[meteorite-list] Meteorite Show Lights Up Tasmania

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:22:41 2004
Message-ID: <200306191752.KAA19188_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/19/1055828430461.html

Meteorite show lights up Tasmania
The Age (Australia)
June 19, 2003

A meteorite is believed to be responsible for a spectacular celestial
light show in Tasmania.

The Tasmania Police switchboard was inundated just after 8pm (AEST)
Wednesday, with callers from the state's north and south reporting a
trail of blazing light across the night sky.

Seen from airport towers in Hobart and Launceston, it slipped under
the radar of many local astronomers.

University of Tasmania astrophysicist Dr Kym Hill, who is holidaying
in the tiny north-eastern town of Mathinna, said he caught a fleeting
glimpse of a bright yellow flash about 8.45pm.

"I probably only saw the end of it - the last 30 degrees of its
trajectory which maybe lasted for two seconds," he said.

"It disappeared about 10 or 15 degrees off the horizon."

He said it was probably a meteorite.

"It may have even been a satellite breaking up while re-entering the
earth's atmosphere," Dr Hill said.

Retired astrophysicist Dr John Greenhill, who missed the show, said he
had been told about numerous sightings of bright lights followed by a
sonic boom.

"It sounds very much to me like a meteorite entered the atmosphere and
possibly even landed," he said.

"It's just an extreme example of a falling star.

"I have only ever seen one or two in my lifetime.

"They are not all that common.

"Most of the so-called falling stars are actually meteorites.

"They often burn out before they hit the ground."
Received on Thu 19 Jun 2003 01:52:45 PM PDT