Local Astronomer Featured in International Podcast

Kenneth Renshaw, a local astronomer from Piggott, and NASA Solar System Ambassador, was featured in a podcast, celebrating the International Year of Astronomy-2009. The podcast, available at http://365daysofastronomy.org/2009/02/08..., was an introduction to meteorites (stony or metallic rocks that hit the Earth from space), and their use as a tool in astronomical research. Featured in the podcast was the famous Paragould, Arkansas meteorite, which fell southwest of Paragould at 4:08 AM on February 17, 1930, causing the town to awaken and a cattle stampede. At that time, the largest meteorite in the world to be seen fall and recovered, it weighed 820 pounds, with a fragment falling 2 miles away at 73 pounds, and a possible third fragment never recovered. For more information on the Paragould meteorite, see Renshaw's article in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas online at http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/en.... Most of the meteorite is on display at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, with fragments in a number of worldwide institutions, and a very small amount in private collections, including Renshaw's. This specimen is currently at the Craighead County Library, Jonesboro for their space exhibit, and will return on loan to the Matilda Pfeiffer Museum at Piggott in March.

The podcast is one of 365 daily podcasts, "365 Days of Astronomy", sponsored by the International Year of Astronomy-2009, declared by the International Astronomical Union and the United Nations to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first studies of the sky with the newly-invented telescope in 1609-1610.