[meteorite-list] Meteorite doubts emerge (the Norway "meteorite)

From: Bjorn Sorheim <astrogeo_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Jul 12 17:23:37 2006
Message-ID: <6.2.1.2.2.20060712230834.04a08cd8_at_pop.online.no>

Hello,
I think you mean 380 tons TNT,
not 380 kilotons, right!?
Hiroshima was about 20 ktons TNT,
so your figure is approaching almost a
half Megaton TNT, that's awsome!

Else, I absolutly agree on what is the point of your article,
I think the first incident spawned the last, yes. That was
what I reasoned myself, too.

Since the 17th of June (resultless helicopterride) there has been no
news about the Troms meteor anywhere in Norway. I have been checking.

Also note that according to an article by Ceplecha, there is only
a 30% chance of large fireballs being chondritic (- or heavier).
H. H. Nininger by the way, in his autobiography, said that only about 1 in 5
large fireball events brought about the real thing - a meteorite on the ground.
This according to his meteorite searches through his long career.


Bj?rn S?rheim,
in Norway

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Hi,

I believe the quick and enthusiastic response
to this "incident" was potentiated by the earlier
Norwegian bolide last month. Word of it didn't
even get reported for several days but interest
built up after a week. It was unexpected and so
it took people awhile to "wake up" to the event.
This kind of report -- the odd rock and the
strange hole in the garden kind of report -- tends
to come, singly or in a small flurry, after a real
event. The seed of the notion is already in place.
Humans "see" what they are prepared to "see."
Likewise, they often don't "see" what they
don't expect to "see." The senses+brain system
is not a simple "camera-like" mechanism.
By now, Norwegians were "prepared" to
think METEORITE.
Meanwhile, we hear nothing more about the
very real earlier object or the location of its
terminal point, witnesses, etc. Its energy has

been determined to have been about 380
kiloTons of TNT,

but beyond that, nothing,
which is the usual outcome of a big fireball.

Sterling K. Webb
Received on Wed 12 Jul 2006 05:23:18 PM PDT