[meteorite-list] Bright Fireball Seen Over Canada

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:08:24 2004
Message-ID: <200209121637.JAA22330_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!
By PAUL COWAN
Edmonton Sun (Canada)
September 11, 2002

City scientists want the public's help in their search for a star - a
shooting star that is.

They have reports of a bright fireball shooting through the northern sky
around 9:15 p.m. Sunday.

What they want now is some reports from people who were looking south when
it hurtled down to earth.

"We have people in Edmonton, Devon and Slave Lake who saw it when they
looked north," explained sky watcher Frank Florian of Edmonton's Odyssium
centre.

"What we need are some people who saw it looking south so we can do some
triangulation calculations and work out where it may have come down."

WHITE BALL OF FLAME

Florian said one witness who saw the glowing white ball of flame shooting
across the night sky from east to west thought it broke into two pieces.

Other witnesses reported seeing a blue or orange glow, caused by gases in
the upper atmosphere being burned off as the meteor plunged earthwards.

"We're not talking about one of these asteroids that are going to smash into
earth and trigger another ice age or something," said Florian.

"This was just a piece of rock, maybe about one metre in size or even
smaller."

Scientists at the University of Alberta had a camera monitoring the sky on
Sunday night. But the film still has to be examined to see if it can give
any clues to where the remains of the meteor may have fallen.

"There are tonnes of this stuff coming down to earth every day but most of
it is very small particles," said the university's Dr. Doug Hube.

VALUABLE FOR RESEARCH

"It is very rare to find anything of any size. I think only 60 meteorites
have ever been found in Canada."

But Hube said if traces of the fireball which streaked across the sky Sunday
can be found, it would be very valuable research material.

"A meteor is part of the first solid matter formed in the universe about
four-and-a-half billion years ago," he said. "They come in different forms
and anything we can find out about them is valuable."

Anyone who thinks they can help find where the meteor fell to earth Sunday
can contact the Odyssium at 452-9100.
Received on Thu 12 Sep 2002 12:37:14 PM PDT