Posted: Dec 31, 2009 10:22 AM PST Updated: Dec 31, 2009 10:32 AM PST

In Wetumpka, folks will be treated to a special spin on the New Year’s Eve tradition.

Thursday night marks the 18th Annual Meteorite drop at the Old Courthouse – in honor of the meteorite that hit the River City.

This year, it will drop at 11pm with the ball in New York City, as folks in Wetumpka watch the crowds in Time Square projected onto a screen at the event.

After the ball drops at 11pm, bands and a small fireworks show help count down 2009.

But stick around, at the stroke of midnight, a big fireworks display with light up the river.

SOURCE – “Meteorite Drop” in Wetumpka

Here’s the list with links to the info pages. Science Channel’s Top Ten Meteorites

10 – Allende Meteorite – Carbonaceous meteorite fall in Mexico 1969
9 – Murchison Meteorite – Carbonaceous meteorite fall in Australia 1969
8 – Peekskill Meteorite – Chondrite meteorite impacted car in Peekskill NY 1992
7 – Orgueil Meteorite – Meteorite fell May 1864
6 – ALH 84001 – Martian meteorite found in Antarctica 1984 (Possible Fossilized Microbial Lifeforms)
5 – Sylacauga/Hodges Meteorite – Meteorite hit 31 year old woman 1954
4 – Sikhote-Alin – Iron meteorite falls in Russia (Sikhote Alin Mountains) 1947
3 – Willamette Meteorite – Largest meteorite found in the United States 1902
2 – Hoba Meteorite – Largest meteorite in the world found in Namibia Africa 1920
1 – Tunguska Event – NOT a meteorite but comet/asteroid explosion over Siberia, Russia in 1908

Now here’s my issue with this list. Though I have more than one problem with this list I’ll supply the biggest one first. The ALH 84001 Martian meteorite is perhaps the most scientifically important meteorite ever discovered by man since the beginning of time. This is not an overstatement but rather just an opinion based on the fact that scientists believe there is evidence of fossilized microbial lifeforms found within the stone. Not to mention the second fact that it’s the only meteorite from the planet Mars that made it to the list.

To further the “problem” the Science Channel’s Top Ten list continue with the Tunguska Event which happened over Siberia in Russia in 1908. First off the Tunguska Event isn’t even a meteorite. This hotly debated “airburst” event leveled thousands of square miles of forest and started a firestorm of scientific study and intrigue. To this day no meteorite specimens have ever been recovered by any of the many meteorite expedition teams that have ventured out into the blast zone. In my opinion this event need not be on a “Top Ten Meteorite” list at all. It’s an event, NOT a meteorite.

If the ALH 84001 Martian meteorite is proven to harbor fossilized lifeforms this makes it the first meteorite in history to ever have been discovered with such an important find, and more importantly it will prove that we are not alone! That aliens do in fact exist. Even the possibility of this being true in my opinion makes the ALH 84001 worthy of the #1 spot on the list.

If that’s not worthy of the #1 spot on ANY Top Ten list I don’t know what is. Do you?

Maybe I’m a bit biased because I think that the possible discovery of lifeforms from somewhere other than Earth should mean more than a #6 spot on the Top Ten Meteorites of All Time.

While researching the role of the night sky in traditional Aboriginal culture, Duane Hamacher, a PhD student at Macquarie University, came across a story related by the Arrernte people of Central Australia. It told of “a star that fell from the sky, making a noise like thunder, and crashed into a waterhole” in Palm Valley, west of Alice Springs. SOURCE – NZ Herald

SEE ALSO: Google, Dreaming lead to ancient crater

AN ABORIGINAL Dreaming story about a star crashing to earth with a noise like thunder has led to the discovery of an ancient meteorite crater in central Australia.

A Sydney astronomer, Duane Hamacher, found the bowl-shaped crater in Palm Valley, about 130 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, by searching on Google Earth. SOURCE – The Sydney Morning Herald

IMAGE SOURCE: BigWell.org

GREENSBURG — The 1,000 pound Space Wanderer Pallasite Meteorite recently returned to its home in Greensburg. The meteorite will be placed on display in the newly completed City Hall, 300 S. Main, until the new Big Well Museum is constructed.

The Space Wanderer was recovered following the May 4, 2007 tornado that destroyed Greensburg. It was found mere inches from its home in the former Big Well Gift Shop. The meteorite has made a tour of Kansas since the tornado, first to Exploration Place in Wichita, then making a longer stop at the Sternberg Museum in Hays where it has been on display for two years.

READ MORE

SOURCE – The Pratt Tribune

GLOVE MOUNTAIN, Antarctica, Dec 31 (Bernama) — China’s 26th Antarctic expedition team discovered its first meteorite at Antarctica’s Glove Mountain Wednesday afternoon, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

The team found the meteorite at the southern foot of Glove Mountain’s peak, said Dr. Hu Sen, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“It is highly probable (that it is) a Chondrite judging from the failure surface,” said Hu, adding that the meteorite weighed 221.5 grams.

SOURCE: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=465392

READ MORE HERE -  PHOTOS

A long while ago I discussed an idea for a central meteorite website with some community members about the creation of a central hub of meteorite knowledge and information database in which everyone could participate and contribute through a community of like minded individuals. This of course would be for the furtherance of the science and hobby of meteoritics, meteorite collecting, meteorite hunting, and the meteorite industry as a whole.

A website that would provide an active and evolving database of encyclopedic meteorite knowledge and information for the hobbiest, scientist and even more so for the curious, as they are the new meteorite enthusiasts and possible future meteoriticists.

As the world learns more about meteorites, asteroids, comets, and the universe in relation to meteorites what better way to grow this knowledge base than through the first and only meteorite related wiki. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a wiki is, it’s an online collaborative effort to compile information in a community type environment.

Introducing The Meteorite Wiki: www.meteoritewiki.com

The Meteorite Wiki runs on the same software that runs the world famous and beloved Wikipedia.org website, and is robust and feature rich enough to provide the perfect venue to compile the worlds meteorite information into one easy and convenient online database.

Mission Statement: To compile knowledge and share the enjoyment of meteorite science & hobby through an open community wiki in which everyone interested can participate & contribute to the growth of the knowledge of meteorites.

Enjoy…

Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorites USA

Those interested in contributing or who would like more information, you’re welcome to respond to this thread publicly on-list or privately via email. If you belong to a university or educational institution we would love to have you contibute your articles, papers, photos, video or other media to the inclusion in the Meteorite Wiki. We have also reserved the most important website domain name as well for the expansion of the Meteorite Wiki experiment, meteoritewiki.org. This is to create a non-profit organization for the site should it be a successful endeavor. For now though it will be under the .com extension.

Well, now you can. With the advent of the TubeSat, now you can have your own satellite launched into space in a low orbit around Earth.

According to an article on Spacefellowship.com’s website and on Interorbital.com’s website, Interorbital Systems has created a low cost satellite system that can be launched for an amazingly low cost of only $8000. Now this may seem lile a lot of money to you and me. But astronomically speaking it’s cheap! Low cost doesn’t even start to decribe it. The space program has spent billions of dollars getting satellites into orbit around the Earth for various scientific study and natianl security projects.

Now you can launch scientific equipment into space much faster and cheaper than ever before. This opens many doors to scientific study and future discoveries by smaller universities that just wasn’t possible in the past. Many scientific institutions that couldn’t afford to launch their own satellite in the past can now have their own personal satellite for all sort of scientific study. The knowledge gained from that study will be invaluable to mankind.

About Tube Sat – The Personal Satellite Kit

The TubeSat also allows the builder to add his or her own experiment or function to the basic TubeSat kit. Examples of add-on experiments or functions include the following:

▼ Earth-from-space video imaging
▼ Earth magnetic field measurement
▼ Satellite orientation detection (horizon sensor, gyros, accelerometers, etc.)
▼ Orbital environment measurements (temperature, pressure, radiation, etc.)
▼ On-orbit hardware and software component testing (microprocessors, etc.)
▼ Tracking migratory animals from orbit
▼ Testing satellite stabilization methods
▼ Biological experiments
▼ On-orbit advertising
▼ Private e-mail

As long as the experiment or function satisfies the volume and mass restrictions, it can be integrated into the TubeSat. These restrictions provide a unique intellectual challenge for the experiment or function designer.

SOURCE: TubeSat

Most times the cost of researching, designing, planning, buliding, implementing, and launching a reaserch satellite into space requires hundreds of thousands of man hours, and millions of dollars just to launch one satellite into space. Now it’ll cost $8000 which is within even the smallest educational institutions budget.

Space Is Within Your Grasp?
This revolutionary device now brings space down to your level. Now the big boys aren’t the only ones who can touch the stars! This puts the vastness of space at your finger tips.

Interorbital Systems has also joined the Google Lunar X-Prize and is on the SENERGY MOON team with InterPlanetary Ventures, the Human Synergy Project.

“…InterPlanetary Ventures, the Human Synergy Project, and Interorbital Systems have joined forces to become SYNERGY MOON, the newest team to enter the Google Lunar X PRIZE race to the Moon…”

SOURCE: GoogleLunarXprize.org

This is certainly an exciting time!

The future of space technology is evolving…

According to a recent report by report author CSIRO Minerals Down Under Flagship researcher Dr Stephen Barnes they say

“…a steady rain of meteorites created the so-called Late Veneer – a thin surface layer of meteorite debris rich in platinum.”

SOURCE: Extraterrestrial Platinum Was Stirred Into Earth

Hmmm… If platinum comes from space how many other rare and valuable minerals are out there? Gold, silver, copper, or even lead. They are all precious metals. Not too mention the fact that some meteorites have micro-diamonds.

It seems space is much more rich in value than just scientific data. There’s MONEY out there! An when a meteorite falls to Earth you can truthfully say Money Does Come From Heaven!

There are people out there right now who are trying to figure out how to mine asteroids for their abundant resources. Will it happen in our lifetime? Well, we’ve already crashed a probe into a comet and landed one the surface of another. It’s happened already. The only issue is cost. Right now the recovery cost far exceeds the practicality of mining asteroids, comets, others planets, and even our moon. However, given time this will change, technology will advance, and the means of receovery will be invented. Innovation progresses, and rare minerals are certainly a viable commodity, even if they are in space.

Published online 8 July 2009 | Nature 460, 163 (2009) News in Brief

US Air Force will continue to share meteor data

The United States Air Force says that it will resume sharing data on incoming meteors with astronomers. The Air Force collects the data with a network of satellites and sensors designed as a missile early warning system. For more than a decade, it provided them to astronomers on an ad-hoc basis, but the informal relationship came to a halt earlier this year (see Nature 459, 896-897; 2009). Astronomers feared that the Air Force had put a stop to the practice, but “the data will still flow”, says Andy Roake, a spokesman for Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Air Force is developing procedures for releasing data that will be faster, more systematic and in compliance with classification procedures. Data sharing could resume within the next few months.

SOURCE: News Article: Big Impact on Jupiter.

NASA’s Mar’s rover Opportunity has imaged hate experts believe could be a meteorite.

July 31, 2009

The Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite.

The team spotted the rock called “Block Island,” on July 18, 2009, in the opposite direction from which it was driving. The rover then backtracked some 250 meters (820 feet) to study it closer.

Scientists will be testing the rock with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to get composition measurements and to confirm if indeed it is a meteorite.

Possible Meteorite Found On Mars By Opportunity Rover NASA Image: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2251

Mars Opportunity Rover Photo Of Possible Meteorite Found on Mars Surface

Huge Impact Explosion On Jupiter

Amateur Astronomer Photograph Asteroid Impact On Jupiter!

An Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley captured an extremely rare event on camera yesterday. Something BIG smashed into Jupiter creating a huge ocean sized spot in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

To make things even more weird. This impact happened almost exactly 15 years to the day after the famous Shoemaker Levy 9 comets impacts (see video below) which blew huge hole in Jupiters atmosphere and created explosions larger than Earth!

If the impactor that struck Jupiter had impacted Earth instead, it would produce what scientists call and extinction event. Viewing the photo of this impact on Jupiter you can imagine the size covering the United States and then some. That’s how big this explosion is.

An impact of this size is most likely sufficient to destroy a large portion if not all life on Earth.

View Anthony Wesley’s Site & The Now Famous Images:
Photo Of Anthony Wesley & His Scope

New Detailed Images From The Keck Observatory In Hawaii

Earth Jupiter Impact Size Comparison – PHOTO #1
Closeup Of Impact Scar On Jupiter – PHOTO #2

NASA JPL Website Reports:

This image was taken at 1.65 microns, a wavelength sensitive to sunlight reflected from high in Jupiter’s atmosphere, and it shows both the bright center of the scar (bottom left) and the debris to its northwest (upper left).

“It could be the impact of a comet, but we don’t know for sure yet,” said Orton. “It’s been a whirlwind of a day, and this on the anniversary of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Apollo anniversaries is amazing.”

Shoemaker-Levy 9 was a comet that had been seen to break into many pieces before the pieces hit Jupiter in 1994.

Leigh Fletcher, a NASA postdoctoral fellow at JPL who worked with Orton during these latest observations said, “Given the rarity of these events, it’s extremely exciting to be involved in these observations. These are the most exciting observations I’ve seen in my five years of observing the outer planets!”

BBC NEWS RECORDED INTERVIEW WITH AMATEUR ASTRONOMER

Recorded Interview with Astronomer BBC News:

Jupiter ‘hit by large object’
Play in either Real OR Windows Media players
An amateur astronomer in Australia has discovered that the planet Jupiter was struck recently by an object up to two kilometres in diameter.

Anthony Wesley noticed what he described as a black scar near the south pole of the planet last Thursday.

He reported his observations to Nasa’s jet propulsion laboratory in California, where astronomers were able to determine that it was caused by an impact, possibly a stray comet or a block of ice.

Nasa officials say the dent created in Jupiter is about the size of Earth.

First broadcast 22 July 2009

via BBC World Service – News – Jupiter ‘hit by large object’.

Science Daily Report Excerpt:

Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark “scar” had suddenly appeared on Jupiter, this morning between 3 and 9 a.m. PDT (6 a.m. and noon EDT) scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, gathered evidence indicating an impact.

New infrared images show the likely impact point was near the south polar region, with a visibly dark “scar” and bright upwelling particles in the upper atmosphere detected in near-infrared wavelengths, and a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.

“We were extremely lucky to be seeing Jupiter at exactly the right time, the right hour, the right side of Jupiter to witness the event. We couldn’t have planned it better,” said Glenn Orton, a scientist at JPL.

SOURCE: ScienceDaily.com

Impact Of Shoemaker Levy 9 Comet in 1994 – Video

PA Fireball Captured By Astro Photographer Mike Hankey

The PA Fireball seen over northern Maryland and souther Pennsylvania last Monday morning has caused quite a stir in the rural communities around York, PA and other surrounding cities and townships.

Monday July 6th at 1:06am there was a large fireball seen and heard for miles around. Mike Hankey, an amatuer astronmer and astro photographer snapped a photo that will go down in history as one of the most lucky shots in astro photography. While zoomed in on the Andromeda Galaxy during a 3 minute exposure Hankey captured an image of the fireball. The chances of this happening are extemely remote. Everything had to be perfect for it to happen that way!

Sky & Telescope Magazine picked up the story and published a Hankey’s photo, and the video of the fireball taken from the York Water Co just outside of York, PA. Read Kelly Beatty’s article in S&T titled U.S. Meteorite Hunters Go Bicoastal

Visit Mike’s Astro Photography Website

Meteorite hunters and scientists from all over the world are chasing this fireball to see if it perhaps dropped some extraterrestrial stones.

The hunt continues…

PA Fireball In Flight (long exposure)

We’ve got a spectacular photo from Mike Hankey of Mike’s Astro Photography blog. On July 6th at 1:06am there was a huge fireball seen across southern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland that was captured on tape from two locations!

One of those location was Mike Hankey’s backyard! Hankey is an amateur astronomer and astro photographer who just happened to catch Monday mornings fireball on his camera.

Mike was photographing the Andromeda galaxy and had his telescope and camera set for a 3 to 5 minute exposure at around 1:06am. During that exposure Hankey had gone inside his house, the camera caught the fireball’s image very clearly.

Since the camera was programmed for a long exposure the fireball appears as bright streaks of light across the left (NorthEast) most portion of the image.

Here’s the original image that shows clearly the streaks cause by the little flaming rocks. Notice there are numerous linear streaks in the photo. This is caused by the long exposure of the camera and the movement of the fireball across the photo almost vertically.

Fireball Streaks Closeup

The camera caught a perfect image! Keep this in mind the scope was ZOOMED in to focus on the Andromeda galaxy. The chances of that meteor being caught on any camera is near zero and even less when you point a camera up 63 degrees and ZOOM in to focus on a galaxy. Considering the FOV (field of view) at the level of zoom he had the camera set, he’s very lucky.

What are the chances that a big fireball would just happen to break apart directly over the camera? That camera was only view a fraction of a percentage of the entire visible night sky, and it’s amazing to catch such an event on film!

This photo is going to be famous! It already is! You can literally see the streaks of the stones as they fly through the air… And if you look closely you’ll see the lines get wider apart as they near the bottom of the photo. Perfect example of a fragmenting meteoroid falling toward the ground! Look at the pulsing of the fiery streaks. The lines get larger and smaller as the grow bright and dim. The camera also caught the flickering incandescence of the flaming stones in flight!

Fireball Photo Enhancement

Thanks to Mike Hankey for the use of the photos on our site. This is truly a spectacular image. Visit Mike’s site

Asteroids & Meteoroids

About Meteoroids, Meteors, & Meteorites
Meteorites come from the far reaches of our solar system. Meteorites aren’t always meteorites though. What I mean is this. It’s not called a meteorite when it’s in space. While still in space it’s called a meteoroid.

While in flight through our atmosphere it’s called a meteor. Yes, it’s a meteoroid while falling, and “meteor” part is actually the fiery phenomena produced by the meteoroid falling at tremendous speed through our atmosphere. If a meteoroid strikes Earth and survives both it’s fiery journey, and impact with the ground then it’s called a meteorite.

Meteorites Are found all over our planet and millions of tons of space debris falls on our planet per year. Our planet is actually growing albeit very slowly over time.

How Meteorites End Up On Earth
Meteoroids are floating around out in the space between our planets. Most meteoroids and asteroids come from the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. How they get on Earth is rather by chance. Asteroids are larger celestial bodies usually around 50 meters or more in diameter which float around in the asteroid belt, and from time to time they bump into one another.

Asteroid 2008 TC3

When they do, they not only change direction and get sent of into different orbits around our Sun but they also fragment somewhat into smaller pieces and chunks and these pieces get sent out in all directions.

Some of these meteoroids and asteroids find their way towards the orbit of Earth. If they happen to be crossing our orbital path at the exact moment our planet is then you have a meteor. Most meteors are small grain sized particles, but sometimes they can be much larger.

Asteroid TC3 2008 – October 7th 2008

This was a particularly interesting asteroid/meteoroid because it is the first time in history an asteroid was predicted to impact Earth and then actually hit Earth! Not only did scientists predict it would hit Earth, they predicted when and where and then sent an expedition team and recovered the meteorites.

Scientists discovered the asteroid, calculated it’s trajectory, and predicted the fall area all within a few days time. Recovery took a bit longer because of logistical reasons but this is a perfect example of what happens and how a meteorite ends up on our planet.

Read more about Asteroid 2008 TC3 and the recovery here.

Meteor

About Meteors & Fireballs
Meteors and fireballs are the same but different. Fireballs are the same thing as a meteor, only bigger. Fireballs are much rarer than meteors, and even more rarely seen by humans. Given that 70% of the Earth is covered in water that means that 70% of all meteorites that have struck Earth landed in the Earth’s oceans.

Since the oceans are as desolate a place as you can get, it makes since that most fireballs that occur are never seen. That’s not counting the number of fireballs and meteors over land. Humans only inhabit a small portion of our planet. There are very remote parts on this rock we call home. So remote that any huge fireballs over land in that area would never be seen by human beings.

Take into account that humans live primarily  in densely populated areas that’s still not considering the fact that we also live our lives on a schedule. We’re indoors most times and when we are outdoors it’s usually during the day. Meteors and fireballs are not easily seen during the day, and most people are busy with their daily routine anyway to notice a fireball in the sky. Considering all this it’s a wonder we actually see any fireballs and meteors at all, much less recover any meteorites on the ground.

Arizona Desert

Where The Meteorites Are
Meteorites can be found anywhere there is land. I know that’s a broad statement, but it’s true. They “can” be found anywhere, but they’ll most likely only be found in deserts, or by accident by a landowner. Typically farmers are the ones who find meteorites because they dig in the dirt.  Think about it, farmers must plow their fields to plant their crops, and when they do sometime they may hit a meteorite that had been covered over years before.

Weathering occurs though and meteorites tend to deteriorate over time being absorbed by the Earth. This is why it’s important for meteorite hunters and scientists to recover a meteorites as quickly as possible after a new meteorite fall because weathering starts immediately once the meteorite hits the ground. If recovery can happen fast, then the value to science is that much greater than a weathered stone.

Meteorites are found more in desert climate areas of the Earth than any other area. The deserts, both cold and hot, are perfect meteorite preservers. Antarctica is an example of a cold desert. Meteorites made of stone contain iron or are made of solid iron, and as we all know iron rusts. Corrosion and weathering take it’s toll on millions of meteorites but in a desert environment a meteorite is protected from it’s worst enemy, moisture.

Chondrules In A Stone Meteorite

Composition Of Meteorites
Meteorites are typically composed of stone type silicate minerals with an abundance of nickel iron. A small percentage of meteorites are solid iron, some are half iron and half silicates. Approximately 80% of meteorites are stone meteorites called ordinary chondrites. Only about 8% to 10% of all meteorites are made of solid iron. Stony iron meteorites are even more rare. Then you have meteorites from the Moon and Mars. These are the rarest type of all.

Most stone meteorites are called chondrites because they have what’s called chondrules. Chondrules are small spherical silicate inclusions that are found inside the stone.

Iron meteorites are of course made of iron, and they have a high concentration of nickel, more so than any terrestrial rock on Earth. Stony-Iron meteorites come in two sub-types, Pallasites and Mesosiderites. Last but not least there are achondrites. These consist of Lunar and Martian meteorites and other rare stone meteorites. They are called achondrites for their lack of chondrules.

We’re still looking for more video footage and photos from this fireball.

If you have video or photos of this meteor fireball please submit your video or photo via email

The hunt is on! Good luck out there! I hope you find some space rocks…

Take a look at the video below.

Fireball Video: York Water Co. Surveillance Video

Asteroid In Space

July 6th 1am a HUGE fireball was spotted and heard all across southern Pennsylvania in the area of York, and Lancaster, and Northern Maryland!

York Water Co. located in York PA captured video of this fireball on a surveilance camera. This video has be posted here.

An amateur astronomer in Freeland MD possibly has a very good photo of the fireball too. It looks at first glance like a time lapsed photo of a plane going by. However the angle is very sharp and there are too many streaks for it to be a plane. It seems the meteoroid (if that’s what this is) broke apart into many pieces which left bright almost vertical streaks of light in the photo. In some areas of the photo you can clearly see where the light got brighter then dimmed again. Fireball Photo?: Mike’s Astro Photos I’ve added his link to my blogroll as I will be visiting again. He’s got some nice work, check it out!

WGAL Channel 8 Video: Fireball Caught On Tape!
WJZ Channel 13 News Report: Photo

Fireball Photo?: Mike’s Astro Photos

People decdribed the fireball as bright, and larger than the moon, and some said it lasted in the air as long as 10 seconds. Newspapers and TV stations all across Maryland and Pennsylvania are reporting on this event. Professional meteorite hunters and scientists are compiling data because it is believed there may be meteorites on the ground from this huge meteor fireball.

People describe their houses shaking, doors rattling and windows shook in the frames. Shock waves from the explosive blast were so powerful it shook items from atop shelves in numerous homes across south PA.

Accuweather.com is also looking to see if this meteor fireball was captured on Radar. In addtion, famous meteorite hunter Steve Arnold of the Science Channel’s new cable show “Meteorite Men” has stated to the Baltimore Sun that “…That security camera footage is badly needed…”

This could be a meteorite dropping fireball. A fireball is a large meteor. Often meteoroids survive impact with the ground, when they do they are called meteorites. Meteorites are not hot when they hit the ground, and contrary to what people may have heard, no, they are not radioactive!

Meteoroids & Asteroids In Space

When a meteoroid enters our atmosphere it is traveling very fast. Sometimes as high as 26,000 MPH or more. This super speed creates tremendous pressures in front of the meteoroid. The meteoroid moves so fast that air cannot get out of the way fast enough and it compresses. This creates termendous heat which burns the meteoroids outer surface to a depth of a few milimeters at most, though the interior of the stone remains frozen.

What? This sounds wrong doesn’t it? See most meteoroids are small, grain of sand sized particles that burn up in the atmosphere, however from time to time a larger mass will enter our planets atmosphere, one with enough mass to reach the ground. Now scientists will argue how large a meteoroid has to be to survive all the way through the atmosphere not to mention impact the ground. But on average there have been small and large meteorite falls.

Back to the frozen part… How can a meteorite be cold when it impacts the ground if it’s burnins in the air? Well, that’s really very simple. Meteoroids (that’s what they are called in space) have been out there floating around since the formation of our planet. This is a very very long time. It’s cold in space. Very cold! -400F or colder. Being out in that cold for so long a meteoroid freezes. When it enters our atmosphere it’s traveling so fast it’s only incandescent (on fire) for a few seonds. Picture holding a blow torch to large block of ice! Holding the torch to the ice for 5-10 seconds would only melt part of the ice block.

A meteoroid is not ice! It’s rock or solid iron. When it hits the atmosphere it’s traveling so fast it’s only burning just long enough to burn the outer most surface of the stone. This blackened surface is called fusion crust.

Freshly Fallen Meteorite: Notice the black fusion crust.

Meteorites have been reported to be warm to the touch, as in the case of the Peekskill meteorite that fell and struck a car. It totaled the car and when the cars owner walked outside to investigate the noise, they discover the meteorite laying under the car and there was a small impact depression in the concrete driveway. When they reached down to pick up the stone they reported it was only warmto the touch. Almost never has ther been reports of a “hot” meteorite. Hot meteorites have not been confirmed by science as of yet.

As for the York Fireball, this is most likely a meteor fireball, and it’s a big one! For so many people to have reported sonic booms, and big bursts of light and explosions there is a very good possibilty that there may be meteorites on the ground from this event.

We hope there is!

REPORT THIS FIREBALL
If you have seen this meteor fireball we encourage you to contact us with your story. Report The Fireball Here please include your exact location, the direction your looking when you saw the fireball blink out, disappear or explode.

One witness says they saw “… a large flash that lit up the entire sky, followed by a loud, booming explosion…” about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes after the flash. This is a good sign that there might be meteorites on the ground. MeteoriteCentral.com’s Meteorite List has a good thread on this new fireball and possible meteorite fall.

We have no word on any meteorites being found as of yet. However I do believe there might be a good chance that this might be a meteorite dropping fireball.

“…A number of viewers throughout the Susquehanna Valley have contacted News 8 about a bright light they saw in the night sky, and an explosion they heard and felt early Monday morning.DISCUSSION: Did you see or feel anything?News 8 has been looking into the reports and contacted a member of the American Meteor Society, Robert Lunsford, who said it was likely a “fireball,” a brighter than normal meteor. Lunsford also said it was likely larger than a normal meteor. SOURCE: News 8 WGAL …”

The sky lit up blue!

“…As we stopped at an stop sign the entire sky lit up blue from horizon to horizon for like 3 seconds and I got out real quick to see what it was. I thought it might be a firework  but when I saw what it was it couldn’t have been. It was a firey looking thing that was going straight across the sky and broke up into smaller pieces and burnt out…”

Reports from another tell of the brightness and the long duration of the fireball.

“…It has a bright white ball of a head and blue/white tail behind it. It looked like it was burning out of control. It disappeared after about 5-7 seconds of seeing it right around Lebanon county court house in the sky. (Maybe 500′ – 600′ above the ground) Like it blew up or just vanished…”

Updates to follow…

Today it was just announced that Robert Ward has done it again, and found another even larger stone weighing in at a whopping 327 grams! Way to go Robert. Congratulations! Got some coordinates?

You can view photos on Micahel Johnson’s Rocks From Space

“…Robert Ward finds another one!  A beautiful and pristine 327 gram stone in situ as found by Robert Ward prior to any rainfall in the area.  This stone shows the high velocity still retained by the meteorite on impact by the evident compressed clay and grass embedded in the fusion crust.  This is typical of the stones we have recovered so far.  Good going Robert!…”

New Arizona Meteorite Photo # 1 – Robert Ward & his new friend! A gorgeous 327 gram stone meteorite. Notice the water bottle. It’s Arizona in July guys, it’s scorching there right now.
New Arizona Meteorite Photo # 2 – In situ photo showing the scratched surface of the stone caused by the impact. The impact was so forceful there is clay and grass embedded in the fusion crust of this stone.

We await word on the classification of this stone. Given that this is a new fall, classification will most likely take place rather quickly so there will probably be something announced very soon. Speculation has it that this is an H type stone chondrite but this is NOT official, only guesses by experienced hunters and meteorite researchers. It’s unknown if any labs or universities already are testing samples.

We will continue to update you with more information on this new meteorite fall as it continues to unfold. If you’d like to stay updated please subscribe to our blog.

Good Luck Out There Guys!

Photos of the meteorite strewnfield area have been published on Rocks From Space. In the photos the terrain looks grassy with bare ground patches, shrubs and small trees. The photo of the first meteorite to be found show a light colored ground which is perfect for finding the darkly colored black fusion crusted meteorites. The ground in these two photos appears to be orange but lightly colored. The grass is tall but thin. Nothing like the grassy fields of West Texas where a meteorite fell back in February of this year.

This ground although it doesn’t look perfect for hunting meteorites, it’s much better than West. It’s light color contrasts against the darker colored meteorites. and makes them much easier to spot. From what I’ve heard there have been more found. We don’t have new photos yet but I would imagine you won’t have to wait long and they’ll be up!

In the meantime enjoy the photos of the newest known meteorite strewnfield in the United States…

Meteorite Strewn Field Photo #1 Caption “Example of strewnfield conditions of Arizona’s newest fall.”
Meteorite Strewn Field Photo #2 Caption “Jarrod and Jack Schrader hunting July 4th 2009.”

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More meteorites have been found!

Shauna Russell and Robert Ward have reportedly found more meteorites from the June 23rd fireball.

“…Other pieces have been found. Major hooras due to Shauna and Robert.
The team is kicking ass but I have found nothing…”

SOURCE: Arizona’s Newest Meteorite Fall

Photo Of First Piece Found: Tuscon Fireball Meteorite – 155.6g Fully Fusion Crusted Whole Stone Meteorite

Updates to follow…

Stay updated on this new meteorite fall and more on MeteoriteCentral.com’s original Meteorite List: Subscribe To The Meteorite List

Edit: Jack Schrader a member of the Meteorite List announced this morning that he has recovered a 155.6 gram stone  meteorite from the fireball that was witnessed from Tucson Arizona on the 23rd of June.  9 days have passed since his find and at this time no further pieces have been announced to have been found.

The meteorite exhibits fresh black fusion crust from the extreme heat from entering through our atmosphere. You can also see the white scratch marks on the surface of the stones fusion crust where the meteorite impacted the ground.

Video Of The Tucson Fireball:

As you can see from the video, there were three separate fireballs. One larger mass and two smaller ones. All three blink out and fizzle fairly quickly. Many hunters I spoke with thought that there were no stones dropped from this fireball do to it’s very brief appearance. But that is not the case. It appears now that this fireball did in fact drop at least one meteorite on the ground.

A single stone… So far…

FOUND!!
The first stone from the fireball sighted over Southern Arizona June 23
at 9:22 pm in situ as recovered by Jack L. Schrader of Sierra Vista,
Arizona. This stone weighs 155.6 grams and appears to be a brecciated H
chondrite. The stone was recovered 44 hours and 58 minutes after the
fireball was sighted. This is the first fall recovered in Arizona
since the Holbrook fall of July 19, 1912. SOURCE:
http://www.rocksfromspace.org/July_4_2009.html

Meteorite List Post: Arizona “Tucson Fireball” Meteorite Found

Transient Sky Blog : http://transientsky.wordpress.com/tag/fireball/