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Re: (meteorobs) Fwd: Meteorite said to start backyard fire
All of this agrees with my fireworks theory. Robert Gardner
Leo Stachowicz wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I've been following this thread and there are a few points which seem to
> stand out to me..
>
> I think i would be correct in saying that any meteorite producing fireball
> would have to be extremely bright ?!! ... In which case there would most
> lightly be a few witnesses to the event spread over a wide area,taking into
> account that it occurred over a populated area at a time of day when many
> people would be out and about(I don't know the geography of the region but
> am assuming this isn't an isolated community). The reports seems to
> indicate that the event was extremely localized which would point away from
> it being a meteorite fall i think??
>
> The reports are also inconsistent with my limited knowledge of meteor falls
> in that to be "glowing" or still ablating up till impact the meteor would
> have too be moving at speeds well in excess of the 200-500 miles/hr quoted
> by Terry Johnson(am i right in saying that this figure would be true for a
> fall in which the majority of the time spent falling would be during the
> "dark fall" period?)
>
> From http://www.concordmonitor.com/stories/front0400/newmeteorite.shtml :
>
> "Stunned residents described the falling ball of fire to Fire Chief Edwin
> Bowne. "
> >>Snip<<
> "He said the falling rock had started a flame that burned about an 18-inch
> area, and that the ground was muddy from residents pouring buckets of water
> on the small fire."
>
> Inconsistency #1
>
> It would be more like a missile hitting if it was a meteor,no glowing balls
> of fire free falling "gently" to the ground,this would be a major
> impact,which i would have thought might appear more "streak" like than
> seems to be in this case...in any case the reports seem sketchy so
> far...I'm sure a more detailed account will surface at a latter date to
> resolve this issue.
>
> Inconsistency #2
>
> They were throwing buckets of water over it to put out a fire only 18"
> across,which suggests to me that a highly flammable substance must be
> involved(this sounds suspiciously similar to the thread earlier this year
> where another suspected meteorite burnt the low lying vegetation on a patch
> of ground a few inches or feet across...some photos of the patch of ground
> were available on the web as i recall)
>
> My guess is that the most lightly explanation for it is some sort of flare
> containing magnesium of perhaps even phosphorous ,from a military aircraft
> maybe??
>
> ...but i wouldn't rule out meteorites altogether,at least until more
> information is available ,however small the possibility seems to be..... it
> might just be one of those rare once in a lifetime events,or on the other
> hand it might just not be such a rare event as we think...records on such
> past events may not have been kept,or reports may even have been ignored or
> put down to cranks...after all who is going to believe you when you tell
> them " a meteor set fire to my back yard" !!??.dot it wouldn't surprise me to
> hear that people had been burnt at the stake for saying things like that
> pre 1800,and consequently people might have been afraid to report such
> incidents for fear of this !!
>
> Clear skies,
> Leo
>
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