[meteorite-list] Meteorite Ireland Launches Meteorite Hunt

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:26 2004
Message-ID: <200302121723.JAA26883_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0212/meteorite.html

Astronomy Ireland launches meteorite hunt
RTE Interactive
February 12, 2003

Astronomy Ireland is seeking reports from eyewitnesses to a
fireball which blazed across the Irish sky this morning at
approximately 7am.

David Moore of Astronomy Ireland told RTE Interactive that the
organisation has been inundated with calls from people north and
south, and there is a strong chance that a meteorite fell
somewhere on this island.

"Some people are saying what they saw was brighter than a full moon.
Anything brighter than a full moon can drop a meteorite as a result -
we definitely have a meteorite to trace," he said.

In 1999, the last time a meteorite was spotted in Ireland, astronomers
were able to triangulate from callers that it fell somewhere in Carlow.
A woman in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, found fragments which were
later sold on for about EUR50,000.

Mr Moore says that statistically, a meteorite can be expected to fall
on Ireland every ten years, but due to factors such as weather and
daylight, they might only be found every 50 years.

He is asking people who saw a fireball to call (01) 847 0777, and let
the society know where they were at the time, where they saw
it in the sky, what direction it was going in, and how high it was.
Received on Wed 12 Feb 2003 12:23:40 PM PST