[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) The Great Daylight 1972 Fireball over Wyoming
In a message dated 97-10-03 20:48:14 EDT, you write:
<<
No I think the 90 seconds comes from a slow
motion video playback. Could not have been more
than 30 seconds or it would not have escaped.
>>
I just found in the book, "Rocks From Space" by O. Richard Norton on page 372
about the Great Daylight 1972 Fireball over Wyoming. I'll quote the segment
that indicates it's duration.
"...The blue sky was suddenly pierced by a blazing fireball traveling enough
to photograph it and at least one motion picture was made. The object did not
crash into earth. It entered the atmosphere over the Central rockies,
traveling at 33,000 miles per hour. It remained in the atmosphere for 101
seconds, covering nearly 1,000 miles in that brief sojourn. Then it skipped
out of the atmosphere, much as a stone skips over water. Estimates of it's
size vary from 33 feet to 260 feet across. If it was a stony asteroid, it's
mass was between 1,000 and 1 million tons. ..."
I don't know how this time was measured for sure...but I find it interesting
that it noted 101 seconds and not 100 seconds if it was an estimate. Sounds
like someone got some accurate times some how?
George Zay