Laboratory investigations of meteorite luminescence

Abstract
Apparatus has been constructed for the irradiation of mineral dust samples with protons and ultraviolet radiation. The spectrum of any resulting luminescence emission is scanned by a photoelectric grating spectrophotometer. A range of meteorites of different classes has been investigated, only the enstatite achondrites luminesce strongly. The enstatite constituent is responsible for the luminescence, but the emission may be predominantly red or blue; there is some evidence that the difference between these two conditions is one of manganese content. Several other classes of meteorite luminesce weakly; some spectra are given, showing changes with proton damage.

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