Dr Diane Turner presents The Open University’s outreach meteorite collection to an enthusiastic audience at local primary school 2015

Pupils answering space quiz questions during Diane Turner’s assembly presentation at Pendragon School (photo: Carol Shaw)

In February 2015, Anthias Director Diane Turner showcased a collection of meteorites to the pupils of local primary school, Pendragon Community Primary School.

The collection came from The Open University’s outreach programme, made available to engage with members of the public about Planetary and Space Sciences. Highlights of the collection include a Lunar meteorite, a very heavy (8 kg) piece of an iron meteorite called Gibeon, and a piece from Mars called Nakhla.

Diane found there was considerable awareness and interest following the ESA Rosetta mission in November and, as part of her presentation, Diane was able to show the children a show a model of the Philae lander, which houses the Ptolemy, the analytical instrument used on the Philae lander to investigate the comet’s surface and subsurface. Built by The Open University’s flagship interdisciplinary research centre, CEPSAR, the instrument uses gas chromatography / mass spectrometry techniques to analyse the solid samples of the comet’s surface.
 
The visit was very well received by both teachers and pupils and provided a rare opportunity to hold a real meteorite and bring a sense of real-world understanding to a fascinating yet complex topic, particularly relevant to the key stage 2 children, who are currently undertaking a project on space. Read Diane’s full blog post about her visit.

Diane Turner shows the meteorites to pupils at Pendragon School (photo: Carol Shaw)