Hi Gary: ... I don't mind a bit hearing the talk again. I was fascinated by it and your logic; only a geologist could put all the parts together like you did. I hope you made NASA aware of your conclusions. ...

Comment: I'd enjoy presenting my ideas to anyone associated with NASA. All they need do is ask.

Dear Gary, / ... I periodically examine different links on your web page, and I am amazed and impressed with the volume of material that you have composed or compiled, and the amount of time you probably expended in doing so. You continue to inspire me! Some questions regarding web pages and putting them together: What software program did you use in creating your web page? Is it one you still prefer and recommend for others to use? Creating my own web page is one of my goals for the summer. I plan to be present for your talk on "Why is Mars Red?" at Cal Poly Pomona on the 31st of May. ...

Comment: The software program I use for the web site is Netscape Composer. My only reason for using it is that it came installed on my office computer. I have no experience with any other web-page programs.

Gary, / I trust you had a safe return home. Thanks again for a stirring, entertaining lecture yesterday about the color of Mars. Listening to you yesterday took me back 30 years to the old room 100 (I think it was) on the first floor at the east end of the geology building. There and then, spring semester, 1972, I was writing copious notes in Historical Geology with Glen Holt; trying to duplicate your chalkboard illustrations. I still have the notes by the way. I traditionally sat on your left as I did yesterday. / ... / I hope to see you at another lecture. Sincerely, Mario

Dr. Peterson, / Thank you for such a quick response. I'll put you down for our September 21st general meeting. As I said in my invitation I will try to get this fully publicized in the Riverside area. I have been looking for a talk that would interest more of the general public and not just the hard core astronomy buffs. I would like to see our club grow, the area certainly is, and I believe if we can show people with a casual interest in science how easy it is to do astronomy, and how much it relates to all the other sciences, we might spark a few fires. That's how I got started years ago. The title of your talk "Doomsday Asteroids and Comets" will catch their eyes when they see it in the paper. The Press Enterprise in Riverside has always been good about giving us page one coverage in the local section, and the fact that we can say we have a Professor of Geology from San Diego State will surely get us notice with them. / ... Thank you again and look forward to hearing another of your great talks! / Todd

Comment: The "Doomsday" talk is one I put together for general-public audiences back in the days when the movies "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" were having a good run. I've never given the talk to an astronomical society or predominantly scientific audience. It will be an interesting experiment to see what the reaction of an astronomical society is and what type of audience the RAS will draw..

Dr. Peterson: / I very much enjoyed your talk "Why is Mars Red?" which you presented to the Ventura County Astronomical Society on June 21, 2002. I would like to share the talk with some friends of mine and was wondering whether you have a transcript of the talk available. / Thank you for your time and assistance. / Regards, / Jase Rex

Comment: Transcripts of my talks are not available. However, I give these talks at a wide variety of venues throughout Southern California and visitors are welcomed at almost any of them. Check with the listed contact on the "Scheduled for the Future" page. Alternatively, any organization could request a presentation and I'd be happy to consider the proposal. Send me an e-mail note and explain.

Dear Gary, / On behalf of Stu Chalfant and the Conejo Gem and Mineral Club I would like to apologize for the inconvenience to you last Thursday evening, August 8, 2002. Our club is in the process of changing locations for our monthly meeting and the individual from the Thousand Oaks Art Council failed to follow through in opening the meeting facility. We were all looking forward to hearing your presentation on the deserts of the earth and mars. We realize that you drove a long way to present this interesting program and we regret that we were unable to hear it. We hope that some time in the future we might hear it either in our community or at your university. / Once again, we thank you. / Arnie Rudman.

Comment: Conducting a program such as this requires a coordinated and cooperative effort between me and the host organization. I'm pleased to say that my part has been successfully carried out through 137 talks with no glitches. On the whole, the host organizations have been remarkably good in fulfilling their parts. I've experienced a few excessively noisy rooms, a few malfunctioning projectors and one venue that was set up for showing slides in a room that couldn't be darkened. Somehow, we patched everything together and got through the presentations, albeit not in the manner I would prefer.

In the case of the CGMC, I put a talk together and spent 10 hours and 331 miles of driving through heavy traffic to get to and from Thousand Oaks. A room for the presentation was not available. After all the finger pointing and sincere apologies die down, the fact is that the CGMC failed to carry out their part of the arrangement and I'm the one left holding the bag.

Only one other somewhat similar incident has occurred. I arranged to give a talk to The Local Group of Santa Clarita Valley (an astronomy club). The date was set and confirmed twice by the program chairman. When I arrived (again involving 300+ miles of driving), I found that the meeting had taken place two days earlier and that I was a "no show." I met with the program chairman. He apologized sincerely and admitted that he had supplied and confirmed the wrong date. He assured me that it wasn't my fault and asked if I might return at a later date.

Who is at fault for these incidents? Well, I'll accept the blame for showing poor judgment. However, when any future request might be extended from an organization with which I have had an unsatisfactory experience, my inclination might be to politely thank them for their continuing interest and decline the invitation.

Hi Gary, / On behalf of the San Diego Mineral & Gem Society Inc. I would like to extend a personal thank you for the excellent program last month. I know you have provided many programs for us and they are always well received. I hope you enjoyed the evening with us as much as we enjoyed the presentation. / I look forward to future programs. / Sincerely, / Jim Parrish

Hi Gary, / Thanks very much for the seminar! The talk was very stimulating - Matt Kirby and I were just discussing it. A couple people have already asked me, do you have any reprints on this? I'd love to know the references... / Again, Thanks for the great talk. / David

Gary, / I missed the talk you gave at the SJ Geological Society on Mars the Red Planet. I was wondering how I can read about the lecture or read an abstract? I can't find an abstract on either homepage... / Jeff Wussow

Comment: This talk generates a lot of interest and requests for written versions. Hmmmm.

Dear Dr. Gary Peterson / I am from Rita school and my name is Michelle Albright and I am in 1st grader. My Mom and me are trying to figure out why Mars is Red?. I thought Mars was red because the Sun was shinning on it so brightly that is why I thought Mars is Red. / Love Michelle / Dear Dr. Peterson, / I saw the title of your article "Why is Mars Red?" but was unable to find a copy of it. Would it be possible to get a copy? My daughter is doing a science fair project, trying to prove why Mars is red?. Any suggestions on how to prove the Why? would be appreciated. Thank you for your time. / Kim Albright (Mom)

Comment: Hmmmmmm. The "Why is Mars Red?" is the title of a talk that I give. / Mars is red because of an iron oxide mineral (Hematite) that is present on the surface of the landscape. The same mineral occurs on the Earth and whenever you see red rocks or soils of almost any kind the red color is due to Hematite. Evidently the surface of Mars was oxidized (rusted) early in it's history. When the sun shines on this rusted surface, red light is reflected to a greater degree than all other colors. Hence, Mars appears red. For any further explanation, it will be necessary to hear my talk. / (They have Science Fair projects in the first grade?)

Dr Peterson, / I heard you speak on NPR today on Mars. I think your argument regarding hematite and the red color of Mars and the possibility the hematite was due to life at some point in Mars history is great! / I posted the following to "sci.astro.set" ... (below)

"Today I heard a discussion regarding Mars. One comment by Dr Gary Peterson who is a geologist at San Diego State University was regarding the red color of Mars. He says it is due to hematite (iron oxide). Now, I don't know if hematite has actually been determined to exist on Mars or not (via one of the landers for example or by spectroscopic analysis), but regardless, it is a good bet that the red color of Mars is due to hematite. / The interesting thing is that hematite is formed from iron and oxygen (lots of it). So, assuming hematite exists in large quantities on Mars then there must have been plentiful supplies of oxygen at some point in history of Mars. Oxygen exists on Earth in large quantities only because life sustains it. In addition there exist large stores of hematite on Earth. There doesn't seem to be any other process, except life, that we know of that can sustain oxygen for any length of time as on Earth. Take life away from Earth and the oxygen will quickly disappear. / Well, the logic flow is that Mars is red due to hematite and hematite exists because at some point in Mars history there was life there. I like this argument very much and it serves to make me almost certain that primitive life did (and may now still) exist on Mars. / Al"

Hi Gary - / Thanks for giving us yet another truly memorable talk - I know I'll remember it particularly whenever I am looking at Venus, just as I remember things from your prior talks when I'm looking at the moons of Jupiter or at Mars. Amoung other things, you sure gave us a greater appreciation for the problems the venera spacecraft had to overcome to get any data back to Earth from the surface. Somehow I don't think Venus will ever become a good tourist destination! / ... / Please keep us in mind for any further talks you want to try out - As you know, our members really appreciate your perspective on planetary issues, and we all learn a lot whenever you come to talk to us. / Thanks again! / Barbara Toy

Comment: I greatly enjoy presenting talks to the astronomical societies and for size and vitality the OCA can't be beat.

Hi Gary, / I'd like to thank you for coming out to La Verne to give your presentation. Interesting stuff! Several of the students and faculty have been talking about it since. I guess there was an article related to some aspect of life on Mars in the LA Times last week too, but I never got a chance to read it. I've gotten quite a few compliments on the talk from the students. Sorry there wasn't more time for questions afterwards. / Great talk! Thanks again. / David

Hi Gary: / ... I was looking around your site for the material and came across the reference to Robert Dietz. I sent that site off to a friend who knew him at WUSTL, I know he'll enjoy it. / Thanks! / Allan

Comment: Robert Dietz was probably the single most influential person in my foray into planetary geology, both as a scientist and as a speaker. Check out the "Paying Homage" section of this web site for information.

When was the page http://www.rohan.sdsu.edu/~3gleep6/influences/speakers.html put on the web? I want to know in order to reference it.

Comment: I don't mind answering questions such as this, but I'd at least like to know who the person is, what the nature of the interest is and why this information is needed just as a matter of courtesy. In any case, THE INDEPENDENT PLANETOLOGIST web site was launched in November of 1998 and has undergone continual and extensive modification since that time. The page in question is "The Visiting Speaker Hall of Fame." I'm not certain when it was added, but I'd guess late 1999 or early 2000. The page has remained as is except for minor cosmetic changes.

Gary, / What causes the lines I see on Phobos? Are these scars from impacts, or some sort of strata lines from creation, or is there another cause? / Kim

Comment: Well, that's a good question. I've never seen anyone explain them in a satisfactory manner. That doesn't bother me any so I'd be happy to give it a try. It's rather involved. I put together a talk entitled "The Origin of Phobos and Deimos" but it hasn't been given as yet. The explanation will have to await a request for the talk.