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(meteorobs) Excerpts from "CCNet 128/2001 - 3 December 2001"


------- Forwarded Message

From: Peiser Benny <B.J.Peiser@livjm.acdot uk>
To: cambridge-conference <cambridge-conference@livjm.acdot uk>
Subject: CCNet 128/2001 - 3 December 2001
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 11:51:01 -0000 

CCNet 128/2001 - 3 December 2001
================================

[...]

(4) OKLAHOMANS REPORT SEEING LIGHTS IN THE SKY
    The Associated Press, 2 November 2001

(5) STRANGE LIGHTS IN THE SKY INTRIGUE, SCARE RESIDENTS
    Witchita Eagle, 2 November 2001

(6) MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS BLAMED ON OLD RUSSIAN ROCKET
    CNN, 2 December 2001

(7) METEOR SHOWER LIGHTS UP SKY
    BBC News Online, 2 December 2001

(8) WOMAN CONTENDS SHOWER SPRINKLED METEORITES
    Tallahassee Democrat, 1 November 2001

[...]

========================================================================

(4) OKLAHOMANS REPORT SEEING LIGHTS IN THE SKY

>From The Associated Press, 2 November 2001
http://www.news-star.com/stories/120201/new_lights.shtml

Streaks of brilliant light in the night sky were observed by Oklahomans
across the state late Saturday.

Dozens of Oklahomans reported seeing three or four long streaks of light
moving across the sky shortly after 10 p.m. Witnesses said the streaks
produced sparks as they moved across the sky.

The Associated Press received telephone calls about the lights from Oklahoma
City, Tulsa Enid, Edmond, Owasso, Shawnee and McAlester. Broadcasters
reported that the lights were seen as far away as Denison, Texas and
Wichita, Kan.

A dispatcher at the Kansas Turnpike Authority in Wichita said callers
reported the lights from the Oklahoma border to near Kansas City. In
Hastings, Neb., meteorologist Larry Wirth of the National Weather Service
reported calls from Kearney and Clay Center.

Wirth said callers described a bright light that crossed the horizon from
southwest to northeast and broke.

"People said it appeared to break up into about 30 little balls, with tails,
more or less like fireworks," Wirth said.

Witnesses said the lights appeared white and blue. The National Weather
Service in Norman said the descriptions were consistent with a man-made
object, probably a satellite or space junk, re-entering the atmosphere.

"It was probably either some kind of meteor shower or re-entry of space
junk," said Kevin Brown, National Weather Service meteorologist.

Wirth said NORAD -- the North American Air Defense Command -- reported to
the Federal Aviation Administration's regional center in Minneapolis that
some kind of space debris had broken up in the atmosphere.

NORAD monitors satellites and other space junk that re-enter the atmosphere.

In Topeka, Kan., weather service meteorologist Matt Wolters said such light
shows are not uncommon when space debris enters the atmosphere.

But Saturday night's display was noticed over such a wide area because the
night sky was especially clear, Wolters said.

Copyright 2001, AP

=========
(5) STRANGE LIGHTS IN THE SKY INTRIGUE, SCARE RESIDENTS

>From Witchita Eagle, 2 November 2001
http://web.wichitaeagle.com/content/wichitaeagle/2001/12/02/localnews/1202sh
ower_brf.htm

Authorities received dozens of phone calls around 10:15 p.m. Saturday from
people who reported seeing bright lights in the sky.

The Kansas Turnpike reported receiving calls from as far as Kansas City.

Chance Hayes, meteorologist at the National Weather Service, wasn't sure
what the lights were. His best guess: either a meteor breaking up as it
entered the atmosphere or space trash.

He said the reports were of an isolated incident, which typically doesn't
happen in showers.

Ron Baxter saw the bright lights from his south Wichita home.

"It trailed across the western sky from one end to the other," he said. "It
was huge." 

===============
(6) MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS BLAMED ON OLD RUSSIAN ROCKET

>From CNN, 2 December 2001
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/12/02/lights.in.the.sky/index.html

OKLAHOMA CITY (CNN) -- A spectacular light show in the skies over Oklahoma
and Texas Saturday night was the result of space junk re-entering the sky,
the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said. 

Dozens of bright, twinkling lights with long tails streaked across the night
sky in what looked like a slow-moving meteor shower. The lights were large
and appeared white, blue and yellow. 

A NORAD spokesman said the object was an SL12 Russian rocket entering the
atmosphere, and that it posed no danger to anyone on the ground. The
spokesman said such space junk breaks up or disintegrates upon re-entry. 

CNN received numerous calls from viewers about the event. One witness in the
Texas panhandle, near Lubbock, said the lights covered a large span of the
sky
 
Copyright 2001, CNN

===========
(7) METEOR SHOWER LIGHTS UP SKY

>From the BBC News Online, 2 December 2001
http://news.bbc.codot uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1687000/1687712.stm
 
A spectacular meteor shower was seen over southern England during Saturday
night. Witnesses from Essex to Sussex watched as burning fragments shot
across the sky. Observers said the meteor fragments were very bright and
could be seen for up to four minutes in places.  The last meteor shower, the
Leonids, was two weeks ago. 

Spectacular sight 

One observer, Jay Butler in Brighton, said the meteor fragments were
"coloured white and gold". 
He had been fishing near Brighton Marina. He said: "The lights appeared in
the south east and were heading inland." Another witness, Bruce Fenton,
watched the phenomenon from Docklands in east London. Viewing from the side
of the River Thames, he said it was "the most spectacular thing I'd ever
seen". 

The Leonid shower takes place every November
 
At 2230 GMT, he said about eight meteors moved east to west across London,
taking about four minutes in all, in a brilliant display. Mr Fenton said
that about five minutes later, the surface of the river became very rough
with substantial waves hitting the bank. 

Another observer near Rye in Kent said it looked like a stream of comets in
the southern sky. 
One astronomer said it may have been a single meteor breaking up. Variable
conditions made it difficult for skywatchers in some parts of the world to
get a good view of the Leonid meteor shower in mid-November. Astronomers had
forecast an intense flurry of shooting stars. 

Predictable showers 

Observers in North America and some areas in the Asia-Pacific region
reported seeing streaks of light every few seconds. However, clouds and rain
obscured the view for many other people around the globe. The Leonid shower
takes place every November when the Earth passes through the dusty remnants
of comet Tempel-Tuttle. 

Meteor showers are usually quite predictable, say astronomers. But none are
due for some time. 

Copyright 2001, BBC

============
(8) WOMAN CONTENDS SHOWER SPRINKLED METEORITES

>From Tallahassee Democrat, 1 November 2001

http://web.tallahasseedemocrat.com/content/tallahassee/2001/12/01/local/1201.loc.meteorite.htm

By Gerald Ensley

MARIANNA - You watched the meteor shower before dawn on Nov. 18, then went
back to bed with beautiful memories.

Naomi Barbour watched the meteor shower, went back to bed with beautiful
memories - then woke up to a bonus: a yardful of meteorites.

Maybe. Probably not.

But you be the one to tell Barbour, who remains excited by her discovery
nearly two weeks later.

"This is the find of the century to me," Barbour said, as she held a box of
small rocks. "How many people get to pick up meteorites in their back yard?"

Apparently, not many.

Marvin Killgore of Payson, Ariz., earns his living buying, selling and
chasing meteorites. Reached by phone, he said he examines about 1,000
"finds" per year - and no more than two or three turn out to be meteorites.
He said he would have to test a sample of Barbour's collection before
passing final judgment. But after hearing Barbour's story from a reporter,
he said, "The chances she has a meteorite are slim and none.

"It's a kind of interesting story, and I wouldn't doubt it was true - if I
hadn't heard so many like it," Killgore said. "It's not very often anyone
finds a real meteorite."

Meteorites are rocks from outer space that pass into the Earth's atmosphere.
They are called meteors (or "shooting stars") as they burn brightly through
the atmosphere and meteorites once they land. 

A six-mile wide meteor is thought to have struck the Earth in prehistoric
times, throwing up a cloud of dust that blocked out the sun and made the
dinosaurs extinct. Smaller meteorites have created craters and crashed
through homes and cars.

Barbour, 48, a retired New York Transit Authority employee, has sent off one
of her rocks to be examined by another Arizona dealer. But here's her story:

On Sunday, Nov. 18, Barbour joined the millions of Americans who watched the
Leonids meteor shower, caused by an ancient comet. She and her adult son,
Michael Pilgrim, stood in the back yard of her rural home about 4:30 a.m.
and marveled at the cascade of bright flashes through the sky. After a
half-hour, they went back to bed.

About 9 a.m., her son took their Columbian bulldog, Max, out to his chain
under a tree. Pilgrim then raced back into the house and told his mother
excitedly, "We've got a bunch of rocks near the dog's tree."

The two went outside and agreed the rocks must be meteorites. They collected
more than 50 palm-sized rocks. All were found within a circular area of
grass about 15 feet in diameter. None had been there before the meteor
shower, Barbour said.

Barbour excitedly called her best friend, Charlie Pratt, also a retired New
York Transit Authority worker, who came over to her house, looked at her
find and joked, "You're rich."

Indeed, meteorites fetch a handsome fee because they tell scientists so much
about the solar system. Most meteorites come from a band of asteroids
orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Others are chunks of Mars or the Earth's
moon. All have been in space for tens of thousands of years. Killgore said
meteorites sell for $3 a pound to $35,000 a gram, depending on their origin.
The most valuable meteorites are from the moon and Mars.

Barbour has several pounds of rocks.

They are black or gray or reddish with blackened areas - as if burned on one
side. Many are honeycombed with small holes. All are rather light. Barbour
passed a refrigerator magnet over them while a reporter visited, but it did
not stick to the rocks.

The rocks fail the basic tests of meteorites - which are rarely red in
color, usually have no holes, are generally heavier than other rocks their
size and have a magnetic field because of their iron content.

Moreover, the conditions of Barbour's find are unusual - and certainly are
not a result of the Nov. 18th meteor shower.

Steve Kish, a Florida State University associate professor of geology,
explained that each of the "Leonids" was the size of a grain of sand; their
brilliant light was a result of plunging through the atmosphere at 30,000
miles an hour. Had a meteorite the size of any of Barbour's rocks fallen to
earth, the light would have been so bright "it would light up a 10-state
area; it would have been visible even in the daytime," Kish said.

Pratt theorized Barbour's stones were part of a larger meteorite that broke
up before it hit the earth. Killgore agreed that happens occasionally. But,
Killgore said, a large meteor plunging to earth creates a sonic boom heard
for miles - and Barbour concedes she heard nothing. Additionally, such
meteors break up about 10 miles above the earth, scattering debris for
miles.

"They don't generally fall only in a small, little back yard," Killgore
said. 

To be sure, hundreds of meteors pass through the Earth's sky every day,
though only about a dozen actually land. They are most often discovered in
desert areas, where the dry conditions preserve them for long periods of
time - or Antarctica where thousands have been found preserved in the
glaciers. Less than a half-dozen meteorites have been discovered in Florida,
because the hot, moist conditions soon render them unrecognizable from other
rocks.

"It's possible (Barbour found meteorites)," Killgore said. "But my guess is
someone is playing a practical joke on her."

Barbour refuses to believe that and hopes the tests prove her right.

"This is no hoax," she said. "This is a blessing."

) 2001 Tallahassee Democrat. All rights reserved

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