[meteorite-list] Sonic Boom Over Canada Likely Caused By Meteor

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:29:54 2004
Message-ID: <200309122035.NAA24253_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_meteor20020912

Sonic boom likely caused by meteor
CBC News (Canada)
September 12, 2003

NANAIMO, B.C. - The boom heard over Nanaimo earlier this week was
likely a small meteor, says an astronomy professor at Malaspina
University College.

Prof. Bill Weller says his analysis of the seismic data from
Wednesday afternoon shows a meteor about the size of a
toaster could have been responsible for the blast.

"It would have come in at quite a high rate of speed, much faster
than the speed of sound, and of course it leaves a shockwave.

"It's the same thing that you hear behind an aircraft, the sonic
boom, after the aircraft breaks the sound barrier," says Weller.

A Vancouver astronomer agrees. David Dodge of Vancouver's H.R.
MacMillan Space Centre says the sonic boom is consistent with a
fireball entering the atmosphere and exploding.

Dodge says cloudy skies would have prevented anyone from
spotting the small space rock before it burned up.
Received on Fri 12 Sep 2003 04:35:41 PM PDT