[meteorite-list] Sonic Boom Shakes Australia

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Dec 7 15:54:34 2004
Message-ID: <200412072054.MAA04938_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://taree.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=355753&y=2004&m=12

Meteorite boom shakes Manning
By Helen Manusu
Manning River Times (Australia)
7 December 2004

"I THOUGHT my time had come. I thought He was coming down to get me."

A still-shaking Allen Hannaford of Old Bar was describing the most
frightening hour in his life, yesterday morning, as he witnessed the
rare phenomenon that woke most Manning residents with a bang about 4.15am.

Allen, an insomniac, often fishes on Smiths Beach, Mitchells Island,
between Old Bar and Manning Point, in the early hours.

Yesterday he was standing in the water near Beach Road when he became
witness to one of the year's most mystifying events, several minutes
before most other residents were shaken from their sleep.

"It was 10 past four, and all of a sudden there was this flash of
brilliant light above my head. It lit up the whole sky, like a starshell
going off - it blinded me for the moment, it actually hurt my eyes."

In the next few moments, Mr Hannaford watched the remains of the
brilliant light as it moved quickly from almost directly overhead, in a
north-easterly direction, over Crowdy Head.

It wasn't until a full four or five minutes later - at 4.15 - that the
almighty bang was heard - and that frightened him just as much as what
he had just seen.

"It was just like a sonic boom," Mr Hannaford said, "that occurred while
I was still watching the light."

It was the boom that woke nine out of every 10 residents across the Mid
North Coast, with people hearing the noise from an area between Coffs
Harbour and Wollongong.

Residents who spoke to the Times yesterday reported the noise in a
variety of ways from the 'splat and sizzle' of a lightning bolt hitting
the earth, followed by a long, loud rumble of thunder, to the shaking of
an earthquake.

But professional and amateur astronomers, working on the varied
accounts, believe the phenomenon was in fact a meteorite which could
have passed within 20 kilometres of earth. If this is the case, it was
very much 'a near miss'.

Experts believe the meteorite probably did not hit the earth's oceans,
but probably burnt up in the atmosphere.

The sonic boom it created indicates it was travelling very much faster
than the speed of sound, and Mr Hannaford's observation of the explosion
a few minutes beforehand backs this up.

Residents, including Mr Hannaford, who scanned the sky after hearing the
bang found it cloudless, starry, and with a waning half-moon directly above.

It wasn't until later, as he continued to watch the first light of dawn,
that Mr Hannaford could see "this strange looking cloud-shape - like a
head and two sides of a body, and a tail". Out to sea "there was a
separate, long while trail."

He raced home to get his camera, and it was about 5.15am before he
snapped off photos of the eerie cloud-like formations that still
lingered in the dawn sky.

His photos, processed by Taree Camera House, show two distinct patterns,
one a jet-like vapour trail with a curled end, the other a series of
rings which Mr Hannaford describes as 'like the devil - it had horns and
arms'.

The photos were unsuitable for newspaper reproduction, however Mr Peter
Langdown, who works at Camera House and who has been an amateur
astronomer all his life, is working on digital enhancement of the images.

An excited Mr Langdown, who collects meteorites, said Mr Hannaford has
obviously witnessed "a very rare event".

"For there to be that much trail in the sky an hour after the event
means it was a medium sized meteorite. In fact it would have been a
close call, probably within 20 to 50kms - a fantastically rare event."

Mr Hannaford's photos show a "typical meteor trail," Mr Langdown said,
adding that first person reports from people who live in the Harrington
area - describing the noise they heard - sound "pretty consistent with a
meteor event".

These include the 'splat and sizzle' sounds residents heard in the
instant before the loud thunder-like boom.

Siding Springs Observatory staff agreed with the meteorite theory,
saying residents' various reports have all the hallmarks of an event in
which a meteorite passed through earth's atmosphere as a speed much
faster than sound.
Received on Tue 07 Dec 2004 03:54:29 PM PST