Meteorites

Now that the meteorite shower that peppered Jupiter has focused scientific attention on the possibility that Earth might suffer a similar attack (and the government grant money spigots are turned on), the meteorite--a heretofore lowly celestial body--is now a star player. And it gets the grand treatment in Meterorites, a two-part series with the catchy individual titles of "Menace From the Sky" and "Witnesses From Beyond the Times" that was shown on The Learning Channel. Combining good graphics, archival film footage, and interviews with contemporary geologists, astronomers, and museum guides (several significant meteor fragments reside in museums, not scientific laboratories), Meterorites covers the creation of the solar system, speculates on the possibility that meteorites were the cause of the dinosaur's extinction, traces the history of meteor sightings, and offers current scientific theories concerning the future. I don't want to alarm anyone, but there is a possibility that a nasty orb called Nemesis (a kind of Death Star) will rain meteors in our direction in the future and destroy life on Earth as we know it. So, mark your calendars. This is expected to happen in 15 million years. a little dry at times, my 11-year-old son Chris was nevertheless mesmerized by Meteorites (a qualifier: I've seen Chris happily eating cereal while watching test bar patterns). Recommended. (R. Pitman)