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CCNet 14/2001 - 27 January 2001
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SMALL FIREBALL EXPLODES OVER CANADA
Mysterious light streaks across sky
From Calgary Herald, 26 January 2001
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/stories/010126/5066987.html
Fireball visible from Edmonton to Calgary
Colleen Turner, Calgary Herald, with a report from Jeremy
Hainsworth,
Calgary Herald
Calgary astronomers this morning are trying to determine if a
fireball
that streaked across the sky Thursday night before exploding sent
any
meteorite particles falling towards the Earth.
Several eyewitnesses reported seeing a bright star-like dot in
the sky
at about 7:20 p.m. The dot, located in the north sky, headed east
for
about four seconds before bursting in a bright fireball.
Don Hladiuk, an amateur astronomer, captured the fireball on a
camera he
has set up in his Sundance den. The camera, which has been in
operation
for about a year, has never captured anything quite so
spectacular.
"I got lucky tonight," Hladiuk said. He said the
fireball shone brighter
and brighter in the seconds before it burst.
"Most likely it was a space rock -- bigger than a grain of
sand, and
smaller than a bread box.
"We don't know if any of it hit the Earth or not."
Determining whether any fragments made it through the atmosphere
is the
goal of Alan Hildebrand today.
Hildebrand, co-ordinator of the Canadian Fireball Reporting
Centre at
the University of Calgary, said he's heard from eyewitnesses in
Calgary.
He's now looking forward to hearing from his colleagues in
Edmonton, and
is also looking for accounts from people in Red Deer.
"If (any particles) fell, they would be out in the
plains," he said.
Hildebrand said only one or two such fireballs are visible in
Calgary
each year. Other meteors occur, but because they fall toward
Earth
during the day or in cloudy conditions they are not visible to
the naked
eye.
"Having a video of it makes it much more interesting . . .
And what is
particularly neat is that witnesses were close to the end of the
fireball."
The recording could help plot the orbit where the meteor came
from.
Once it's discovered where the fireball exploded, it will be
easier to
determine if any particles fell to the ground.
"If so, we can ask farmers to take a look in their
fields," said
Hildebrand.
Despite confirmation the night sky object was a meteor,
Lethbridge's
CFRV radio station was reporting it as an alien invasion of Fort
Macleod.
"If it were an invasion by aliens you'd know it," said
Calgary Science
Centre astronomer Allan Dyer. "It was in the northeast sky
travelling
from north to south."
Dyer said meteorite pieces falling to Earth can provide
information
about the history of the solar system.
Copyright 2001, Calgary Herald
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