[meteorite-list] NPA 06-16-1994 St. Robert Meteorite shakes Montreal Vicinity

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Jan 1 21:37:22 2005
Message-ID: <BAY4-F6DD3AE5B2A2AE9723B2D8B39F0_at_phx.gbl>

Paper: The Chronicle-Telegram
City: Elyria, Ohio
Date: Thursday, June 16, 1994
Page: A2

Meteorite shakes Montreal vicinity

     ST. ROBERT, Quebec (AP) - A grapefruit-sized rock first spotted by a
herd of cows came from a 4.5 billion-year-old-meteorite, a scientist said
Wednesday.
     Traveling about 60 miles per second, the meteorite crashed to earth in
a field Tuesday night with a streak of fire and a sonic boom. Thousands
around Montreal jammed telephone lines calling authorities.
     Stephan Forcier of St. Robert found the meteorite in his field after
his cows gathered around the foot-deep hole where it landed.
     "I saw a ball of smoke as if a place had blown up," said her neighbor,
Vital Lemay. "Then I heard something like a falling whistle, like the kind
you'd hear in a war movie."
     Richard Herd, a geologist with the Canadian Geological Survey, drove
from Ottawa to St. Robert, a farming village about 60 miles northwest of
Montreal, to inspect the rock.
     "Judging from the size of the fireball and the noise, it must have been
quite a large object to begin with and there may be other pieces out there,"
Herd said.
     Meteorites are fragments of meteors, or shooting stars, that fell to
earth. Ranging in size from a pinhead to masses weighing several tons, they
probably originate when comets or small planets called asteroids collide in
space.
     Thousands of meteorites fall every day but usually burn up before
hitting the earth's surface, Herd said.
     About 50 meteorites have been found in Canada, the last one in 1977,
Herd said.

(end)


Happy New Year!

Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
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Received on Sat 01 Jan 2005 09:36:54 PM PST