[meteorite-list] Iranian Fireball Was Of Geophysical Origin

From: Charles Viau <cviau_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:22 2004
Message-ID: <00a401c3f1b2$b0217040$1800a8c0_at_chupa>

It very well could be related, and why it was so important to properly
document the Elma incident, even though all of the 'experts' gave the
principal investigators such grief. This is what science is all about. I
would hope that there are some geo-physicists out there that will want
to pull some of this material together from those 3 sources and look for
similarities. The people who witnessed such events were not stupid, nor
were they having any hallucinations.

CharlyV

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-admin_at_meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-admin_at_meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Rosemary
Hackney
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 2:12 PM
To: Ron Baalke; Meteorite Mailing List
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Iranian Fireball Was Of Geophysical Origin

Is this similar to the Elma incident? Elma intrigues me. It looks like
sand
or particulate material having been fused. Perhaps was sucked up by a
dust
devil or other storm wind and electrical discharge in the atmosphere
fused
it like glass? Anyway.. is this Iranian material considered a
geometeorite
also?

Rosie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 11:38 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Iranian Fireball Was Of Geophysical Origin


>
>
> http://www.nojum.net/news/newse.asp?newsid=34
>
> PRESS-RELEASE: Feb 8, 2004
> CONTACTS: Mr. Pouria Nazemi,
> Tel: +98 (021) 827 0029
> E mail : news_at_nojum.net
>
> INTERNATIONAL GROUP OF EXPERTS COMES TO CONCLUSION THAT THE FIREBALL
> FALLEN ON THE IRANIAN TOWN OF BABOL ON JANUARY 2, 2004 WAS NOT A
METEORITE,
> BUT WAS OF GEOPHYSICAL ORIGIN
>
> On January 2, 2004 a report appeared about a meteorite fall on the
town
> of Babol, Iran. A group of Iranian experts associated with Nojum
(Astronomy)
> magazine began to investigate. The group consisted of Mr. Pouria
Nazemi,
who
> has a large expertise in seeking scientific news and contacted many
> organizations to collect more information and also a science
journalist
> (Mathematics BSc.), Miss Mohaddesseh Azimlu who was looking for
physical
> explanation for such events since the previous one in some months ago
> (Physics Ms.)
>
> Mr. Iman Naderi, a serious amateur astronomer who didn't miss a moment
to
> reach the place and make early report and photos, Mr. Siavash
Safarianpour
> who organizes a daily live TV program in popular astronomy and Mr.
Oshin
> Zakarian, a nature and night sky photographer.
>
> Witnesses reported that the event started with seismic, and sound
phenomena,
> which were followed by unordinary light inside house and explosion
with a
> loud sound and ended by falling of a fireball which threw out sparks
and
was
> described as a " suspended lightning "about 2 meters in diameter and
> disappeared spontaneously. The boy who came out first and saw the ball
had
> burnt his face, but nobody else was hurt.
>
> Despite that the investigation continues, already now it is possible
to
> state that the event had nothing to do with a fall of an
extraterrestrial
> body, and evidently was of geophysical origin.
>
> Investigation of damage in the town caused by the event reveals that a
> house, which was in the epicenter of the explosion, was badly damaged
by
the
> explosion, and many houses within several hundred meters from it have
some
> minor damage. No traces of meteorite or any other object fallen were
> discovered. The damage of the house partly was as caused by some
energy
> source inside the house, while possibility of a gas explosion etc. can
be
> excluded.
>
> After coming to conclusion that the event was caused neither by a
> meteorite, nor by any known made object, the Iranian experts contacted
> Dr. Andrei Ol'khovatov from Moscow, Russia.
>
> He has a special web-page ( http://olkhov.narod.ru/gr1997.htm ) ,
devoted
to
> similar unexplained fireball falls, which have nothing to do with
meteorite
> falls, but are of geophysical origin. Dr. Ol'khovatov prefers to call
them
> geophysical meteors or just geometeors. According to him, these events
are
> poorly known, and little plausible physical mechanism was proposed for
them
> yet, but observational data points that geometeors in many aspects
resemble
> an energetic high-speed "ball-lightning". Anyway, a statistical
analysis
> conducted by Dr. Ol'khovatov revealed that geometeors have a tendency
to
> occur in some special geophysical situations.
>
> So Dr. Ol'khovatov has joined the group of Iranian researchers in
> investigation of the Babol event. One of the tasks was to check
whether
> geophysical situation of the Babol event was favorable for geometeors,
> especially in an aspect of cloudiness development in the region. It
was
> checked through satellite meteorological diagrams and however it
didn't
show
> any cloud in the region, but starting changes in weather condition.
>
> The Babol fireball was neither the first nor the last one in Iran.
Some
> months ago Nojum received a report about observing a fire ball on May
23,
> 2003 in Marzanabad, in North of Iran. It was in a rainy evening and
big
> thunders occurred continuously. Witnesses saw a high speed fireball
hit
two
> old big trees, broke them with a very loud sound and continued its
way.
The
> electricity broke in village for a few hours.
>
> On January 21, 2004 another fireball came to visit an Iranian village
in
> North West, near MeshkinShahr in Ardabil state. It was again a stormy
night
> that a white fireball, bigger than full moon appeared in the sky and
after
> few minutes disappeared. Simultaneously electricity broke in the whole
area
> for several hours and a house was damaged. A part of roof covering was
> disappeared and a wall and door was broken with a loud sound.
>
> As both these two events have happened in stormy weather with thunders
and
> lightning, investigators come to conclude that they should be ordinary
"ball
> lightnings" that may be produced in such conditions. During natural
> lightning a part of air molecules become ionized (which is called
plasma)
> and shine as a flash in a moment and come back to ordinary state (we
saw
it
> as the path of lightning); but in rarely conditions that we still
don't
know
> completely this plasma is caught in a ball shape and if hits anything
may
> release a lot of energy like a lightning with same loud sound and
> destruction. We know very little about natural ball lightnings, but
can
make
> them artificially in very small size in laboratory.
>
> Anyway, the investigation continues, as those events and specially
that
one
> in Babol gives a rare possibility to get a lot of data about such
poorly
> known meteorological or geophysical phenomena.
>
> Group members are also waiting for your reports about any similar
> observations at news_at_nojum.net.
>
>
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Received on Thu 12 Feb 2004 04:53:40 PM PST