[meteorite-list] Meteorite Fall In Washington?

From: Michael Farmer <farmerm_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:21:05 2004
Message-ID: <002f01c34b1e$dabc9540$c430ef42_at_computer>

WOW, they saw the fall and headed right for the school track and found still
hot meteorites. I give one about a 0.0% chance of being real and 100% chance
BULLSH$#.
Mike Farmer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 2:30 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Fall In Washington?


>
>
> http://www.thedailyworld.com/daily/2003/Jul-15-Tue-2003/news/news1.html
>
> Rocks in Elma may be remains of a meteor
> By Levi Pulkkinen
> Daily World (Washington)
> July 15, 2003
>
> ELMA - Elma High School Senior Brian Reed was bored,
> just taking a night drive through Elma's dark, deserted
> streets. Closing on 1 a.m., he, his cousin Scott Reed and
> fellow Elma Senior Dan Raney hadn't found any more
> excitement after midnight than before it.
>
> Then, Reed says, a meteor tore open the night sky.
>
> "We were just driving down the road, and I just saw this big,
> bright flash," the 18 - year - old said. "At first, I thought it
> was a shooting star or a falling star or something.
>
> "It looked like fireworks, but it had a tail about six or seven -
> feet long."
>
> Reed said the falling rock appeared to break apart as it
> approached the earth, exploding before impact.
>
> The young men decided to investigate, and headed from the
> freeway toward Elma High School, where they believed the
> fragments struck.
>
> "We went out there and started looking around, and we saw
> a bunch of divot holes in the sand of the track out there,"
> Reed said. "We looked for a while, then we went and got a
> couple of cops."
>
> Raney, 17, said he tried to pick up a piece of the still - hot
> rock and burned his hand.
>
> Soon police joined the young men's investigation, examining
> the pock - marked asphalt and dinged ground.
>
> Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer
> and meteorite researcher, said Reed's description of events
> matches with the stories told by others who have seen falling
> meteors.
>
> "It sort of has the hallmarks of being a classic meteorite fall,"
> Smith said. "It's actually very rare (to see a meteor strike
> the earth), but, as the population density grows, we get more
> people reporting seeing this type of thing.
>
> "These types of meteorite fall are reported about once or
> twice a year."
>
> After flagging down a Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Deputy,
> Reed called his mother and contacted the Elma Police
> Department. Working a graveyard shift, Elma Officer Travis
> Bealert took the call.
>
> According to Elma Police sources, the officer arrived at the
> scene to find the young men searching for pieces of rock.
> After examining the site himself, Bealert apparently
> continued on his patrol.
>
> Bealert's shift ended early Tuesday and attempts to contact
> him were unsuccessful.
>
> Though more than 20,000 tons of material strike the earth's
> atmosphere annually, Smith said nearly all of it burns up
> before it strikes the ground. Very rarely is material that
> actually strikes the earth actually seen.
>
> If the Elma meteorites are extraterrestrial, Smith said he
> believes it may be the first meteor strike witnessed in
> Washington's history. Six other meteorites have been
> recovered in Washington.
>
> Smith said a similar strike was witnessed near a Chicago
> suburb last year.
>
> "These things are seen to happen," he said. "Meteorites are
> very, very rare things, but a lot of them fall."
>
> The astronomer said meteors passing through the earth's
> atmosphere usually burn and deform, leaving a dark, glassy
> skin on the rock.
>
> "It really looks like a burnt crust. That's usually a dead
> giveaway," Smith said. "If they have the crusts on them,
> there's a very good possibility that these could be
> meteorites."
>
> Until the rock has been examined, however, Smith said it is
> difficult to be certain of its origin.
>
> But, how do three young men of Elma top off their out - of -
> this - world night? Snacks, of course.
>
> "We went down to the store behind the bowling alley ... and
> got something to eat," Reed said. "We were still pretty
> excited."
>
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Received on Tue 15 Jul 2003 06:17:15 PM PDT