01
MISSION
Let's Encourage Meteoritic Science!
Through incredible images, obtained through microscope lenses and detectors, the great mission of all the work published here is to expose how beautiful and extremely fascinating meteorological science is.
The goal is to stimulate interest in this science that studies these objects from thousands of kilometers away from space, where most date the formation of our 4.56 billion-year-old Solar System, objects that represent the nucleus of what, probably, already it was a planet, or those that detached from its planetary body due to impacts on its surface, such as Mars, Moon and the asteroid Vesta, and traveled until they found our planet and were recovered.
There are many stories that these objects have to tell us about where we came from, how we came about ... after all ... how did it all start? They are messengers of information that come to us and not the other way around, like the probes sent by space agencies., That go in search of those answers.
The scientific dissemination of meteorites involves, above all, educational materials that are easily and freely accessible, so that the necessary information is perpetuated so that science continues to evolve more and more!
So ... the Analytical Images of Meteorites, aiming to contribute to the meteorological science of Brazil and the world, here it publishes its analytical images and publications of our authorship, as well as of partners, who accepted to be part of this mission!
02
LABORATORY
THE LABSONDA UFRJ
LABSONDA is a multiuser laboratory for Electronic Microscopy and Microanalysis located at the Institute of Geosciences (Department of Geology) of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - LABSONDA / IGEO / UFRJ. It is responsible for assisting undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in areas of knowledge such as geology and, more recently, astronomy, with analysis and classification of meteorites. The coordinator of LABSONDA is the professor Professor Julio Cezar Mendes and administered by chemists Amanda Araujo Tosi and Iara Déniz Ornellas.
We are a family owned and operated business.
The laboratory has a JEOL Electronic Microsonda model JXA8230, in which it develops semi-quantitative chemical analyzes by EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), quantitative by WDS (Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy) and obtains electronic images such as SEI (Secundary Electron Image), BSE ( Back-Scattered Electron), Compositional Maps by WDS, also having a coupled panchromatic Catodoluminescence, generating images with the luminescent signals emitted by certain minerals.
We are a family owned and operated business.
In addition to the Electronic Microscope, the laboratory has magnifiers and optical microscopes to support studies, mainly on terrestrial rocks and recently found meteorites, both Brazilian and abroad.
We are a family owned and operated business.
In partnership with other laboratories, such as the Multi-User Laboratory for Technological Characterization (LMCT) of the Mineral Technology Center (CETEM) and the Multi User Laboratory of Environment and Materials (Multilab) of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), we complement the necessary analyzes to study meteorites, using the techniques of Catodoluminescence in Optical Microscope (CL-OM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy, among others.
03
AROUND THE WORLD
Shall we hunt meteorites?
Science is often made in laboratories, but we cannot always be restricted to this space. Contact with people and the world is what makes us see the beauty of exchanging ideas, information and thus improving what we ourselves thought we already knew.
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Humanizing science, even if we say it is accurate, is bringing people who have the same interest and passions as ours. It is not letting ourselves be dominated only by the ease of technologies and letting important details, palpable by hand and observation, go unnoticed. This is like forming an astronomer who has never looked up at night in a starry sky.
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Meteoritic science allows us to not only do science inside research centers, but also allows us to meet incredible people and venture into the fields in search of meteorites. With each search, a different city, different culture and people, but in an impressive way, everyone has something so special that they miss us when we leave.
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Thus, the passion for meteorites can lead anyone, with a minimum of adventurous spirit, to explore Brazilian fields, or perhaps fields in other parts of the world. With that, not only do we hunt for meteorites, but we bring knowledge, information and interest to an entire community. In this way we spread the science !!!!
04
PARTNERS
A common interest:
The fascination with meteorites!
Science is built with collective work, where each researcher contributes to the construction of knowledge and the development of new discoveries, technologies and parameters for the scientific method.
We are a family owned and operated business.
Following this same thinking, our research work has the partnership of several researchers, be they professors or students from different areas of knowledge, such as: astronomy, chemistry, physics, geology, history of science and other related areas.
We are a family owned and operated business.
The most important thing for us to partner in our work is to have a passion for science and a fascination for meteorites, ingredients that are impossible not to be found when we work with what we like and what generates our curiosity and admiration.
We are a family owned and operated business.
Teamwork is extremely important to maintain the quality and interdisciplinarity of research. Aiming this, our team is in fact very plural, competent and above all, lovers of meteorites.