[meteorite-list] Catch a falling star?

From: Stuart McDaniel <actionshooting_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 16:36:04 -0400
Message-ID: <B22ABB3248AA4BAE80CF1300FEBC03A8_at_DESKTOPCOMP>

Roadtrip!!!!


Stuart McDaniel
Lawndale, NC

Secretary, CCAS
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Groetz" <mpg4444 at gmail.com>
To: "Meteorite List" <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2010 8:54 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Catch a falling star?


> http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/jun/05/catch-a-falling-star/
>
> Catch a falling star?
> Saturday, June 5, 2010
>
> By:
> Ben Benton (Contact)
>
> Did you catch a falling star?
>
> NASA wants to know.
>
> Officials say a 60-pound meteor that streaked across the skies over
> Northeast Alabama about 9:44 p.m. on May 18 could have come down near
> Scottsboro.
>
> The meteor could have broken up as it neared the ground but sizable
> pieces probably made impact, said Dr. Bill Cooke, head of the NASA
> meteoroid environment office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in
> Huntsville, Ala.
>
> "We picked up a meteor about 50 miles up over Huntsville. It was
> moving to the east at about 8 miles per second and we lost track of it
> somewhere northeast of Gurley when it was only about 22 miles up,"
> said Dr. Cookee, a graduate of Rossville High School.
>
> The Walker County Science Center in Chickamauga, Ga., also tracked the
> meteor, giving NASA a reasonably accurate fix on the landing area, he
> said.
>
> "The amount of light it produced shows that it survived intact," he said.
>
> So far, though, no one has reported finding it, officials said.
>
> The meteor was going about 200 mph, "so if it landed in a farm field,
> somebody's probably going to notice it because it would have knocked
> loose a lot of dirt," Dr. Cooke said.
>
> Gurley Police Officer Barry Childers said Friday that he hadn't heard
> of anyone seeing the meteor or finding a meteorite in the area.
>
> "It must not have made too big of a disturbance," Officer Childers
> said. "No one's brought it up."
>
> Gurley resident Janet Younger lives in the area where trackers lost
> the space rock's trail. She said she "didn't hear a thing" that night,
> though she was intrigued by the idea that a visitor from space came
> calling.
>
> "I'm glad it didn't hit my house," laughed Mrs. Younger, 69.
>
> Dr. Cookee said the meteorite will look out of place to anyone who spots
> it.
>
> "It should look kind of reddish with a fusion crust; it may look like
> it had been melted," he said. "Or it could be an iron meteorite --
> which are extremely rare -- and that would look like a black stone
> that melted."
>
> In either case, the meteorite should respond to a magnet or metal
> detector, he said.
>
> The meteor is from the solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars
> and Jupiter, he said.
>
> Dr. Cooke said whoever owns the land where the meteor fell will own
> the wayward rock. But NASA would like to get more information, and
> maybe a small sample, if the rock's new owner is willing.
>
> "We don't want the whole thing, we just want a little piece of it," he
> said.
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Received on Sun 06 Jun 2010 04:36:04 PM PDT