Space waste 'burnt before impact'
By Miranda Korzy
June 17, 2004
A CHUNK of space debris claimed by a witness to be the size of a house probably burnt up over the NSW south coast before it could hit the ground, astronomers said today.
A motorist on the Hume Highway told police he saw a burning object "the size of a house" streaking towards an an escarpment at Bulli about 9pm (AEST) yesterday, exploding in a bright flash.
Australian National University astronomer Vince Ford today said it sounded like a sizeable chunk of rock breaking up in the atmosphere.
If something of that size had hit the earth, it would have made a sonic boom and registered on seismological graphs, said Dr Ford, who is based at the Mt Stromlo Observatory in Canberra.
He said the object was likely to have been less than a metre in diameter and that no fragments nor a crater would be found.
Ron Baalke baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov Wed Jun 16 20:16:01 EDT 2004 escribe:
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9869400%255E1702,00.html
Meteorite sighted in NSW
news.com.au (Australia)
June 17, 2004
A METEORITE reportedly the size of a house fell on the NSW south
coast overnight, exploding in a bright flash, police said today.
A driver on the Hume Highway shortly after 9pm (AEST) near Menangle
reported an object the size of a house falling from the sky.
The object fell east of the Hume Highway, possibly in an escarpment
near the top of a hill at Bulli, police were told.
The meteorite was described as glowing silver in colour and similar
to an artillery shell when it exploded with a bright flash on impact.
Workers at the Sydney Airport Tower said they saw a meteorite about
9pm, police said.
______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
