Getting To Touch Space Rocks
Who doesn’t want to touch something that came from another planet or from outer space? Every so often, an intellectual tea and talk event is held by a professor of my university where she invites one of her colleagues from foreign countries to speak about their work. It's an awesome little tea event where some of the brightest minds in the university and other institutions and clubs come to listen and have a nice discussion. I really love it because we get to have one on one conversations with the professors about their research, mostly about astronomy. Professor Edward Guinan was invited to talk about Dangers from the Sky: Impacts from Comets & Asteroids. Attendees were told beforehand that he would be bringing meteorites and as well as a Martian meteorite to pass around!
The event was held at the Pax Guest house in the northern range of mountains in Trinidad. It is a quaint old styled building with charming interiors and a breathtaking view of the mountains within which it is situated. Its marvelous wooden decor set a nice ambiance and the patio at the back was extremely calm and peaceful with its view of the mountain side. I guess that’s why they called it Pax or peace!
The view was amazing, you could see the ridge of the mountain side and all of the trees. The sounds of the forest were surreal and it was evening time which contributed to the allure. There were humming birds zipping around and literally right next door was an abandoned building covered with vines which added to the mystique of the area.
As the lecture started, we ordered our choice of teas and settled in for the intellectual discussion. It was quite informative but I think I was most excited about getting to literally touch space rocks! I know it sounds a bit reductive but who wouldn’t be excited to?
There were a few of them passed around after the talk and it was really surreal to fathom what I was holding in my hand at the time. It was a good thing I took pictures! Lucky for you too, I managed to get shots of all of them, at the expense of those who were waiting to get a hold of them of course, but as they say, for science!
The one in the container, I believe was the Martian meteorite. Imagine that! Something that was from another planet in our solar system. It was mind blowing to think about. Here I was, an unassuming organism unaware of another whole planet I had not yet even seen in its entirety with my own eyes except through the media, holding a tiny little piece of what may have come from it. How many things of the Universe (an infinite amount, I know) was I missing out on. It was scary, saddening, maddening and wondrous to think about all at the same time.
This was an amazing and mind numbing experience! The discussions were great for the mind and the intellect but I have to say, I never in my life thought that I would get to touch an meteorite! And what's even more mind boggling is that I got to hold a piece of Mars in my hand! I still have not fully processed this notion!
