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Cover: A FESEM image of the border of a shock meltpocket in Tissint (section from the collection of the University of Tennessee). One sees ahrensite (Fe₂SiO₄-spinel) as solid state transformation product of fayalite at the rim of the pocket, closer to the pocket, ahrensite has desintegrated into ferrous bridgmanite and wuestite (bright mall grains), in addition there is troillite.     

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End of flight fragmentation of the 02:44:30 UT, 18 November 2012, fireball over the San Francisco Bay Area in California (shown in a horizontally mirrored image to depict the time series from left to right). These photographs were taken from a distance of about 65 km by Robert P. Moreno Jr. from Santa Rosa, using a hand‐held Canon EOS 7D digital still camera (200‐mm focal length), at a rate of four frames per second. This compilation of images shows several discrete fragment trains trailing the leading fragment, each of which was generated coincident with flares in the meteor light curve recorded by other cameras. Six of the surviving meteorites were recovered in the town of Novato following publication of the fall area calculated by Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center) based on video observations of the fireball by the Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance project. Photo: Robert P. Moreno Jr., compilation by Jim Albers.     

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The two fitting parts of AaU 012 as found in the field (field number: S12‐011) during the Saudi‐Swiss meteorite search campaign in 2012. The scale bar is 5 cm. Marianna Meszaros et al. discuss the meteorite in their article on pp.1830–1848. Image courtesy of M. Meszaros.     

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Cover: Oblique aerial view showing the collar of the central uplift of Serra da Cangalha impact structure (Brazil). The structure has a diameterof 13 km. The collar comprises sandstones of Mississipian age, has a diameter of 4 km, and its ridges rise up to 350 m from the surroundingterrain. Vasconcelos et al. discuss the structure in their article on p. 1659. (Image courtesy of Andrea Bartorelli).     

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Engraving of the Orgueil meteorite fall published at the beginning of 1865 in l'Annuaire Mathieu (de la Drôme), indicateur du temps rédigé par les sommités scientifiques (from the collection at the Bibliothéque nationale de France). M. Gounelle and M. E. Zolensky discuss Orgueil in their article on pp. 1769–1794.     

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Three specimens from the pristine suite of the Tagish Lake meteorite, showing variability in texture, from relatively chondrule‐rich (specimen 5b, upper left) to chondrule‐poor (specimen 11i, right) to intermediate (specimen 11h, lower left). The textural variation is due to differences in petrographic character, as described by Blinova et al. (this issue); differences in organic matter correlate with the textural variation (Alexander et al. and Hilts et al., this issue), providing insights into parent body processing. Specimens from the University of Alberta Meteorite Collection (MET11611/P?5b, ?11i and ?11h). Scale bar applies to all three images. Photography by C. D. K. Herd and R. K. Herd.     

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Calcium X‐ray elemental map of a strongly hydrated microclast in the Rumuruti chondrite Northwest Africa 6828. The clast is crosscut by irregular Ca‐carbonate‐filled fractures that do not extend into the host meteorite. It represents the first hydrous fragment found in an R chondrite and documents the wide distribution of water‐bearing material in the solar system. Image was collected using the JEOL JXA 8500F field emission cathode electron microprobe at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. For details, see the article by Ansgar Greshake, pp. 824–841.     

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Cover: Upper left: High‐resolution mosaic of section ALH 84001,82 (~30 μm thick) from Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001. Several highly detailed transmitted light images, obtained with a Zeiss Scope petrographic microscope at magnification of 500× and with crossed nicols (polarizers), were merged to create this mosaic. A grid was superimposed onto the image (square size is 1 mm²) to navigate around the section and (re)locate regions of interest. D5 and J7 are regions that contain a particularly high concentration of carbonates. The images were obtained at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, IEEC/CSIC) by Carles E. Moyano‐Cambero, who also created the mosaic. For details see the article on p. 1030. Upper right: Detail of region D5 in the mosaic. Cathodoluminescence image, obtained with a Nikon Eclipse LV100NPol petrographic microscope at 100× magnification, after applying electron bombardment in the sample with a Cambridge Image Technology Ltd. (CITL) Technosyn cold cathodoluminescent MK4 operated at a voltage of 20–24 kV and an intensity of 350–400 mA. The light emitted during electron bombardment of a mineral has intensity and wavelength that depends on its chemical composition and crystallographic structure, and even trace amounts of some elements can act as activators or quenchers of cathodoluminescence. Since iron is a typical quencher, iron‐free minerals can be particularly luminescent. In this case, bright red areas correspond to very Fe‐poor and Mn‐rich layers in the carbonates. This and the following images were obtained at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid by M. Isabel Benito. Lower left: Detail of the region D5 of the mosaic. Transmitted light image, obtained with a Nikon Eclipse LV100NPol petrographic microscope at 100× magnification and with crossed nicols. Carbonates are the brown‐to‐orange areas, while the large dark blue area is maskelynite (shock modified plagioclase). Lower right: BSE image of one of the spherical carbonates in D5 obtained with a JEOL JSM7600F SEM with a BSED (magnification 1,100×, voltage of 15 kV). The SEM was used to select regions and points of interest for subsequent chemical analysis by electron microprobe. The Fe‐rich and Mg‐rich rims of the carbonate can be clearly observed as bright and dark rims, respectively.