[meteorite-list] Visitor from Space?

From: Pete Pete <rsvp321_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 10:47:40 -0500
Message-ID: <BAY141-W423785BEA8CD187600B0DF83C0_at_phx.gbl>

Greetings, all,

Here's another one of those mysterious-hole-in-the-pond-ice stories.

Aside from the astronomer teacher discounting a meteorite because a "bright, burning ball" would have been observed, particularly profound is the last quote in the article.
(Reading so many of these, I've come to the conclusion that astronomers and geologists can't grasp the big picture of their fields until they seriously study meteoritics.)

Was that Gary K. Foote that was close to one of these reports last winter?
Did that one have perceived indications of splashes, too?

Cheers,
Pete


http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2008/01/20/4783340-sun.html



Visitor from space? Mysterious hole in pond sparks speculation of a meteorite By RENATO GANDIA, SUN MEDIA

     

 
Aaron Soos measures yesterday the depth of a mysterious hole that appeared in ice half a metre thick on a pond at The Links golf course in Spruce Grove. (Renato Gandia, Sun Media)
 
Spruce Grove residents woke up yesterday to a mysterious octopus-shaped hole in a frozen golf-course pond.

A hole about 1.5 metres in diameter was visible yesterday on the pond at The Links at Spruce Grove, along with at least 20 splash marks - the longest about six metres.

"It wasn't there (Friday)," said neighbour Tina Danyluk, whose house backs onto the pond.

She suspects it might have been a meteorite.

Whatever it was, it had to have followed a high trajectory based on "how the splash spread," Danyluk said.


  

Astronomer Martin Beech said he wouldn't rule out the possibility of a falling meteorite, but the marks perplexed him.

To punch through ice nearly half a metre thick, the meteor would have to be huge and would look like a bright burning ball with an associated sonic boom, said Beech, who teaches astronomy at Campion College at the University of Regina.

"Usually, it's quite a distinctive rumbling sound and people tend to notice that sound," Beech told Sun Media from Regina.

But no one reported seeing or hearing anything unusual.

"The whole pond was covered in snow (on Friday) until this morning when we saw the strange marks in the pond," said Danyluk.

Beech said he wasn't aware of any reports of fireballs in the area.

He also noted that such an object wouldn't normally melt thick ice.

"If it wasn't a meteorite, what the heck was it?" asked the baffled astronomer.

Danyluk's neighbour, Aaron Soos, said the marks were puzzling and the phenomenon had residents talking all day.

"If the pond was not frozen, we wouldn't even see those marks."

_________________________________________________________________
Received on Sun 20 Jan 2008 10:47:40 AM PST