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Space Weather News October 7, 2008 ASTEROID IMPACT: Asteroid 2008 TC3 hit Earth this morning (Oct. 7th at 0243 UT), exploding in the atmosphere over northern Sudan like a kiloton of TNT. Most of the 3-meter-wide asteroid should have been vaporized in the atmosphere with only small pieces reaching the ground as meteorites. So far, no pictures of the fireball have been submitted; the impact occured in a remote area with few (and possibly no) onlookers capable of recording the event. Nevertheless, the asteroid did strike Earth as predicted. This confirming report comes from Jacob Kuiper <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, General Aviation meteorologist at the National Weather Service in the Netherlands: "Half an hour before the predicted impact of asteroid 2008 TC3, I informed an official of Air-France-KLM at Amsterdam airport about the possibility that crews of their airliners in the vicinity of impact would have a chance to see a fireball. And it was a success! I have received confirmation that a KLM airliner, roughly 750 nautical miles southwest of the predicted atmospheric impact position, has observed a short flash just before the expected impact time 0246 UTC. Because of the distance it was not a very large phenomenon, but still a confirmation that some bright meteor has been seen in the predicted direction. Projected on an infrared satellite-image <http://spaceweather.com/submissions/pics/j/Jacob-Kuiper-0810070300zmet7IRposplane_1223352768.jpg> of Meteosat-7 of 0300 UTC, I have indicated the position of the plane (+) and the predicted impact area in Sudan (0)." 2008 TC3 was discovered on Oct. 6th by astronomers using the Mt. Lemmon telescope in Arizona as part of the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey for near-Earth objects. Asteroids the size of 2008 TC3 hit Earth every few months, but this is the first time one has been discovered before it hit. ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
