[meteorite-list] NPA 10-16-1996 Meteor Enters, Orbits and Lands, Wasson

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Feb 15 22:37:06 2005
Message-ID: <BAY4-F12AC27EBC5968496E4A819B36C0_at_phx.gbl>

Paper: The Intelligencer Record
City: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Date: Wednesday, October 16, 1996
Page: A-12

Meteor enters atmosphere, orbits and lands in California

     LOS ANGELES - The eerie green flash that light up night skies
throughout the West two weeks ago was a meteorite that skimmed off the
Earth's atmosphere like a skipping stone, scientists said Monday.
     The big chunk of space rock apparently entered the atmosphere over New
Mexico and Texas, bounced back into space and orbited the Earth before
re-entry in a blaze of light northeast of Los Angeles.
     "It's two events, the same object," said meteorite specialist John
Wasson of the University of California, Los Angeles. Scientists had never
before observed a meteorite's re-entry, but theorized it was possible.
     He and Mark Boslough, a physicist from Sandia National Laboratories in
Albuquerque, N.M., announced the scenario after comparing observations
reaching their electronic mailboxes from lay observers.
     Under their scenario, the object first entered Earth's atmosphere about
8 p.m. MDT Oct. 3 east of Las Cruces, N.M., headed east-northeast and slowed
while it descended at a shallow angle toward the Texas Panhandle.
     It came the closest to Earth's surface near Artesia, N.M., where it
began breaking apart, spraying a brilliant shower of lesser meteorites
extending at least as far as Lubbock, Texas.
     The biggest fragment hurtled back into space at 18,450 mph - too slow
to escape Earth's gravity - and briefly became a small moon making a single,
100-minute orbit of Earth.
     It re-entered the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean and passed over
the California coast near Point Conception. The mass, glowing with heat from
re-entry, continued its journey just north of Bakersfield.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
http://www.imca.cc

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PDF copy of this article, and most I post (and about 1/2 of those on my
website), is available upon e-mail request.

The NPA in the subject line, stands for Newspaper Article. The old list
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Received on Tue 15 Feb 2005 10:36:07 PM PST