At 06:04 PM 11/29/02 -0700, Marc A. Schindler wrote:
Yesterday morning (28/11) my wife was up early and saw the meteor of her life. A very bright greenish-white fireball that lasted for 7 seconds streaked from east to west across the southern sky. Local scientists think it hit the surface near Drayton Valley, some 50 km SW of us.
From: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: <<http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/expressnews/articles/news.cfm?p_ID=3443&s=e>> Scientists use video in search for rare meteorite By Phoebe Dey University of Alberta, Canada November 28, 2002 A University of Alberta astronomy camera captured a photograph of a blazing fireball, which may provide clues to finding a rare meteorite. "If we could find the remains of the meteorite, it would be quite significant, not simply because it's another meteorite but because we would have the potential for determining its trajectory before it struck the earth," said U of A physics professor, Dr. Doug Hube. "We might be able to learn where in the solar system it came from." The camera on the rooftop observatory on the U of A physics building captured the image moving from the southwest horizon to the northwest for about seven seconds at 5:10 a.m. early Wednesday morning. Hube and Martin Connors from Athabasca University are analysing the tape and using eyewitness reports to do a geometric triangulation, which will determine a more specific area to find the meteorite. Videotape from the U of A's cameras is considered the final authority. The cameras record images of the sky 24 hours a day. About once a year, the cameras capture something worth following up, Hube said. The camera is mounted above a hemispherical mirror, which allows researchers to monitor the entire sky at one time. If this latest meteorite can be found, it will offer insight to its celestial beginnings and teach us more about the larger environment we live in. "Meteorites are the building blocks of the planets," Hube said. "They can give us clues about circumstances in this corner of the universe 4.5 billion years ago. Understanding them gives us a broader picture to understand the formation of the solar system, to understand the formation of planets." The University of Alberta's Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department boasts a meteorite collection second only to the national one in Ottawa. It is comprised of more than 130 different meteorites--13 of which were found in Alberta. Only 50 meteorites have been found in Canada. --Ronn! :) I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last. --Dr. Jerry Pournelle ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP9AU.bWix1n.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
