Re: [meteorite-list] MISSOURI, ILLINOIS FIREBALL ALSO SEEN IN KANSAS, MINNESOTA
In a message dated 2/6/2007 4:10:56 A.M. Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Here's the Kansas report (below). Interesting that it contains accounts of rumbling and popping noises when the object being described is likely 400 miles or more away! It must be an instance of the much-argued-about indirect generation of meteor sounds, electrophonically: _http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm_ (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm) Sterling K. Webb http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16630902.htm Aerial sight was a meteor One mystery remains . where did the falling object end up? By KEVIN MURPHY The Kansas City Star Many people reported seeing the round, orange object or hearing a thunderlike sound, some of them while watching the Super Bowl on TV. Several people in the Kearney and Liberty areas said they heard periodic popping and rumbling sounds coming from outside. I thought it was a neighbor shooting off fireworks, said Richard Specker of Kearney. Others thought the sound was an explosion. The rumbling sounds people heard, he said, were probably sonic booms. Steve Arnold, noted for finding a pallasite meteorite in Kansas in 2005, said pinpointing where a meteorite lands is very difficult. These things will burn out 12 miles or so above the Earth, Arnold said. If someone is in Emporia and it looks like it disappears over the horizon, it could literally be in Illinois. It's an optical illusion that it looks super near. It sounds like you guys got a light show a dozen other states got. Hello Sterling and List, Someone do the math for me, how long would it take for noise to travel from the Saint Louis area to Liberty Missouri? If they heard something at the same time they saw something, I would have to be a bit skeptical from that distance. It might be a coincidence or some active imaginations. It is possible that the noise did occur at an appropriate delayed time after the visual light appearance. Oh, and by the way, I am not sure if the rest of Murphy's story is correct, but I want to go on the record as saying that he did get my quote right. Steve __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] MISSOURI, ILLINOIS FIREBALL ALSO SEEN IN KANSAS, MINNESOTA
Hi, List, We now have reports from all or parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas, and Minnesota of the Superbowl Meteor (3rd Quarter)! Here's the Kansas report (below). Interesting that it contains accounts of rumbling and popping noises when the object being described is likely 400 miles or more away! It must be an instance of the much-argued-about indirect generation of meteor sounds, electrophonically: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm The reports seem to span about 1200 kilometers which my rusty trigonometry tells me must mean that the object lit up at a minimum of 42 miles up, probably at 50+ miles up. It must have been big, or steep, or fast, or all three in some degree. I'm beginning to suspect it was a big one. We have two factors that inhibit the likely number of observations: 1.) very cold weather, and 2.) the distraction of the Superbowl! Yet, there seem to be no shortages of reports. It was even called a flood of reports in the St. Louis area. Sterling K. Webb http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16630902.htm Aerial sight was a meteor One mystery remains . where did the falling object end up? By KEVIN MURPHY The Kansas City Star That dazzling object seen falling from the sky over Missouri, Kansas and other Midwestern states Sunday evening was a meteor, though where it ended up is uncertain, experts said. Many people reported seeing the round, orange object or hearing a thunderlike sound, some of them while watching the Super Bowl on TV. Astronomers and space buffs said Monday the description was consistent with either a meteor or debris that sometimes falls to Earth from old spacecraft. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, however, determined Monday that the object was not man-made but rather a meteor, spokesman Michael Kucharek said. The command monitors the re-entry of man-made debris. People from Kansas to Minnesota to Indiana saw the object. Locally, the time of the reports varied from shortly after 7 p.m. to closer to 8 p.m., indicating there may have been more than one. Tom Pisciotta of Kansas City said he was driving home on the Kansas Turnpike south of Emporia when he saw a large orange fireball fall from the sky and disappear over the horizon to the northeast. It had a tinge of green, he said. Patty Brasell was heading home early from a Super Bowl party at 151st Street and Mission Road in Leawood when she and a friend also saw the falling round, orange object with a bright white tail. It was an incredible sight and really wonderful, Brasell said. Several people in the Kearney and Liberty areas said they heard periodic popping and rumbling sounds coming from outside. I thought it was a neighbor shooting off fireworks, said Richard Specker of Kearney. Others thought the sound was an explosion. Russ Bixby of Leavenworth County was not far from home when he saw the meteor fall and then disappear with a flash, as if it had hit ground. It was one of the more impressive things I have ever seen, Bixby said. Randy Korotev, research associate professor of Earth and planetary science at Washington University in St. Louis, said a flash doesn't mean a meteor landed. Meteors can flash while bursting apart in the sky, he said. The rumbling sounds people heard, he said, were probably sonic booms. Meteors that reach the Earth are usually never found because the Earth is covered mostly by water and undeveloped land. Steve Arnold, noted for finding a pallasite meteorite in Kansas in 2005, said pinpointing where a meteorite lands is very difficult. These things will burn out 12 miles or so above the Earth, Arnold said. If someone is in Emporia and it looks like it disappears over the horizon, it could literally be in Illinois. It's an optical illusion that it looks super near. It sounds like you guys got a light show a dozen other states got. __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] MISSOURI, ILLINOIS FIREBALL ALSO SEEN IN KANSAS, MINNESOTA
Hi, Steve, Speed of sound in air varies with the temperature of the air, 331.4 meters/second plus 0.6 times Temp (in C), but for government work, just figure 4 seconds to the mile. For the 600 miles from above Wisconsin to the middle of Kansas, 2400 seconds or 40 minutes. From the St. Louis area to Kansas, 20 minutes! From the St. Louis area to Liberty, MO, 15 minutes! Steal an F-18 from Boeing in St. Louis and you could beat the sound there. Lightspeed propagation delay, from above Wisconsin to the middle of Kansas? About 2 milliseconds! From the St. Louis area to Kansas? About 1 millisecond! Completely imperceptible. Particularly as the delay to SEE it is the same as the delay to HEAR it! Sight and Sound (via VLF waves) arrive at the same time -- No Delay. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm It really does happen. Makes reports confusing to sort out. At the terminal point, sight and sound (of termination) are virtually simultaneous. Further out, there's a delay between them. Further out still, there's no sound. Still further out, sound returns as the VLF electrophonic sounds, which are not produced by the the termination event but by the trail leading to it, are received. The sequence with distance is big noise, less noise, no noise, then different noise: hissing, snapping, frying bacon, rumbling, muttering, crackling, at great distances. Whether or not that electrophonic sound is heard depends if and what kind of receivers are on the ground around the hearer. We don't really know the full range of sounds that can be produced electrophocially. And their simultaneity makes the sound accepted as sound automatically. Wow! You heard it, too? How far can physical sound waves be detected? The first atom bomb (0.018 MegaTon) was heard 215 miles away. Tunguska was heard 600 to 800 miles away. (This one wasn't that loud!) As the magnitude increases, the sound wave and the shock wave are the same thing. Hours after Chicxulub, on the other side of the planet, sleeping dinosaurs are rudely awakened by What the Hell was THAT? But the REALLY big news is that a reporter got a quote right! Sterling K. Webb - - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 12:13 PM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] MISSOURI, ILLINOIS FIREBALL ALSO SEEN IN KANSAS, MINNESOTA Hello Sterling and List, Someone do the math for me, how long would it take for noise to travel from the Saint Louis area to Liberty Missouri? If they heard something at the same time they saw something, I would have to be a bit skeptical from that distance. It might be a coincidence or some active imaginations. It is possible that the noise did occur at an appropriate delayed time after the visual light appearance. Oh, and by the way, I am not sure if the rest of Murphy's story is correct, but I want to go on the record as saying that he did get my quote right. Steve --- In a message dated 2/6/2007 4:10:56 A.M. Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Here's the Kansas report (below). Interesting that it contains accounts of rumbling and popping noises when the object being described is likely 400 miles or more away! It must be an instance of the much-argued-about indirect generation of meteor sounds, electrophonically: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm Sterling K. Webb http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16630902.htm Aerial sight was a meteor One mystery remains . where did the falling object end up? By KEVIN MURPHY The Kansas City Star Many people reported seeing the round, orange object or hearing a thunderlike sound, some of them while watching the Super Bowl on TV. Several people in the Kearney and Liberty areas said they heard periodic popping and rumbling sounds coming from outside. I thought it was a neighbor shooting off fireworks, said Richard Specker of Kearney. Others thought the sound was an explosion. The rumbling sounds people heard, he said, were probably sonic booms. Steve Arnold, noted for finding a pallasite meteorite in Kansas in 2005, said pinpointing where a meteorite lands is very difficult. These things will burn out 12 miles or so above the Earth, Arnold said. If someone is in Emporia and it looks like it disappears over the horizon, it could literally be in Illinois. It's an optical illusion that it looks super near. It sounds like you guys got a light show a dozen other states got. __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
