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So you're into sci fi? But what about sci fact? Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction...

Each month our very own Voyager Science Queen* will bring you interesting, quirky and downright bizarre tasty morsels from the world of science. And its all completely, totally, 100% true!

Science Page June 2011

Space Rock

The science of geology is the study of how rocks, crystals and minerals are formed in and on our planet. To be accurate, it should be called Terran Geology, because most geological study takes place on the crust of our Earth. Our scientific understanding of geology comes from the rocks we know have been made in the titanic forces of heat and pressure under our feet.

The magnesium iron silicate, known as olivine, is one of the most common types of rock on our planet. It is one of the primary minerals in igneous and metamorphic rocks – igneous rock is formed by lava and cooling magma and then structurally changed by extra heat and pressure into metamorphic rock. It forms in the mantle, and not deep in the centre of the planet. In its purest form, olivine is a glassy crystalline green stone, and gemstone quality olivine is called peridot. There are green beaches of the stuff in Hawaii, as lava rock breaks down to form crystals of olivine.

Now, of course, space is full of rocks. At one point, it was thought that all space rock was formed when planets and stars coalesced out of gases. For proper minerals and rocks to form, they had to be part of the internal forces of a planet and its pressure and heat. It was theorised that the dust of space had a very different structure to the minerals formed in a planet.

New scientific research has proven otherwise; rocks can form in space, not just dust. In theconstellation of Orion, there is an embryonic star named HOPS-38. Crystals of olivine have been detected forming in its gas cloud, which is unusual because the gas cloud registers as -130 degrees Celsius. It may be possible thatparts of the gas cloud are as hot as lava (700 degrees Celsius)with a sufficient concentration of chemicals for the crystals to form. Or something much stranger may be happening.

We won’t know unless we go there to find out.

This discovery wasn’t just interesting to astronomers and space geeks. It means that there may have to be a fundamental change to the science of geology as our current theories are flawed. Conversely, it may be that the olivine detected has a completely different crystalline structure to its Terran counterpart – which it my personal favourite theory; space lasers need space crystal; the Science Fiction fan in me so wants this to be true.

And who can’t like a space crystal that is green. Not me!

*The Voyager Science Queen is also known as Lynne Lumsden Green

So, who is this woman who attempts to entertain us with Science?

Lynne Lumsden Green lives on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, and attends the University of the Sunshine Coast. Ever the perpetual student, she is adding a B.A. in Creative Writing to her B.SC. in Zoology (Jennifer Fallon is her role model). As one of the founding members of Scriber Space, the site for USC creative writers, she hopes to create a writing community as lively and as close as the Voyager writing community. She spends her non-study hours volunteering for writing-related events, writing, reading, and – oh yes – looking after her family. She is still passionately interested in anything and everything, and enjoys the opportunity to share this passion via the Science Page. Terry Pratchett, Isaac Asimov, Neil Gaiman, and all the Voyager authors are her favourite people on the planet...and one of her goals is to meet all of those authors, well, at least those authors still in the land of the living. Recently, her own writing efforts have been meeting with better success. She is putting this down to her excellent lecturers and persistence, and to the fact that you can eat chocolate while typing.

Read previous Sci-Facts

Looking for more scientific oddities? Have you checked out Dr Steven Juan's website? He is, quite literally, the wizard of odds!