[meteorite-list] Meteor Lights Up The Morning Skies in Idaho

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Jan 12 21:37:12 2006
Message-ID: <200601130235.k0D2ZDE11099_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-jan1206-meteor_sighting.6f734dcd.html

Meteor lights up the morning skies
Mike Vogel
KTVB NewsChannel 7
January 12, 2006

BOISEE -- It happened early Thursday morning around 7:15 a.m.

A very bright meteor lit up the skies and streaked across the horizon.

NewsChannel 7 spoke with several of the people who witnessed it.

We had numerous calls here at the station from people who saw it.

Police dispatch also took several calls, and even one person in the
Boise Airport tower saw it.

And though the eyewitness accounts vary slightly, they are all
consistent with it being a meteor.

"I was driving north on Bogus Basin, and I looked up in the sky and
there was fireworks coming down," said Jacqueline Correnti.

When Jacqueline Correnti looked up in the sky this morning she couldn't
believe her eyes.

"I only saw it for a second or two,' said Correnti.

A meteor in the skies above the Treasure Valley going west to east.

"Between where those two clouds are, it was right in the middle of it,
and heading that way it was, if I were going out to reach and grab it,
it was a good volleyball size," said Correnti. "This was definitely not
a falling star; the tail on it was bright blue and pretty thick. I've
seen Hailey's Comet in the sky, but that is so far away. this was like,
this was closer than what an airplane would be. I was so excited, I got
goose bumps."

Across town in southeast Boise, Libby Hood saw the same thing.

"I saw it for a good ten seconds it was phenomenal. Was coming home and
the bright light from this object in the sky caught my attention and it
was low enough here above the roof line, I was just about to pull into
the driveway and a flash kind of caught my eye, and I looked over to the
left and I seen this ball of fire with a tail behind it, kind of at a
gradual descent," said Hood.

At first she thought it might be a plane going down.

"I verbally remember myself saying, 'oh my gosh,' because it was that I
looked, and I looked again, and just watched this thing go across the
sky, and it was so low. Pretty amazing, pretty phenomenal to witness
that," said Hood.

Experts from the Boise Astronomical Society say that if the it did hit
the ground, the meteorite would likely be smaller than a walnut.

And although it's unclear if anyone saw it land, considering its size,
it is highly unlikely anyone would ever find it.

But if anyone did find it, meteorites are worth a lot of money. Some
put their value at about the same as gold.
Received on Thu 12 Jan 2006 09:35:13 PM PST