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(meteorobs) Mysterious Fireballs Over Canada Explained




Mysterious fireballs explained
By ART CHAMBERLAIN -- Executive Producer, CNEWS
October 28, 1999

It's highly unlikely any trace will be found of the meteorite that lit up
the Maritimes last night, an expert says.

Hundreds of people witnessed huge balls of fire crossing the sky about 9:30
p.m., flooding RCMP detachments and the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in
Halifax with calls.

What they saw was probably a chunk of rock that was part of an asteroid,
says John Rucklidge, geology professor at the University of Toronto and an
expert on fireballs and meteorites.

"Eyewitness reports are notoriously unreliable because it always appears
that the meteorite crashed just behind the trees on the horizon,'' Rucklidge
said in an interview with CANOE.

"You need witnesses on both sides of the track to even begin to locate it,''
he said. ''Even when it hits the ground, unless it's in a populated area,
it's virtually impossible to find."

Full story here:

http://wwwdot canoedot ca/TopStories/fireballs_oct28.html

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