10,000 meteorites touched down in Sask.: scientist

10,000 meteorites touched down in Sask.: scientist

www.ctv.ca

The sheer number of asteroid fragments that touched down on Nov. 20 in Saskatchewan -- first lighting up the sky in a dramatic light show witnessed by people across the prairies -- may have set a new Canadian record.

Rather than just one space rock hitting the ground, as first thought, the bounty appears to consist of thousands of fragments, according to the team that has co-ordinated the recovery.

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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Massive object crashes over Edmonton, Canada

I want to go look too! lol

This is exciting as soon we will be able to find out what the rocks are made of as well as where they think it came from.

quote
U of C planetary scientist Alan Hildebrand said in a written statement there are roughly 2,000 meteorites of 10 grams or more, per square kilometre, in the northern part of the field where the fragments were found.

Altogether, he calculated, there are likely more than 10,000 meteorites on the ground in the area.

"The last day that the search teams were out, it snowed all day and we still found five meteorites which is ridiculous. It shows just how many are out there," Hildebrand said.

The asteroid is being called the "Buzzard Coulee fireball," named after the area where Milley found the first fragments.

The largest meteor fall previously on record occurred when hundreds of fragments were recovered near Bruderheim, Alta. in 1960.

quotewww.ctv.ca...

Also I gave link to a photo below.

www.ctv.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 22-12-2008 by whiteraven]

Originally posted by whiteraven
This is exciting as soon we will be able to find out what the rocks are made of as well as where they think it came from.

We already know where it came from, and it's composition. The same data used to calculate where the fall was also gives us the orbit (a rough estimate anway). It originated in the Asteroid Belt and has been classified as a 'H4 chondrite'.

See here for a bit more about it: tech.groups.yahoo.com...



[edit on 23-12-2008 by C.H.U.D.]