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(meteorobs) Re:TX/NM meteor
From Norman M.'s posting:
>>>.... the low pitched sound coming shortly after the burst was not due
to the "bolide" coming down or its explosion but rather, the interceptor
going up, which had left earlier! ... For my part the tipoff is NORAD's
interest. I
>worked within NORAD for three years as an Air Surveillance Officer
>(60's), and I never knew them to give a hoot about natural meteors or
>send the army reserves looking for rock fragments! ....
>
>All of this may be some saber rattling because of Russia's Ural tunnel
>military complex and the recent "seismic event" from the big island
>Novaya Zemlya, no doubt a nuclear test. .....Humpff! Some "bolide"!...<<<
>
>
and..
>>> Capt. Larry Wilkins of the El Paso
>>County Sheriff's Office said metal-
>>lic flakes were floating in the air
>>like dry snowflakes in parts of the
>>county after the incident.<<<
Hello Norman and the list,
I'm not able to address Rick's broader assumptions regarding the New
Mexico/El Paso fireball but I must question his exposition of evidence as
science. A scientific meteor observer must fend off many sorts of public
fireball speculation, be it religious, UFO, conspiratorial or "armchair"
speculation and rely on expert observation and scrutinized facts.
There are meteor scientists associated with the IMO (I think Peter Brown ?)
who are reported to have done some field work regarding this certain
fireball event. Hopefully there will be a trustworthy field report
published eventually within meteor science.
And actually NORAD and the Department of Defense are interested in meteoric
fireball events as a byproduct of missile surveillance. After Comet SL9
struck Jupiter they have come to recognise the threat of asteroidal impact
to earth and that there may be pertinent fireball pattern information in
the surveillance data that could be of use to a potential planetary defense
against any future asteroid/comet impact.
Tom Ashcraft