkki, Flaviane C.F. Venditti, Luisa F. Zambrano-Marin, Sriram S. Bhiravarasu, Betzaida Aponte-Hernandez, Carolina Rodriguez Sanchez-Vahamonde and Jon D. Giorgini. (10 February 2019).
• Sun approaching asteroids and meteor streams, by Quanzhi Ye and Mikael Granvik. (10 February 2019).

2018

• Waiting to make an impact: A probable excess of near-Earth asteroids in 2018 LA-like orbits, by C. de la Fuente Marcos and R. de la Fuente Marcos. (18 December 2018).
• What mechanisms dominate the activity of Geminid Parent (3200) Phaethon?, by LiangLiang Yu, Wing-Huen Ip and Tilman Spohn. (6 November 2018).
• The Draconid meteoroid stream 2018: prospects for satellite impact detection, by Auriane Egal, Paul Wiegert, Peter G. Brown, Danielle E. Moser, Althea V. Moorhead and William J. Cooke (21 September 2018).
• Modeling the measurement accuracy of pre-atmosphere velocities of meteoroids, by Denis Vida, Peter G. Brown and Margaret Campbell-Brown (15 July 2018).

2017

• The Mayas and Eta Aquariids in AD 250-909, by J.H. Kinsman and D.J. Asher (31 July 2017).