[meteorite-list] Astronomer Hunts For Remains of Canadian Fireball

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:54 2004
Message-ID: <20040326030835.45536.qmail_at_web12305.mail.yahoo.com>

Lets see, this meteorite created a fireball that
lasted for hours across 3 large provinces, created a
smell as it burned up and blew holes in the
atmosphere, gave of explosions graphically enough to
blow away the national geographic documentary on plane
crashes, and gave off an extended lightshow better
than a lightning storm after 8 beers. And this thing
is only the size of a grapefruit.
Canadian meteorites really kick ass
Cheers
DEAN


--- Ron Baalke <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
>
>
>
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/25/sci-tech/meteor040325
>
> Astronomer hunts for remains of Prairie 'fireball'
> CBC News (Canada)
> March 25, 2004
>
> ROSETOWN, SASK. - One man's space odyssey is taking
> him to yards
> across west central Saskatchewan in search of a
> possible meteorite.
>
> People in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were
> treated to a
> fireball that lit up the night sky in a light show
> on the evening
> of March 21.
>
> In Rosetown, Sask., witnesses described it as a
> flash like an
> airplane exploding, a big red streak and roar.
> Others reported a
> strange smell, which astronomers said can comes from
> the meteor
> burning off ozone as it goes through the atmosphere.
>
>
> Geologist and astronomy buff Don Hladiuk captured an
> image of the
> fireball with a specially designed camera mounted in
> his backyard
> in Calgary.
>
> "It's a cloudy night, you can't see any planets or
> stars, yet we're
> seeing flashes, almost lightning in the clouds, so
> that tells us it
> was a very large event," Hladiuk said.
>
> University of Regina astronomy Prof. Martin Beech is
> looking for
> remains of the space rock, which may have been the
> size of a
> grapefruit.
>
> "It's definitely a needle in the haystack search,"
> said Beech. "But
> if you don't look, I guess you have no chance of
> finding anything."
>
> Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere before they
> ever reach the
> ground to become meteorites.
>
> Beech and other astronomers are so excited about the
> possibility
> of finding the rare meteorite because the space
> rocks can help them
> learn more about how the solar system and even
> planets were formed.
>
> "It could tell us about the surface of Mars many
> millions of years
> ago potentially," said Beech. "The characteristics
> of the Martian
> atmosphere then as well."
>
> Where rocks on Earth have been modified by erosion
> over time,
> space rocks can offer a clean record.
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>
http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
Received on Thu 25 Mar 2004 10:08:35 PM PST