[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
904-236-5394

Received on Wed 29 Apr 2009 01:59:02 PM PDT