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Meteorite Course Offered That’s Out of This World

Students examine a collection of meteorites as part of a new course, Comets Love Meteorites, in the Department of Geosciences.

Comets Love Meteorites, a new class offered by the Department of Geosciences in the School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics that is out of this world, lets students get their hands on meteorites – among the oldest objects in our Solar System. 

A story about the class was first featured in The Mercury, student newspaper of UT Dallas.

Professor Bob Stern and Associate Professor of Instruction Randy Griffin are leading the class, which is being taught on a trial basis in the ROC, Room 2.203, and includes lessons on the history of the solar system, asteroid belts, and meteorites.

“If you teach a course on meteorites and just make students read books about them and memorize stuff, it’s terribly boring. But having samples changes everything. You can touch these meteorites,” Stern said.

“These are the oldest things that anybody will ever touch,” Stern said. “There is nothing older in this Solar System than a meteorite. So, when you put your hand on that meteorite, you will touch something that’s 4.56 billion years old.”

For more information, visit the Geosciences website, or try to enroll for the next class in the fall of 2023.

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