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(meteorobs) Excerpts from "CCNet, 13/2000 - 31 January 2000"
------- Forwarded Message
From: Benny J Peiser <b.j.peiser@livjm.acdot uk>
To: cambridge-conference@livjm.acdot uk
Subject: CCNet, 31 January 2000
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 12:20:44 -0500 (EST)
CCNet, 13/2000 - 31 January 2000
--------------------------------
QUOTE... OF THE DAY
"Leaving behind it a bright trail of light of a fine Silver=20
Colour, which continued Visible about 20 minutes, altho' but half=20
an hour after Sunset, and then gradually disappeared, after=20
changing from a Strait line to a very crooked one. [Meteors are]=20
bodies altogether foreign to this Earth, but meeting with it, in=20
its Annual Orbit, are attracted by it, and on entering our=20
Atmosphere take fire and are exploded, something in the manner=20
Steel filings are, on passing thro' the flame of a Candle. =20
[It made a] glorious appearance at the distance of a few miles,=20
yet from its prodigious Magnitude it must have been quite=20
terrible. [Had the] Cataract fallen on the plain whereon=20
Philadelphia stands, half its inhabitants would probably been=20
[sic] drowned."
-- David Rittenhouse in a letter to Benjamin Franklin=20
on the the meteor fall of 31 October 1779
[...]
(2) FIREBALL DEBRIS FOUND IN IRELAND
BBC Online News, 31 January 2000
[...]
(4) YUKON METEOR FLASH CAUGHT ON FILM
Space.com, 28 Januray 2000
(5) EARLY UNDERSTANDING OF METEORITES
Rolf Sinclair <rolf@santafedot edu>=20
[...]
======================================================
(2) FIREBALL DEBRIS FOUND IN IRELAND
>From the BBC Online News, 31 January 2000
http://news.bbc.codot uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_622000/622499.stm
Woman finds space fireball debris=20
By BBC News Online's Damian Carrington=20
Meteorites which spectacularly crashed on the British Isles two months=20
ago have been recovered. It is the first time the remnants of a=20
fireball have been found for many years.=20
The golf-ball sized fragments of space rock were discovered lying on a=20
local road by a grandmother, who wishes to remain anonymous.=20
Samples have been sent to the Natural History Museum in London and Dr=20
Sara Russell, a meteorite expert told BBC News Online: "There's no=20
doubt, they're definitely from a meteorite."=20
Booming explosions=20
The rock, billions of years old, fell to Earth at 2200 on 28 November,=20
1999. Witnesses in County Carlow, Republic of Ireland, said the=20
fireball lit up the night sky and sent out booming explosions.=20
Justine O'Mahony of the Carlow People newspaper said: "It caused a lot=20
of excitement. A lot of people heard explosions in the sky and talked=20
about flashing lights."=20
Meteorite dealer and collector Rob Elliott, based in Scotland, told BBC =
News Online: "The reports of loud detonations gave me a strong=20
suspicion that some part of the meteor would have survived."=20
So, Mr Elliott contacted the Carlow People, who ran a story telling=20
local people that he would pay up to =A320,000 for large pieces of the=20
meteorite.=20
A second story a week later prompted the arrival of an anonymous=20
envelope containing earth and 13 stones, ones of which turned out to be =
a meteorite. The lack of a customs declaration delayed the
parcel.=20
It took a third story in the paper, and the dismissal of some crank=20
calls, to flush out the person who found the fallen rocks.=20
First since 1865=20
The meteorites, totalling 220 grams in weight, are the first recovered=20
in Ireland since 1865. And they are the first fallen rocks found=20
anywhere in the British Isles since 1991.=20
Only 17 meteorites have ever been found in the British Isles.=20
Meteorites can be extremely valuable, worth up to $50,000 per gram. The =
premium prices are paid for the rarest specimens, which are lunar=20
meteorites. These rocks have been blasted off the Moon by an impact and =
have then fallen to Earth. Only three have been found outside=20
Antarctica. The international treaty in place on the frozen continent=20
means those found there cannot be sold.=20
Oddly, Martian meteorites are more common, but still reach $4,000 per=20
gram..=20
"Meteorites have really grown in value over the last few years," said=20
Dr Russell. "The fuss in 1996 over the possible bacteria in the Martian =
meteorite really captured people's imagination and they really started
collecting very seriously."=20
Very rare find
However, Mr Elliott claims he will seek only to cover his costs -=20
=A32,000 - with the Irish meteorite and will make specimens available =
to=20
scientists.=20
The Natural History Museum will verify the space rock and will retain a =
piece for its collection by way of payment. The final stamp of=20
authenticity is given by the International Meteorite Nomenclature=20
Committee. Traditionally, the meteorite is named after the nearest post =
office to where it fell.=20
"We get several people bringing material into the museum every week,"=20
said Dr Russell. "But it is very rare that it turns out to be a=20
meteorite. There has only been one in the last year and that came from
Tunisia."=20
Copyright 2000, BBC
======================================================
(4) YUKON METEOR FLASH CAUGHT ON FILM
>From Space.com, 28 Januray 2000
http://www.space.com/space/yukon_flash_000128.html
By Robin Lloyd
Senior Science Writer
28 January 2000=20
An alert Canadian man snapped an illuminating sequence of photos of the =
gaseous trail left in Earth's atmosphere minutes after a recent meteor=20
explosion over the Yukon Territory.
The flash occurred around 8:45 a.m. Pacific Time on Jan. 18 over the=20
remotely populated stretch of northwestern Canada, said Ewald Lemke, a=20
63-year-old realtor who posted the images he took on his Atlin Realty=20
online web site.=20
Lemke writes that he started taking pictures outside his realty office=20
in Atlin, British Columbia, just south of the Yukon border, within two=20
minutes of the "flash," at which time the vapor trail appeared reddish=20
(below).
"I had all the lights on in the office and was working on the computer =
and this whole
room lit up," Lemke said.
"The whole room was three times brighter. So what's going on? I ran=20
outside thinking something had exploded but I didn't hear a noise. The=20
noise came some time later," he said.
He continued to take photographs as the trail changed (below).
The final picture in a quick series of four was taken 14 minutes after=20
the first in the series (below), with the vapor trail extending=20
significantly.
By 18 minutes after the flash, Lemke says the trail extended beyond the =
frame allowed by the camera's lens (below).
=20
Finally, 45 minutes after the flash, the trail was still visible under=20
a cloud, as shown in the photo at the top of this story. Lemke used a=20
digital camera for the shots, because it's a long drive to get=20
conventional film developed, he said.
NASA dispatched its Airborne Sciences ER-2 from the Dryden Space Flight =
Center in the Mojave Desert in California to the scene on Jan. 21,=20
where it combed the skies in search of traces of the massive meteor.
The meteor exploded 16 miles (25 kilometers) with the energy of two to=20
three kilotons of TNT, ratlling houses, knocking snow off roofs and=20
shaking seismic monitors in the region.
The explosion produced two sonic booms and a sizzling sound over Alaska =
and northwestern Canada, according to a NASA news release.
Lemke said it sounded like a snow load falling onto his building. "But=20
there was no snow, so I wondered what the heck it was," he said. "Then=20
when people talked about a sonic boom, I connected the two events."
Two small paddles mounted on the ER-2 and coated in sticky silicon oil=20
collected particles during the one-day, round-trip expedition. The=20
paddles have been sealed hermetically and returned to NASA's Johnson=20
Space Center where they will be analyzed by cosmic meteorologist=20
Michael Zolenski.
The results will come in two weeks, NASA says, giving scientists an=20
opportunity to learn more about the meteor's origin and composition.
Chief Pasadena Correspondent Andrew Bridges contributed to this story.
Copyright 2000, Space.com
======================================================
(5) EARLY UNDERSTANDING OF METEORITES
>From Rolf Sinclair <rolf@santafedot edu>=20
Hi Benny --
Here is an interesting observation of a meteor observed in=20
Pennsylvania in 1779 that showed a prescient early understanding=20
of its nature. Note that this predates the apocryphal nonsense=20
about "not believing stones fall from the sky" erroneously=20
attributed to Thomas Jefferson. It does bring up the question of=20
when (and by whom) the nature of meteors (and meteorites) as=20
extraterrestrial solid bodies in orbit around the sun was first=20
realized. Do you have any comments on that? I am quoting from the=20
paper "Benjamin Franklin's Reconciliation of Popular Astrology and=20
Scientific Astronomy" by Monika Elbert (Montclair State=20
University) presented at the January 1999 INSAP meeting in Malta.
Rolf Sinclair
In a letter to Benjamin Franklin, David Rittenhouse describes most=20
poetically a meteor which fell on 31 October 1779: "Leaving=20
behind it a bright trail of light of a fine Silver Colour, which=20
continued Visible about 20 minutes, altho' but half an hour after=20
Sunset, and then gradually disappeared, after changing from a=20
Strait line to a very crooked one" (Rittenhouse, 31 December 1780,=20
179). Rittenhouse speculates that meteors are "Bodies altogether=20
foreign to this Earth, but meeting with it, in its Annual Orbit,=20
are attracted by it, and on entering our Atmosphere take fire and=20
are exploded, something in the manner Steel filings are, on=20
passing thro' the flame of a Candle" (31 Dec. 1780). =20
Moreover, Rittenhouse is awed by the power, velocity, and=20
potential damage of the meteor; it made a "glorious appearance at=20
the distance of a few miles, yet from its prodigious Magnitude it=20
must have been quite terrible" (31 Dec. 1780). Rittenhouse=20
concludes by saying that he is thankful that the meteor fell on=20
"uninhabitable Mountains" because had the "Cataract fallen on the=20
plain whereon Philadelphia stands, half its inhabitants would=20
probably been [sic] drowned" (31 Dec. 1780).
Reference: Rittenhouse, David. The Scientific Writings of David
Rittenhouse. Ed. Brooke Hindle. N.Y.: Arno Press, 1980.
David Rittenhouse (1732-96) was a self-taught native of=20
Philadelphia, Pa., who was noted for the instruments he both=20
developed and manufactured. He developed an interest in astronomy=20
and physics to the professional level, and made the first=20
telescope and established the first observatory in what was to=20
become the United States. "Rittenhouse Square" in Philadelphia is=20
named after him.
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