[meteorite-list] It's from the ashtray belt!

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:17:14 -0500
Message-ID: <1D6FED37D04D4625A1B8C56B93BE3981_at_ATARIENGINE2>

List, Ed, Jim,

The phrase "ashtray belt" can be found in all
follow-on news stories like this one:
http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/salinas/Stunning-meteor-showers-wow-Central-Coast-sky-watchers/-/5738906/17042872/-/dia4eb/-/index.html

This is because it originally appeared in the
first Associated Press story. It was shortly
thereafter corrected, but every source that
used that AP item before the correction has
the "ashtray belt" quote in it.

It was a reporter's mishearing the phrase
"asteroid belt" that gave rise to it, I presume,
but how long will the story stick to Jonathan
Braidman, "an astronomer at Oakland's Chabot
Space and Science Center"?

He'll be living in the Ashtray Belt for a heck
of a long time...


Sterling K. Webb
-----------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Deckert" <edeckert at triad.rr.com>
To: <Jimski47 at aol.com>; <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] It's from the ashtray belt!


> Surely he jests! However, if someone actually believes that the
> "ashtray belt" exists, they could easily be the butt of that joke.
> :-)
>
> Ed
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Jimski47 at aol.com>
> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 5:08 PM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] It's from the ashtray belt!
>
>
>> The Oakland Tribune reports the exploding streaks were especially
>> visible
>> Wednesday night over the San Francisco Bay area and other parts of
>> Northern
>> California, with reports of bright fireballs and loud booms from
>> Santa Cruz
>> County to Mendocino County.
>>
>> "Happened to look over, saw like a crescent shaped object, reddish
>> orange
>> in color," Edward Pierce told KGO-TV. "As it went away it started
>> getting
>> larger. Kind of expanding."
>>
>> Jonathan Braidman, an astronomer at Oakland's Chabot Space and
>> Science
>> Center, told the station what Pierce and others saw were small,
>> car-sized
>> pieces of rock and metal from the ashtray belt.
>>
>> It crashed through the earth's atmosphere, "ionizing and setting the
>> air on
>> fire in its wake," he said.
>>
>> National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson tells the Tribune
>> that
>> warm temperatures and cloud-free skies are making the bright lights
>> more
>> visible, a phenomenon that should only increase as the weekend
>> approaches and
>> the shower continues.
>>
>> The fireballs are part of the large, fast Orionid meteor shower,
>> so-named
>> because it has the Orion constellation as a backdrop.
>>
>> _http://weather.aol.com/2012/10/18/stunning-meteor-showers-blaze-across-cali
>> fornia-sky/#page=1%3Ficid_
>> (http://weather.aol.com/2012/10/18/stunning-meteor-showers-blaze-across-california-sky/#page=1?icid)
>>
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Received on Thu 18 Oct 2012 08:17:14 PM PDT