[meteorite-list] No Meteorite In Yorkshire

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:44:35 2004
Message-ID: <200103011750.JAA12191_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1196000/1196688.stm

No space rocks in York
BBC News
March 1, 2001

Experts are now convinced that the object that "fell to Earth" in York, UK,
on Thursday did no such thing.

North Yorkshire police were called to the Hopgrove area of the city after a
local woman, Silvia Mercer, said she heard a rush of air and a loud
explosion while she was out walking her dogs.

Mrs Mercer discovered a hole in the ground that measured about 15
centimetres (six inches) wide and just under a metre (three feet) deep,
leading some to speculate she had found the impact crater from a falling
meteoroid.

But after a day's investigation, which included assistance from a
bomb-disposal team, the police said the hole had been caused by an
underground electricity cable short-circuiting.

The news will be heard with some disappointment. A meteorite find causes
huge excitement. Such an event has not been recorded on the UK mainland for
nearly 10 years.

On that occasion, civil servant Arthur Pettifor recovered a 767-g (27 oz)
lump of space rock that hit a hedge in his garden in Glatton, near
Peterborough, in the May of 1991.

Mrs Mercer said Thursday's experience had been frightening. "It was a bit of
a shock," she said. "I thought my last moments had come. I was very shaken.

"I had no idea what it was. I went to have a look but could not see to the
bottom of the hole. It was quite deep."
Received on Thu 01 Mar 2001 12:50:35 PM PST