[meteorite-list] Fireball Streaks Over California

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:56:47 -0700
Message-ID: <95E3F3993ED74C0D82590199C5A65A8F_at_bellatrix>

I hope the author misquoted Robert Ward. I'm pretty sure he knows that the
sound that was heard was a sonic boom, at fairly high altitude, and not the
sound of a meteor "crashing into land".

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 10:58 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Fireball Streaks Over California


>
> http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/615048.html
>
> Fireball streaks across night sky over Merced
> By SCOTT JASON
> Merced Sun-Star
> December 30, 2008
>
> A glowing tomato-green fireball shot through the black Merced sky early
> Saturday, stunning those fortunate enough to see its brief life.
>
> Merced resident Erika Knorn, 42, had awoken just before 2 a.m. to take
> her dog, Shadow, to the bathroom before returning to bed.
>
> She gazed toward the sky and noticed the burst of color above her house
> near East Olive and Parsons avenues.
>
> Erika Knorn describes witnessing a spectacular "fireball" in the sky
> above Merced early Saturday morning.
>
> "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! What is that?" she recalled saying that night
> as if someone would answer. "Oh my gosh!"
>
> Was it a flare? she wondered. Was it a missile?
>
> The flash, which resembled a bright white beach ball, moved in a
> northwesterly descent for about six seconds, she said.
>
> Then it turned blue-green. Three waves of light pulsed through the sky.
> It then began releasing gold and white sparks. About a minute later she
> heard three sharp booms that startled her dog into barking a few times.
> Other dogs in the neighborhood began howling.
>
> She hasn't been able to get the image of it out of her head. "It was
> beautiful and scary in a way," she explained Monday. "I don't think I
> want to see one that close again."
>
> Knorn was pointed to www.spaceweather.com,
> which allows people to post stories about fireball sightings.
>
> There she found a few other accounts from people in Bishop in Inyo
> County, Corona in Riverside County and San Jose.
>
> Grant Bentley wrote, "It was as if someone had set off a rescue flare
> that instantly bathed the countryside around Bishop in whitish
> blue-green light. It was easily the most massive object I have ever seen
> burning up as it entered the Earth's atmosphere."
>
> George Shirakawa was driving on Interstate 280 in San Jose at the time.
> He wrote, "I have never seen anything like it!"
>
> Arizona-based meteorite hunter Robert Ward said the noise Knorn heard
> was meteor crashing into land, thereby becoming a meteorite.
>
> Ward, 32, has gone on more than 30 successful meteorite expeditions in
> the Middle East, Europe, Africa and North America. He sells and trades
> some of the pieces he finds. Prices average at about $1 a gram, but can
> get as expensive as $1,000 a gram if the meteorite is from Mars or the
> moon. (A little more than 28 grams make an ounce.)
>
> Based on the descriptions he's read, Ward said Knorn and others probably
> saw a fireball, which is a brighter version of a meteor. Meteorites can
> be the size of microwave ovens and even refrigerators, he said. They
> travel between 11,000 and 30,000 miles an hour.
>
> The noise she heard means the meteorite may have gone to ground near or
> even in Merced County, he said. He's found space rocks 50 miles from
> people who've heard sonic booms.
>
> Ward is contacting people in the state who have sky cameras to see if he
> can re-create the meteor's path and begin a recovery effort. "If I got
> the right information, I'd leave immediately," he said.
>
> The most common type of meteorite is a chondrite, which is mostly
> silicate but contains traces of nickel and iron.
>
> After seeing the fireball, Knorn stayed in her backyard and scanned the
> sky to see if any others would fall.
>
> "I am going to start (meteor watching). It made me go, 'Wow, life,'" she
> said. "It changed my way of looking up."
>
> Reporter Scott Jason can be reached at (209) 385-2453 or
> sjason at mercedsun-star.com
>
Received on Tue 30 Dec 2008 01:56:47 PM PST