[meteorite-list] Meteor's Appearance Over Wisconsin A Hot Topic

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Jan 6 12:19:38 2005
Message-ID: <200501061719.JAA27614_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/310950594263925.shtml

Meteor's appearance a hot topic
By Jessica Bock
Wausau Daily Herald (Wisconsin)
January 6, 2005

Seeing a meteor is a rare occurrence, although that could be what caught
the attention of thousands of north central Wisconsin residents Tuesday
night with a bright flash of light and explosive sound.

Astronomy buffs and residents were buzzing Wednesday about what they had
heard and seen at about 6:15 p.m. the night before. And by early
Wednesday, a story about the meteor report already was posted on
meteoritecentral.com, a Web site that tracks occurrences all around the
world.

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About meteors

o A meteoroid is a small object traveling through space. It could have
once been part of an asteroid, a comet, the moon or a planet.

o A shooting star occurs when a meteoroid enters the atmosphere. As the
object falls, it heats up from the friction against the air and begins
to burn.

o Meteor showers occur when the dust particles from an aged comet pass
through the Earth's atmosphere. These small particles zip toward the
Earth and burn up, creating a "shower" of shooting stars.

o A meteor is the bright fireball seen when a sizeable meteoroid enters
the Earth's atmosphere and begins to burn.

o A meteorite has traveled through the atmosphere and landed on Earth.
Seeing a meteorite land is extremely rare.

Is it a meteorite?

Your suspected space rock could be a meteorite if it fits the following
criteria:

o It is heavy compared with most rocks.

o It is rusty brown or black.

o It has a rusty brown to black fusion crust.

o It is solid and lacks bubble holes.

o The exterior of the stone looks smooth or has rounded edges. It has
what looks like shallow thumbprints on its surface.

o It is magnetic.

o You actually saw the rock hit the ground.

Source: http://www.meteoritecentral.com

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Experts and authorities say it likely was a meteor. Meteors pass through
the atmosphere regularly, but most are too small to be noticeable.

Jim Lewis and his wife were eating dinner at their home in Merrill when
they heard it.

He thought it was a sonic boom. She thought it was thunder. When they
found out it likely was a meteor, they both wished they had seen it.
"I think it's kind of a hot item to talk about. It's very uncommon to
see something and hear something that is this dramatic," said Lewis, who
has been interested in astronomy for the past 60 years. He is a program
coordinator with a Merrill group of amateur astronomers known as "Stars
R Us."

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department received its first call
reporting the meteor from the town of Harrison. Reports then came in
from all over the county and totaled 50 by the end of the night, the
Sheriff's Department said. The Merrill Police Department and the Oneida,
Taylor, Price, Portage, Marathon and Langlade county sheriff's
departments all took calls from residents who had heard the boom or seen
a flash of light.

Mike Breunling, chief meteorologist at WSAW-TV 7, said Tuesday evening
that the noise and flash of light likely were not weather related. The
National Weather Service could not find anything happening in the
atmosphere that might have caused it, he said. The Federal Aviation
Administration, which took a report from a pilot outside of Sioux Falls,
S.D., about bright flashes of light, also ruled out aircraft problems or
military flight tests.

Jim Lattis, the director of the University of Wisconsin Space Place in
Madison, heard about the incident Wednesday morning on the radio.

"It's all consistent with a bright meteor," Lattis said. "I can't think,
really, of any alternative."

Meteors will break apart and explode in the sky, which might have caused
the booming noise, he said.

It's possible that pieces of the meteorite are scattered somewhere in
central Wisconsin, Lattis said.

"They never really are found unless they hit something or land in
someone's yard," he said.

People who find meteorites can usually sell them, said Richard
Slaughter, the director of the UW-Madison Geology Museum, which has five
meteorites on display, including one that landed near Colby. The
meteorites at the museum were found decades ago in Wisconsin.
"Meteorites are fairly hot commodities," he said.

Out of the thousands of meteorites that have fallen in Wisconsin
throughout time, Slaughter estimated that only a few hundred have been
found.
Received on Thu 06 Jan 2005 12:19:28 PM PST