[meteorite-list] Catch a falling star?

From: Michael Groetz <mpg4444_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 08:54:33 -0400
Message-ID: <AANLkTik4p5PYgh494F6KW62DdHA4T8UsMeOmqVqjcRyR_at_mail.gmail.com>

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/jun/05/catch-a-falling-star/

Catch a falling star?
Saturday, June 5, 2010

By:
Ben Benton (Contact)

Did you catch a falling star?

NASA wants to know.

Officials say a 60-pound meteor that streaked across the skies over
Northeast Alabama about 9:44 p.m. on May 18 could have come down near
Scottsboro.

The meteor could have broken up as it neared the ground but sizable
pieces probably made impact, said Dr. Bill Cooke, head of the NASA
meteoroid environment office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala.

"We picked up a meteor about 50 miles up over Huntsville. It was
moving to the east at about 8 miles per second and we lost track of it
somewhere northeast of Gurley when it was only about 22 miles up,"
said Dr. Cookee, a graduate of Rossville High School.

The Walker County Science Center in Chickamauga, Ga., also tracked the
meteor, giving NASA a reasonably accurate fix on the landing area, he
said.

"The amount of light it produced shows that it survived intact," he said.

So far, though, no one has reported finding it, officials said.

The meteor was going about 200 mph, "so if it landed in a farm field,
somebody's probably going to notice it because it would have knocked
loose a lot of dirt," Dr. Cooke said.

Gurley Police Officer Barry Childers said Friday that he hadn't heard
of anyone seeing the meteor or finding a meteorite in the area.

"It must not have made too big of a disturbance," Officer Childers
said. "No one's brought it up."

Gurley resident Janet Younger lives in the area where trackers lost
the space rock's trail. She said she "didn't hear a thing" that night,
though she was intrigued by the idea that a visitor from space came
calling.

"I'm glad it didn't hit my house," laughed Mrs. Younger, 69.

Dr. Cookee said the meteorite will look out of place to anyone who spots it.

"It should look kind of reddish with a fusion crust; it may look like
it had been melted," he said. "Or it could be an iron meteorite --
which are extremely rare -- and that would look like a black stone
that melted."

In either case, the meteorite should respond to a magnet or metal
detector, he said.

The meteor is from the solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars
and Jupiter, he said.

Dr. Cooke said whoever owns the land where the meteor fell will own
the wayward rock. But NASA would like to get more information, and
maybe a small sample, if the rock's new owner is willing.

"We don't want the whole thing, we just want a little piece of it," he said.
Received on Sun 06 Jun 2010 08:54:33 AM PDT