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(meteorobs) Fireballs of Doom (thanks Wayne I kind of like that title)



Lew and Wayne:

You had a question about the statement in the article in Florida Today
Space On-line which mentions following "Dec. 13, a meteorite was seen
across hundreds of miles, from Minnesota and Wisconsin south into Iowa and
northern Missouri. " 
You all said you had not heard of this event. Following is a story in
Foxnews on Dec 13, 1997 about the incident.  You may be interested in
ripping into this story also.  
I will say right now that I do think your both absolutely correct in that
these are events are not more common now but only being reported more often
due to more people, more awareness of the skies, better media including the
use of communications over the net and possible false reporting.  Dr. D.
Morrison told me during the El Paso bolide news event that these type
bolides (several ton and the size of refigerators) are always hitting the
earth at a rate of one every few days to about two a week.  I consider
these bolides good warning shots to arouse the population to do something
to survey, detect and defend against the occasion bigger rocks that will
hit us every century or so like Tunguska siberia event in 1908. We will not
even think of the really big rocks which can kill billions or cause
extinctions of species because no one really knows when or how of it.


Victor

FOX News Network Story:

Experts say flash of light across Midwest was a meteor 7.41 a.m. EST (1241
GMT) December 13, 1997

(AP) — A mysterious flash of light that prompted calls to authorities in
four Midwestern states and led to a brief search for an overdue plane was
probably caused by a meteor, experts said. 

The light — described by many as a glowing orange or red — was seen about 8
p.m. CST Friday across hundreds of miles, from Minnesota and Wisconsin
south into Iowa and northern Missouri. 

"It was a good-sized red ball,'' said Wylie Peterson of Colfax, Wis. "It
had a pretty good tail behind it. It was too big to be a flare.'' 

A search was organized after a private airplane was reported overdue at the
Boyceville, Wis., airport. It was suspended after doubts were raised about
whether the plane was missing and the meteor possibility was considered. 

Astronomy experts at the University of Minnesota and Drake University in
Des Moines, Iowa, said the phenomenon was best explained by a single meteor
burning through the Earth's atmosphere. 

Today marks the peak of the annual Germinid meteor shower. 

"We are constantly bombarded by fragments of old comets,'' said Lawrence
Staunton, a physics and astronomy professor at Drake. "They are mostly not
seen.'' 

George Amis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pleasant
Hill, Mo., said the flash was not weather-related. 

"There are no thunderstorms within 2,000 miles of us,'' he said. 

© 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. © FOX News Network 1997.
All rights reserved. comments@foxnews.com About FOX News Internet 


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Victor Noto - Kissimmee, Florida USA
vnn2@phoenixat.com
http://www.phoenixat.com/~vnn2/BIGROCK.htm
Website theme quote:
"Life really is a Rock and 
the Big Rock giveth and taketh away all life!!" 
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