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ASTRONOMY 103     Week 9   Spring  2002 Links Tutorials Syllabus Date Class Topic Readings/Assignments Monday,    April 1  Is there evidence of life in the Martian meteorite ALH84001? Discussion of readings. *What is ALH84001?  "The Case for Relic Life on Mars" , Scientific American, Dec. 1997 "Microbes in a Martian Meteorite", Sky and Telescope,  April, 1999 The Case for Life on Mars..... Feb. 2001 (pdf file) "Magnetic Chains from Mars", NASA science story, Feb. 28, 2001 *Fossil Life in AHL84001 See below for questions to prepare for class. Wednesday,  April 3 Exploration of Mars: Individual presentations in small groups. See table below for your topic and reading assignment. Friday,    April 5 Exam 2   * marks optional (but useful!) readings   week 1 week2 week 3 week 4 week 5   week 6   week 7 week 8 week 9 week 10 week 11   week 12 week 13 week 14 Final weekly schedules will be posted by 5:00 p.m. on the previous Friday!   Full Schedule

Announcements:

1)Remember to work on your independent observations!!!!!!!!!!!!

2) Watch here for a study guide for the exam. (It will be posted early in the week)

Assignments:

1) Monday, April 1: Be prepared to discuss these questions in class.

General:

• Why do we think that AHL84001 came from Mars?
• Describe the history of AHL84001.
• Discuss the significance of the carbon globules. Describe the controversy over the temperature of formation of the carbon globules.

Evidence for life? The Scientific American article describes several observations about AHL84001 that form the basis for the authors claim for relic life from Mars. The Sky and Telescope article offers a more negative view about these observations. For each of the observations, discuss the pros and cons of it being evidence for life.

• Biominerals
• Organic Molecules (PAH's  or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons)
• Bacterial shaped objects

The press release ("The Case for Life on Mars Withstands Criticism, Gains Support") and the NASA news report have more recent findings about these issues.

• Describe the results discussed in these papers. Explain how these new results contribute to the debate over ALH84001. 

2) Exploration of Mars: Individual presentations in small groups

You will each prepare a short (5 - 7 minute) presentation on a topic related to the exploration of Mars. The topics and readings are assigned in a table below. In class on Wednesday you will give your presentation to a group of four people. Each person in a group will present a different topic, so that all topics will be covered. You might want to provide copies of images or other visual material for the members of your group. There are study questions for each topic listed on the weekly study question page. At a minimum, your presentation should cover the material in the study questions for your topic.