[meteorite-list] Seems PF fell on 3/27 and NOT on 3/26...
From: MeteorHntr_at_aol.com <MeteorHntr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:22:34 2004 Message-ID: <2b.414dab30.2c119529_at_aol.com> --part1_2b.414dab30.2c119529_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greetings List, from the Strewnfield, Today was my 39th day in the Park Forest Strewnfield and unfortunately, I haven't found a meteorite in the last 9 days or so of hunting. However, an event today proves that if you hang around long enough you can get lucky. Today I talked with Matt Gabryszak who said he had a 3 ounce Park Forest specimen, so I made an appointment to see him and his rock. When I met him he showed me one of the freshest and beautiful specimens I have seen from the fall, weighing in at 78.8g. But at that time, I had no idea that his story about the rock would overshadow even the beauty of the specimen. Photo of the 78.8g specimen here: <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/meteorhntr/78-8.jpg">http://members.aol.com/meteorhntr/78-8.jpg</A> On the night of April 26, just before midnight, Matt was heading to his home driving on Steger Road just west of the Kings Road intersection in Steger, IL when the night sky lit up for several seconds. Slightly amazed and mostly confused he continued driving home. Turning on Western Street heading through 3 stoplights into Park Forest, he turned into his neighborhood making several turns to the end of his street, where he pulled into his driveway, then immediately backed up and pulled his car back onto the side of the street to park it for the night. He got out of his car and started walking up his driveway to the side door of his home. All of a sudden he heard a noise that immediately registered in his mind as sounding exactly like a bullet passing near his head (he told me that he has indeed heard bullets pass near his head before). Immediately, his reaction was to "hit the deck" thinking someone was shooting at him, so that is what he did. But even as he was falling to the ground, a 78.8g meteorite smashed into the driveway exactly at the spot where he was walking just two and a half seconds before, just 8 feet behind him! Still thinking someone was shooting at him, he crawled to his house door and hurried in. Shaking it off, he decided just to go to bed. Early the next day, he learned about the meteorite fall in Park Forest and when he returned home he found the 78.8g specimen about 20 feet away in his front yard and an impact pit in the blacktop driveway. While the story was amazing, it got me thinking; just how many minutes delay is there between the time a fireball burns out and the actual impact event? I asked the guy and he guessed that it probably took him 5 minutes or so to go from where he saw the fireball go out and when he almost got hit by the impact. I actually retraced his route today and my stopwatch clocked 3:58, and I paused it as I got stuck at two of the three stoplights along the way. This also got me wondering if the fall date of March 26 is correct or should it really be March 27th. I decided to contact the Park Forest Police department to see when the 911 calls actually started coming in from homeowners who actually got impacted. While a minute or longer delay might be expected, this might tell us when the impact(s) actually occurred. While at the police station asking about this today, the dispatcher through the glass stated that she got off duty that night exactly at midnight and while she was walking to her car in the parking lot, maybe a minute after midnight she heard the impacting of the one specimen with the fire station roof just a few dozen feet away. While this isn't absolute proof, it is pretty interesting to me. One other problem that might arise is that several miles back down the strewnfield to the Southeast, could the smaller specimens have landed a minute or longer before the fire station specimen landed? Could this be a double date fall? Doing a little math, if the point where the meteors stop burning is 12 miles up, then that would be 5,280 feet x 12 miles = 63,360 feet up. At a terminal velocity of 32 feet per second, that would be 1,980 seconds of falling or 33 minutes of falling. Now I am sure that the meteoroids are traveling at a faster rate than 32 feet per second for a little while after burning out, but I suspect they slow down quite rapidly, my guess would be that it might have a fall time after burn out of maybe 6 or 7 minutes. Does anyone have the actual rate of fall already calculated? Is the fall time a universal law of physics learned by all meteoritic students in "Strewnfields 101" class? Does the official fall time get established by when the fireball extinguishes on a police video (for a hypothetical example) or when they actually hit the ground (or some near ground structures like firehouses, homes, and driveways)? If it can be proven that some or all of the specimens landed after midnight, can the official fall date be changed for Park Forest? Does anyone really care what day it fell? Anyway, I was able to acquire the specimen, and I even got a plaster of paris mold of the impact pit. Both are for sale. If interested, contact me off the list for details. Steve Arnold --part1_2b.414dab30.2c119529_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3D2>Greetings List, from the=20= Strewnfield, <BR> <BR>Today was my 39th day in the Park Forest Strewnfield and unfortunately,=20= I haven't found a meteorite in the last 9 days or so of hunting. <BR> <BR>However, an event today proves that if you hang around long enough you c= an get lucky. <BR> <BR>Today I talked with Matt Gabryszak who said he had a 3 ounce Park Forest= specimen, so I made an appointment to see him and his rock. When I me= t him he showed me one of the freshest and beautiful specimens I have seen f= rom the fall, weighing in at 78.8g. But at that time, I had no idea th= at his story about the rock would overshadow even the beauty of the specimen= . <BR> <BR>Photo of the 78.8g specimen here: <A HREF=3D"http://members.aol.co= m/meteorhntr/78-8.jpg">http://members.aol.com/meteorhntr/78-8.jpg</A>=20 <BR> <BR>On the night of April 26, just before midnight, Matt was heading to his=20= home driving on Steger Road just west of the Kings Road intersection in Steg= er, IL when the night sky lit up for several seconds. Slightly amazed=20= and mostly confused he continued driving home. Turning on Western Stre= et heading through 3 stoplights into Park Forest, he turned into his neighbo= rhood making several turns to the end of his street, where he pulled into hi= s driveway, then immediately backed up and pulled his car back onto the side= of the street to park it for the night. He got out of his car and sta= rted walking up his driveway to the side door of his home. <BR> <BR>All of a sudden he heard a noise that immediately registered in his mind= as sounding exactly like a bullet passing near his head (he told me that he= has indeed heard bullets pass near his head before). Immediately, his= reaction was to "hit the deck" thinking someone was shooting at him, so tha= t is what he did. But even as he was falling to the ground, a 78.8g me= teorite smashed into the driveway exactly at the spot where he was walking j= ust two and a half seconds before, just 8 feet behind him! <BR> <BR>Still thinking someone was shooting at him, he crawled to his house door= and hurried in. Shaking it off, he decided just to go to bed. E= arly the next day, he learned about the meteorite fall in Park Forest and wh= en he returned home he found the 78.8g specimen about 20 feet away in his fr= ont yard and an impact pit in the blacktop driveway. <BR> <BR>While the story was amazing, it got me thinking; just how many min= utes delay is there between the time a fireball burns out and the actual imp= act event? I asked the guy and he guessed that it probably took him 5=20= minutes or so to go from where he saw the fireball go out and when he almost= got hit by the impact. I actually retraced his route today and my sto= pwatch clocked 3:58, and I paused it as I got stuck at two of the three stop= lights along the way. <BR> <BR>This also got me wondering if the fall date of March 26 is correct or sh= ould it really be March 27th.=20 <BR> <BR>I decided to contact the Park Forest Police department to see when the 9= 11 calls actually started coming in from homeowners who actually got impacte= d. While a minute or longer delay might be expected, this might tell u= s when the impact(s) actually occurred. While at the police station as= king about this today, the dispatcher through the glass stated that she got=20= off duty that night exactly at midnight and while she was walking to her car= in the parking lot, maybe a minute after midnight she heard the impacting o= f the one specimen with the fire station roof just a few dozen feet away. <BR> <BR>While this isn't absolute proof, it is pretty interesting to me. O= ne other problem that might arise is that several miles back down the strewn= field to the Southeast,=20 <BR>could the smaller specimens have landed a minute or longer before the fi= re station specimen landed? <BR> <BR>Could this be a double date fall? <BR> <BR>Doing a little math, if the point where the meteors stop burning is 12 m= iles up, then that would be 5,280 feet x 12 miles =3D 63,360 feet up. = At a terminal velocity of 32 feet per second, that would be 1,980 seconds of= falling or 33 minutes of falling. Now I am sure that the meteoroids a= re traveling at a faster rate than 32 feet per second for a little while aft= er burning out, but I suspect they slow down quite rapidly, my guess would b= e that it might have a fall time after burn out of maybe 6 or 7 minutes. <BR> <BR>Does anyone have the actual rate of fall already calculated? Is th= e fall time a universal law of physics learned by all meteoritic students in= "Strewnfields 101" class? <BR> <BR>Does the official fall time get established by when the fireball extingu= ishes on a police video (for a hypothetical example) or when they actually h= it the ground (or some near ground structures like firehouses, homes, and dr= iveways)? <BR> <BR>If it can be proven that some or all of the specimens landed after midni= ght, can the official fall date be changed for Park Forest? <BR> <BR>Does anyone really care what day it fell? <BR> <BR>Anyway, I was able to acquire the specimen, and I even got a plaster of=20= paris mold of the impact pit. Both are for sale. If interested,=20= contact me off the list for details. <BR> <BR>Steve Arnold <BR> <BR></FONT></HTML> --part1_2b.414dab30.2c119529_boundary-- Received on Fri 06 Jun 2003 02:56:41 AM PDT |
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