Magazine for Meteorite Enthusiasts Moves to University of Arkansas Space Center

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A popular journal for people interested in meteorites is moving its headquarters to the University of Arkansas, and the new publisher sees this as a chance to connect meteorite researchers, collectors, dealers, amateur enthusiasts and educators with a common goal of enhancing the understanding of these mineral ambassadors from outer space.

The quarterly magazine Meteorite will be produced for the first time at the University of Arkansas in February through the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, said Derek Sears, director of the center and a professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. Sears sees the publishing of the magazine as a natural step for the center to take.

“The space center is growing. We have the scientists. We have the teaching. And we’re in the process of building the outreach,” Sears said. The center sponsors teacher workshops and lectures, but Sears sees the magazine as an important forum for communication among the different types of people interested in meteorites.

Meteorite magazine was founded in 1995 by Joel Schiff and his colleagues in Auckland, New Zealand.

“They’ve succeeded in finding a very productive niche,” Sears said.

The 44-page magazine contains general interest articles on meteorites, information on conferences and gem shows, expeditions to recover new meteorites, technical developments and research articles. It also offers tutorials — a sort of a “meteorites 101” course for novices. A sampling of articles includes “Confessions of a Lunatic” by a collector who owns several lunar meteorites; a description of a mass of small meteorites that fell in the province of Lesotho, South Africa, in 2003; reports from meteorite expeditions to Antarctica and Oman; and using ancient rock art to locate meteorites. The magazine will continue to publish high-quality articles of interest to meteorite enthusiasts, Sears said.

The magazine will be under the joint editorship of Larry and Nancy Lebofsky of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Larry Lebofsky will be a visiting professor on the UA campus during the spring semester. He is the education officer for the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. His interest in the magazine stems from his placing a high premium on researchers working in collaboration with non-researchers, Sears said.

“Meteorite magazine provides an excellent forum for everyone in the meteorite community to exchange information and share their particular expertise,” Larry Lebofsky said.

While the National Science Foundation does fund expeditions to Antarctica to search for meteorites, many places rich with potential material have remained unexplored until recently — especially parts of north Africa, where many dealers have now led their own expeditions. The more meteorites found on Earth, the more likely rare ones such as those from the moon or from Mars will be found. The dealers and researchers need one another — the researchers because with every meteorite find they learn something new, the dealers because finds that are authenticated and properly characterized are more valuable.

“This is an undertaking where people who are non-scientists can be very important,” Sears said.

Hazel Sears will serve the magazine in the capacity of managing editor. She was the managing editor of Meteoritics and Planetary Science during its 10 years on campus, during which time the journal grew from a quarterly publication to a monthly research journal.

For more information, please see the Web site at http://meteoritemag.uark.edu/.