[meteorite-list] Meteor May Have Fallen in Utah

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Dec 17 12:23:01 2004
Message-ID: <200412171722.JAA22499_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=139410

Meteor May Have Fallen in Salt Lake
5 KSL TV
December 16, 2004

Ed Yeates Reporting

This week's Geminid meteor shower may have hit really close to home this
time; how about in somebody's backyard in Salt Lake City. Clark
Planetarium was out today with metal detectors, searching for a chunk
that could have fallen early Tuesday morning.

Meteorites of all shapes and sizes are on display at the Clark
Planetarium. Unfortunately, none are from Utah. Perhaps that's why the
Planetarium was more than eager to go searching for what could be a
fallen space rock on the east side of Salt Lake. Clark Planetarium's
Robert Bigelow was out this morning searching for what even he believes
may be an elusive treasure.

Robert Bigelow, Clark Planetarium: "We have a credible witness who saw
it land. I mean, most of the time you see this streak going across the
sky and there's no way you can tell anywhere near close to where it
landed."

That witness was KSL engineer Ken English who. 4:30 early Tuesday
morning he was on his way to work along 9th east at about 3100 south.

Robert Bigelow: "And he saw what he described to us, a glowing object
come down from the sky over here. Come down, come down through one of
these trees. Saw some sparks come off and then he said it looked like it
landed somewhere over in this area."

But somewhere is a big area to look for a small space rock.

Robert Bigelow: "Something like this or something even smaller. You can
see, I mean these are really small. Some of them might even be pea size."

A small chunk would punch just a tiny hole in the ground, nothing like
what happened two months ago when a two pound meteorite the size of a
baseball dropped into a backyard near Denver, Colorado. But it's still
interesting if a small piece fell from the Geminid shower somewhere here.

Robert Bigelow: "Most meteor showers come from comets, comet debris. But
this one actually comes from an asteroid, asteroid patheon."

Incidentally, if a meteorite falls in your backyard, it's your
meteorite. You decide what you want to do with it. The Planetarium of
course would hope it would end up on display here.
Received on Fri 17 Dec 2004 12:22:48 PM PST