[meteorite-list] Big Boom Heard Over Canada

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:29:56 2004
Message-ID: <200309162142.OAA24975_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=community/nanaimo&articleID=1409513

Big bang prompts search for meteor
Nanaimo News Bulletin (Canada)
September 15, 2003

Where were you when the big boom hit?

Bill Weller wants people to answer that question to help find what he
believes caused that loud bang last week - a meteor
striking the earth's atmosphere.

The boom hit Nanaimo last Wednesday just before 1 p.m. It rocked the
ground in some places and was heard as far north as Nanoose Bay and as
far south as Salt Spring Island.

Theories on its cause ranged from a sonic boom from a military jet
through a small earthquake to lightening, but the experts ruled
out all those possibilities.

But Weller, a professor of astronomy at Malaspina University-College,
says he's sure it was a meteor.

"Having meteors in the daytime isn't an uncommon thing, this one
was just a little bigger," he says,

He estimates it was somewhere between the size of a baseball and
a watermelon.

If it wasn't destroyed from the impact of striking the atmosphere,
there's a chance it struck the ground.

Now Weller wants to get as much information as possible, in case
it can be found.

"If anyone heard it, send a report to me at the college and give me
their nearest street intersection, and tell me if it was loud or
really loud - or if they didn't hear it," Weller says.

Please email wellerwmala.bc.ca or phone 753-3245, extension
2333.
Received on Tue 16 Sep 2003 05:42:41 PM PDT