[meteorite-list] Scientists on lookout for meteorites south of Lake Simcoe
From: Meteorites USA <eric_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:59:02 -0700 Message-ID: <49F89566.9000301_at_meteoritesusa.com> Ontario scientists are looking for help in tracking down meteorite fragments they believe fell to Earth last month in an area just south of Lake Simcoe. Five cameras from the University of Western Ontario's Southern Ontario Meteor Network recorded a fireball in the evening sky on March 15 at 8:37 p.m. ET. Scientists at Western and the Royal Ontario Museum said Tuesday its modest brightness and slow descent suggest it may have dropped small meteorites in a region between Lake Simcoe and Newmarket, Ont., north of Toronto. These meteorites may have a total mass of as much as a few hundred grams. "Although this is not the first time a meteorite has fallen in Ontario, we are very interested in recovering fragments from this fireball, which gives us small clues to the material in our solar system," said Kim Tait, the associate curator of mineralogy at the ROM, in a statement. Local residents are encouraged to keep a look out for the fragments ?which are often black on the outside after being burned during entry into the atmosphere and almost always magnetic ? and call the ROM's mineralogy department if they discover them on their property. A fireball that lit up the prairie skies last November attracted national attention after scientists and local volunteers were able to recover about 130 well-preserved meteorites with a total mass of about 40 kilograms, in an area southeast of Lloydminster, Sask. About double that number of meteorites were recovered ? if less-preserved meteorites were included. It's not clear how successful meteorite hunters will be in their search for evidence of the Ontario fireball, as six weeks have passed since it was first sighted. However, meteorite hunts often wait until after the snow clears before resuming. The first of the prairie meteorites was discovered on Nov. 27, about a week after the fireball was sighted, but the search for the fragments resumed in April. University of Calgary geologist Alan Hildebrand, the researcher who heads up The Prairie Meteorite Search, said a fragment with a mass of approximately 10 kilograms was recovered on April 10. "It turns out that meteorites are easier to find with the snow gone," he wrote in a field message posted on April 12. ORIGINAL SOURCE: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/04/29/meteorite-ontario.html -- Regards, Eric Wichman Meteorites USA http://www.meteoritesusa.com 904-236-5394Received on Wed 29 Apr 2009 01:59:02 PM PDT |
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