(wrong string) ‘a big burst of daylight’

From: Mike Groetz <mpg444_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 17:38:24 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <421708.10132.qm_at_web32908.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/COLUMNISTS01/70316002/1002

Article published Mar 16, 2007

Cest Vrai: 1957 meteor screams through sky as ?a big
burst of daylight?

Jim Bradshaw
jbradshaw at theadvertiser.com

Some people thought it was the end of the world when
the giant flash of light swept across Acadiana in
March 1957. Some others thought an atomic bomb had
been dropped on New Orleans, and that the fallout
would soon hit Lafayette.
It was actually a meteor that, according to The
Advertiser, provided ?a big burst of daylight in the
darkness ... followed by a blast-like rumbling? that
?had too many citizens alarmed, frightened, and
disturbed.?

It was a cool, clear night. Stars speckled the
darkness.

?Suddenly the sky was aglow for a few seconds with a
light as bright as day,? the newspaper said. ?Minutes
later, a blast was heard. People reported windows
rattled and houses shook at their foundations. Some
sleepers awoke and jut about everybody wondered. A
huge fireball had zoomed through the sky. A white
vapor trail followed in pursuit.?

Tulane astronomy professor J.F. Thomson cleared the
air the next morning. He said it was a very large and
very unusual meteor because of its size. It had been
across practically the entire Southeastern United
States. Galveston residents said they saw it fall into
the Gulf, but it might have just disappeared beyond
the horizon.

But that was just a forerunner of things to come.

LSU professor Kenneth Ross used the event to remind
people that Arend Rolnd, a newly discovered comet,
would pass low enough in April to be seen with the
naked eye ? dashing across the sky at 300,000 miles
per hour.





 
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Received on Fri 16 Mar 2007 08:38:24 PM PDT