Canadian Meteorite Found! [Pics]

Canadian Meteorite Found! [Pics]

www.universetoday.com

The fireball that streaked across western Canadian skies was witnessed by thousands, and Hildebrand believes it was a 10-ton fragment from an asteroid. Videos from surveillance and police cameras showed the meteor exploding before it hit the ground. Reporters were told those observations, combined with the physical evidence, give scientists a treasure trove of data that could give them a better understanding of the solar system. The reports don't offer any indications of the type of meteorite the fragments are, but from the images they appear to possibly be iron. We'll add more images and information as they become available.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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www.cbc.ca

The meteor exploded into smaller fragments that hit the earth. I have to say that I'm impressed by the fact that in the original thread(s) that were reporting the sighting of the meteor over Canada, there were members who predicted that the Meteor was made of iron due to the colour it glowed as it burned through the atmosphere. The article above confirms that the Meteor was indeed primarily made of iron.

www.universetoday.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The only question that comes to my mind is how do they know that it was the meteorite from the other night and not some other one that we did not see coming down in the past


It would be cool tho to have a chunk of meteorite in a glass case at home to show every one .

[edit on 30-11-2008 by duffster]

Something seems really fishy about this... I don't know much about meteorites but:

Wouldn't something that lit up the sky in such a dramatic way that could be seen from Alberta to Oregon have a bit more mass to it when it reached Earth?

Wouldn't a meteor falling from outer space at speeds so fast that it's burning up go a bit deeper into the ground? I can throw a rock deeper into the ground than what is shown in this picture. Unless they are saying this meteor created a crator that then filled with water to create the pond, but the article says nothing like that.

reply to post by Yarcofin


The meteor exploded and this is just a small piece.

Originally posted by MBF
reply to post by Yarcofin

 

The meteor exploded and this is just a small piece.

Yep, the one that touched down in Canada came down in pieces, it broke apart on approach. They weren't looking for a whole meteor, they were looking for debris... they never expected the meteor to be in one piece.


Funny enough though, this isn't an uncommon occurrence. I've seen two meteors come down so far. I saw both near CFB Trenton, on two separate nights, they were heading south bound. Both were searched for by SARTECH. The second was witnessed by a Herc pilot.


Amazing to watch. The two I saw had huge blueish-green flame tails behind them... really lit up the sky... like something from a movie.

If you haven't seen one, you're really missing out... absolutely amazing spectacle to witness.

But no, they rarely make it to the ground in large pieces. If they did, you would be looking for a crater, not debris.

reply to post by duffster


The piece was stuck in a frozen pond, so it must be from recently. Sorry for the one liner.

reply to post by johnsky


The night that one came down, I saw a very bright shooting star and a couple of smaller ones, all within a couple of minutes.

reply to post by MBF


Amazing thing to see isn't it?

Man, I wish I had a camera rolling to capture the two I saw.

To rehash on how long the pictured fragment has been there take a look at the ice around it on the second picture. The waves are still there! Crazy.

Originally posted by duffster
The only question that comes to my mind is how do they know that it was the meteorite from the other night and not some other one that we did not see coming down in the past

It would be cool tho to have a chunk of meteorite in a glass case at home to show every one .

[edit on 30-11-2008 by duffster]

Chances are it was a fragment of that meteorite.

I guess the scientists would have tools to determine how long the meteor was sitting in the puddle of water it made by means of various tests.

Just in case anyone wants to see the pictures but are too lazy to click the link.





I wish I would have seen it light up the sky.

reply to post by Yarcofin


When the meteor exploded on entry, it would have slowed it's momentum somewhat, as well as diminishing it's mass.


As for knowing it was the one that came down that particular night, any meteor that enters the atmosphere makes a fair bit of a light show. It's possible the rock slipped in with the meteor, but more likely it was part of the main meteor that exploded.

reply to post by johnsky


They are amazing to see. Quiet a few years ago, I saw a huge one. The next night on the news they said that it came down in Tennessee, about 400-500 miles away. I think that I may have been the farthest south that seen it because the farthest south that reported seeing it was about 20 miles north of me.