Duluth Minnesota/ Wisconsin Meteor 3MAR2010 4MAR2010

Northland residents report seeing flaming object in the sky

Duluth News Tribune
A meteorologist with the National Weather Service said it's possible the reports could be explained by a meteorite or a piece of “space junk” entering the ...

Possible meteor sighting causes a stir the town of Hudson

Hudson Star Observer
Residents of the Scenic Hills subdivision east of Hudson, Wisconsin near Badland Sno-park witnessed a possible meteor burn up and explode just before 8 pm Wednesday. ...

Utah Bolide Meteor of 18NOV09 Idaho/Utah Videos 26NOV09

Idaho/ Utah /Wyoming Bolide Meteor (Dugway) 18NOV09
Not new news for some, but I came across two videos that I have not posted yet.

Video of 18NOV09 bolide from security camera at Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, Idaho
Idaho Mountain Express
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005128847


Video of 18NOV09 bolide from Utah State Univ., Logan, Utah
on YouTube
posted by wootiesdotnet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bJ9_XnqLOI

East Coast US Bolide News- Fireball with Explosion 6JUL09 7JUL09

Large Boom, Flash Of Light Seen In Night Sky Likely A 'Fireball'

WGAL Channel 8

POSTED: 12:17 pm EDT July 6, 2009
UPDATED: 6:20 pm EDT July 6, 2009

SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY, Pa. -- A number of viewers throughout the Susquehanna Valley have contacted News 8 about a bright light they saw in the night sky, and an explosion they heard and felt early Monday morning (01:05~01:10EDT).

States with reports include: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.

VIDEO: VIDEO: Witness Describes Light In Sky As 'Phosphorous Green Fireball'

Whole Story: http://www.wgal.com/news/19966650/detail.html

Other Reports:

A Mason-Dixon meteor?

The Baltimore Sun
http://weblogs.marylandweather.com/2009/07/a_masondixon_meteor.html Comments (47)

The York Dispatch: In York County, Pa., police officers from Penn Township, Southwestern Regional and Newberry Township reported seeing a flash and hearing a boom around 1:15 a.m. Monday, July 6, according to local 911 centers. Officials in Harford County, Md. also reported seeing a flash and hearing a boom near the Mason-Dixon Line. Read comments

http://yorkdispatch.inyork.com/ci_12758435

Capital Gazette: An Annapolis city police officer reported that she and her partner both saw what she described as a "bright blue light in the sky" just after midnight. It was followed by "a light with a tail, falling from the sky," according to our informant. Annapolis police reported hearing a similar report on Baltimore County police radio.

Gary Moon, reporting to The Sun's News Tips: "I heard and felt a deep earth blast similar to an earthquake, which shook my home in Glen Rock, Pa., early Monday morning. I thought I would hear MUCH more about this one ... nothing."

Deborah Markow, Havre de Grace: "Last night, couldn't sleep, went out on back deck, laid on lounge, eyes closed and then it was like someone pointed a flash light in my eyes it was so bright. I saw another one streak through the sky ... It was one of the most thrilling sights to behold a ball of fire flying through the sky."

Arizona Meteor News- Southern Arizona Fireball 24JUN09

Southern Arizona Fireball – June 23

Southern Arizona Fireball – June 23, 2009 ... From Loretta: “I saw a giant meteor june 23 about 915 or 920. It was in the southern sky and went from ...
transientsky.wordpress.com/.../23/southern-arizona-fireball-june-23/

Polish Meteor/Meteorite News- Polish Superbolide 31MAY09 3JUN09

009 05 31/01 20:50:49 UT PFN 24 Gniewowo Krzysztof Polakowski
POWIĘKSZ/SEE LARGE SIZE (photo)

" BLINDING FLASH: On May 31st, evening sky watchers in northern Poland were temporarily blinded by a sudden flash of light brighter than the full Moon. An automated camera in the town of Gniewowo captured this snapshot of the "un-night" sky
(see at http://www.spaceweather.com/ )

What happened? A meteoroid of unknown origin hit Earth's atmosphere and exploded. "It was a huge fireball, probably brighter than magnitude -13," reports Gniewowo resident Przemyslaw Zoladek. "The explosion occured at 20:48 UT and was observed by many casual witnesses and at least two Polish Fireball Network video stations." No one knows if fragments of the object reached the ground. "
http://www.spaceweather.com/

Relacje naocznych świadków: (Report witnesses:)

1. Dzisiaj o godzinie 22.48 zaobserwowałem bolid przelatujący w kierunku zachodnim, zachdnio północnym. Z Gdyni bolid byl widoczny 15-30 st. zachód od zenitu. Bolid oświetlił budynki i pozostawił po sobie smugę dymu. Pozdrawiam. Maciej

2. Witam wszystkich! Dzisiaj tzn. 31.05 o godzinie 22:48 zaobserwowałem piękny bolid, lecący w kierunku północno-zachodnim na wysokości ~30 stopni. Moją uwagę zwrócił rozbłysk trwający około 2 sek. Nie słyszałem żadnego dźwięku. Przypuszczalnie wleciał w atmosferę kilkadziesiąt kilometrów od mojego miejsca obserwacji, czyli Częstochowy. (...)

3. (...) 31 maja ok godziny 23:10 zauważyłem dość duży obiekt spadający z nieba, któremu towarzyszył silny rozbłysk. Zauważyłem to we Władysławowie w południowej części nieba. pozdrawiam Michał

4.Wczoraj 31.05.2009 ok. godziny 23:00 nad Rumią (woj. pomorskie) widziałam niesamowite zjawisko - wielką paląca się kulę. Leciała z zawrotną prędkością zostawiając za sobą długi ognisty ogon. Leciała jak petarda ale bardzo wysoko. Pojawiła się jakby znikąd by po chwili zniknąć. Bolid/kometa pozostawiła za sobą długą smugę pyłu i dymu. Wygładało to jakby kometa wdarła się w atmosferę ziemską paląc się jasnym płomieniem a potem nagle z niej wyleciała. Nie wiem czy to był bolid czy kometa - nie umiem ich rozróżnić ale to było wyjątkowo piękne i nieoczekiwane zjawisko!!!(...)

5. Zauwazylem bolid tuz nad glowa popijajac smaczna karkowke jeszcze smaczniejszym piwkiem gdzies ok 23-ej w Starogardzie Gdanskim. Przyznam, ze pierwszy raz widzialem cos podobnego i jestem pod ogromnym wrazeniem. Bolid roswietlil na kilka chwil cala okolice po czym spadal rozzarzony przez pare sekund pozostawiajac jasna, powykrecana smuge podejrzewam ze dymu. Bartek

6. Witam serdecznie! Wczoraj wieczorem ok. 22:50 między Trzebnicą a Zmigrodem (na trasie z Wrocławia do Poznania) zaobserwowałem b. jasny bolid. Mimo warstwy chmur zjawisko było dobrze widoczne: najpierw doszło do rozbłysku z kierunku pn-zach na wysokości ok. 45-50 stopni następnie po 2-3 sekundach w dziurach między chmurami dostrzegliśmy wygasające mniejsze fragmenty o wyraźnym zielonym kolorze. Bolid zaobserwowało w sumie 6 osób (4 z naszego auta i 2 z pierwszego z którym podróżowaliśmy). Nie słyszeliśmy żadnych dźwięków. Sam rozbłysk (wybuch?) był na tyle mocny, że na czas ok. 1,5 s rozświetlił kabiny naszych pojazdów. Michał

Słowa kluczowe dla googleboota:
• 31 maja 2009, 31 05 09 meteor, bolid, (meteoryt), (kometa), (kula ognia) fireball, bolide, meteorite, poland

Polish Fireball Network
http://www.pkim.org/

CONTACT INFORMATION and AFFILIATION

Impact Field Studies Group
ISFG Field Research Member-ASIA Since 2005
http://web.eps.utk.edu/~faculty/ifsg.htm

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IYA 2009 International Year of Astronomy





















Astronomers Without Borders
Regional Coordinator- Southeast Asia Since 2008

Japan Chapter: Japan Planetary Data- Japan Sky Watch
Astronomers Without Borders is dedicated to fostering understanding and goodwill across national and cultural boundaries by creating relationships through the universal appeal of astronomy. Astronomers Without Borders projects promote sharing. Sharing resources. Sharing knowledge. Sharing inspiration. All through a common interest in something basic and universal. Sharing the sky.
http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Planetary Data Japan- Japan Sky Watch
For More Information Contact:
Dirk Ross @ drtanukiATgmail.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMCA

International Meteorite Collectors Association

Member #5677

Since 2000

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cross-Links:

Meteorobs · Amateur Meteor Astronomy

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/meteorobs/

Institut de Mecanique Celeste et de Calcul des Ephemerides-France

http://www.imcce.fr/imcce.php?lang=en (english version)

Polish Fireball Network

http://www.pkim.org/

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Site Counter-ClusterMap

(Click to View World CLUSTER MAP)

updated 29AUG09 7SEP09

Fireball streaks across the morning sky

Fireball streaks across the morning sky
660NEWS Radio Calgary, Alberta
Dominic Terry & Alicia Hope-Ross Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 8:30 am
A fireball cruised over our city this morning, surprising early-morning commuters.
Our 660News line has been inundated with callers saying they saw a fireball streak across the sky.
Callers tell us the bright green, yellow and blue streak beamed across the heavens, and then broke apart into six or seven pieces, before disappearing.

The fireball apparently streaked from east to west across, and lit up the sky for about ten seconds.

The last time a meteorite lit up the sky was in November, when a massive space rock came through our atmosphere. Researchers later found fragments of the debris in northwestern Saskatchewan.
http://www.660news.com/more.jsp?content=20090331_102033_5444

Buzzard Coulee, CANADA update 10FEB09

Security cameras caught asteroid fireball
By Rod Nickel, Saskatchewan News Network February 10, 2009
"Security camera footage from a gas station and motel has proven the best tool for researchers to learn the origins of a 15-tonne asteroid that lit up the Prairie sky on Nov. 20. As the asteroid broke apart, it became a giant fireball visible from northern Alberta to Manitoba. Searchers have found pieces in an area southeast of Lloydminster, specifically on a slough called Buzzard Coulee.".... Whole Story at:
http://www.leaderpost.com/Technology/Security+cameras+caught+asteroid+fireball/1271726/story.html

Related Story with camera photo of the fireball:
http://www.canada.com/Technology/Security+camera+footage+understanding+meteorite+origins/1270948/story.html

Meteorite hits Akhnoor, Jammu, Kashmir 31JAN09

Meteorite hits Akhnoor

by AZHAR RAFIQIE
Srinagar, Feb 1: A meteorite hit Akhnoor area in Jammu, Saturday night following which many astronomical organizations rushed their teams to study the phenomenon on the spot. The meteorite, according to the locals, descended in the open ground at 11.25 pm. However, it didn’t cause any damage to life or property, owing to its smaller size and low velocity, the locals added.
Many astronomical organizations including Indian Space Research Organization, TATA Institute of Research and the Kashmir University dispatched their teams to the area. One of the experts, who was on the spot, told Greater Kashmir over phone, “The meteorite was not that big in size otherwise it would have caused much damage due to its impact. It can prove more dangerous if its velocity and size is larger. It can cause serious damage and create a huge crater on earth.”
He said that facts would only come to fore after the research would be over. “We are assessing the samples and the impact area. We would be able to come to any conclusion after the research is over,” he added.
Meteorites are the parts of solar system and keep hitting earth. When it enters the atmosphere, impact pressure causes the body to heat-up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star. Most meteorites disintegrate when entering the earth’s atmosphere. However, an estimated 500 meteorites ranging in size from marbles to basketballs or larger do reach the surface each year; only 5 or 6 of these are typically recovered and made known to scientists.
Source: Greater Kashmir News,
SRINAGAR, MONDAY, 6 SAFAR-UL-MUZAFFAR 1430 AH ; MONDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2009 CE
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=2_2_2009&ItemID=29&cat=21

Bolide Over Oklahoma/Texas 30SEP2008 photo

Bolide over Oklahoma/Texas 30SEP2008 by Howard Edin 
(c)2008 used with permission

Photograph Information
Date
09.30.2008, 02:19 CDT
Location
Kenton, OK
Camera
Canon 20D, Tokina 12-24 lens set for 12mm @f4.
Exposure
Single 30 second exposure at ISO 1600
Notes:
50°F, 75%RH, Excellent transparencyInitial RAW conversion, slight asinh stretch in IRIS. Calibrated with bias, dark and flat frames. Noise reduction in PixInsight LE 1.02 Additional adjustments in Photoshop CS2

David Wang captured the same meteor using a fisheye lens. See the Okie-Tex photo page for that image.
Source: Howard Edin http://www.howardedin.com/photos/otsp2008-bolide.html

An additional report on the Tamdakht, Moroc Fall UPDATE 1FEB09

Photos courtesy of M.Aid & Svend Buhl, text Svend Buhl

First meteorite finds
Several professional Moroccan meteorite prospectors launched search campaigns immediately after the first reports of a fireball sighting spread.
The terrain in the foothills of the High Atlas is challenging to say the least. Unlike the Hammadahs and Serirs of the Sahara desert it can not be searched by car due to steep ravines, boulder fields and numerous canyons and dry riverbeds with steep cliffs. It took the distinguished hunters two weeks to locate the first fragments by the help of local villagers.
On January 3, 2009 A. Habibi reported the first chondritic finds on the Meteorite Central mailing list. Fragments were sent to scientific institutions and distributed among collectors only days later under the synonyms, "Taliouine", "Ticka" and "Tamdaght".

The weather in the strewn field has changed in the second week of January, from dry cold to rain and storm. Thus search and preservation conditions for the meteorites still in field have worsened. While the first few reported finds displayed no or only minimal signs of oxidation, the finds from the end of January already show some rust staining on the fusion crusted surfaces. As the number of recovered fragments went from two to six it became clear that the bolide had fragmented and produced a strewn field. Many of the reassembled masses show angular shapes indicating that they stem from a larger mother body detonated in flight. The explosion sounds reported by the eye witnesses support the idea of one or more multiple detonations.

As most specimens we have been able to study so far show a thick (0.7 - 1.1 mm) fusion crust. The ablation process must have continued after the fragmentation. However, NO eye witnesses reported multiple fireballs.

The fusion crust of the Tamdakht meteorites shows a rough, vesicular texture and often displays bubbles in the submilimeter scale.

The strewn field
The strewn field was reported to stretch from Tourdjale to Oued. We could not locate these settlements on our topographic maps but we have been sent GPS find locations by three different finders who found a total of 6 masses.

These meteorites have been found 11 - 16 km northeast of the city of Tamdaght, at the far side of the Jebel Tachkoucht. Please note that this data may cover only a part of the actual strewn field.

Approximate trajectory according to eye witness reports and meteorite find location according to finder's GPS data given in red. Map public domain, courtesy of Texas University The meteorite finds were located on the southern flanks of the Jebel Anrhomer whose peak touches the sky at an altitude of 3607 meters. The terrain is shaped by dry river beds with a south orientation, which have cut into the limestone and clay bedrock. The common soil type in the wadis of the Asif Imouten and the Asif Anarhra are aluvial gravels composed of limestone, red sandstone, dolocretes and clay. The higher banks with little or no hydraulic gradient often show a blanket of a dark red laterite soil. The find locations are in altitudes around ~1550 meters. Most masses which have been found until present, including those with weights below 1kg, are commonly broken into many fragments due to the forces of impact.

The horizontal trajectory, shallow impact pits in the loose gravel soil and the total destruction of masses that did not impact rock but clay surfaces, may provide evidence that the meteorites did retain at least some of their cosmic velocity until they hit the ground at an altitude of 1500 meters. At present a total of at ~10 masses totalling ~45kg can be considered confirmed. As most masses were recovered in the shape of many fragments the exact number of recovered specimens is hard to establish. Several other masses of unknown weight have been reported, thus no second source was able to confirm these additional masses, of which one was said to have a weight of ~100kg. The largest mass reported fragmented on impact on the flank of a limestone outcrop and shattered in many pieces. These were distributed in a half circle around the impact site up to a distance of 30 meters. Images that show numerous small fragments of this mass in- situ can be found on the website of Phillipe Thomas.

Several other masses fragmented on impact. Among these a specimen of ~400g of which seven fragments were recovered. After reassembling this meteorite showed the shape of a delta or short boomerang, with thin flanks, but with no apparent signs of orientation (see 2nd image on this page). About 95% of the meteorite was recovered. More or less intact specimens found include a 2007g individual and a 1514g individual, both with impact marks and less than 5% of the mass missing. Cut sections of the Tamdaght meteorite show a chondritic matrix with small chondrules which are hard to spot, particularly on fragmented surfaces. Several of the specimens recovered show slickensides.
We will continue to report information on the Tamdakht meteorite fall here and we appreciate any assist from Morrocan meteorite enthusiasts providing images from the field and information on further finds.

(Note: this is a summary of Svend`s page 2; to view ALL photos and pages see the links below)
http://www.meteorite-recon.com/en/meteorite%20tamdaght%201.htm
http://www.meteorite-recon.com/en/meteorite%20tamdaght%202.htm
http://www.meteorite-recon.com/en/meteorite%20tamdaght%203.htm

Source: Dr. Svend Buhl, Germany http://www.niger-meteorite-recon.de/ 1FEB09

Libyan Desert Glass

Libyan Desert Glass with natural hole ~2kg FOR SALE
(click on photo for larger view)- photo by Dirk Ross

Ramirez-Cardona, M., A. El-Barkooky, M. Hamdan, K. Flores-Castro, N. I. Jimenez-Martinez, and M. Mendoza-Espinosa, 2008, On the Libyan Desert Silica Glass (LDSG) transport model from a hypothetical impact structure. PIS-01 General contributions to impact structures, International Geological Congress Oslo 2008, Oslo, Norway.

"Fragments of this glass are mostly scattered upon the exposed bedrock of Nubia group (Cretaceous sandstone), on a large surface area along wide corridors between dunes of the Great Sand Sea (SW of Egypt). This distribution is somewhat the result of the tektite fluvial transport occurring throughout the Oligocene-Miocene boundary."

http://www.cprm.gov.br/33IGC/1350834.html

PIS-01 General contributions to impact structures

http://www.cprm.gov.br/33IGC/Sess_303.html

International Geological Congress Oslo 2008

http://www.cprm.gov.br/33IGC/index.html

Source: Paul Heinrich, LA, USA

Website Meteorite News Requests

Thank you All that have contributed to help make this Website. If anyone has creditable news to add please contact me directly for posting: drtanukiATgmail.com (replace AT with @)

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CLUSTER MAP OF WHO IS WATCHING FROM WHERE

(Click on Photo for a better view)

CLUSTER MAP OF WHO IS WATCHING FROM WHERE 1FEB09

---Thank you ALL! 749 visitors, since 19JAN09, in 13 days!
United States (US)343
Germany (DE)72
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2007 Meteor/Meteorite News-UPI/AP newswires

2007 Meteor/Meteorite News
Sources: -UPI/AP newswires

Asteroid nears Mars at 8 miles per second
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- An asteroid on a likely collision course with Mars could give scientists a look at what lies beneath the surface of the red planet.

Mars capable of forming organic compounds
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. space scientists have determined Mars, as well as similar planets, are capable of forming organic compounds -- the building blocks of life.

Watercooler Stories
Man eats record 103 burgers ... $53,000 charge at strip club challenged ... - Meteorite fails to draw high bids ... Recycled metal hippo stolen in New Zealand ... Watercooler stories from UPI.

Meteorite fails to draw high bids
NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A piece of famous space rock -- a meteorite -- was pulled from a New York auction after it failed to generate high enough bids.


2 big meteorites don't sell at NY auction, but battered mailbox nets nearly $83K
Author: RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer
Date: October 29, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two of the world's most famous meteorites failed to attract buyers at an auction Sunday, while an ordinary metal mailbox zapped by a falling space rock in 1984 was sold for the unearthly price of nearly $83,000.
A 30-pound chunk of the Willamette Meteorite, which was found in Oregon in 1902 and has been steeped in ownership controversies for more than a century, was offered by Bonhams auction house at an estimated value of $1.3 million but was withdrawn from sale after...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)


Watercooler Stories
College night -- bring the little ones ... Better pull your pants up in this Ga. Town ... For some, science confirms shroud faith ... Pair became successful meteorite hunters ... Watercooler stories from UPI.

Pair became successful meteorite hunters
SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Two men who met at a gem show years ago have parlayed their shared interests to become a successful team of U.S. meteorite hunters.


NASA launches spacecraft on double-encounter mission in asteroid belt
Author: MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
Date: September 27, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
NASA took aim at the heart of the asteroid belt Thursday, launching a spacecraft on a nearly decade-long journey that will include two never-before-attempted close encounters.
The scientific probe Dawn is on a 3 billion-mile course that will have it meeting up with an asteroid named Vesta in 2011 and a dwarf planet called Ceres in 2015. They are the biggest members of the crowded asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and scientists hope that by studying them up close, some of the...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Comet impact might have caused extinctions
BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led team of scientists suggests a comet or meteorite exploding near Earth about 12,900 years ago was responsible for prehistoric extinctions.


Correction: Peru Meteorite story
Date: September 21, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
In a Sept. 19 story about a crater in Peru, The Associated Press misidentified an expert who said it was caused by a meteorite. His name is Jose Ishitsuka, not Isisuka. He is an astrophysicist with the Geophysical Institute of Peru, not a geologist with Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute. ...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Experts now say a rare meteorite likely caused Peru crater
Author: EDISON LOPEZ Associated Press Writer
Date: September 20, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Peruvian astronomers said Thursday that evidence shows a meteorite crashed near Lake Titicaca over the weekend, leaving an elliptical crater and magnetic rock fragments in an impact powerful enough to register on seismic charts.
As other astronomers learned more details, they too said it appears likely that a legitimate meteorite hit Earth on Saturday -- an rare occurence. The Earth is constantly bombarded with objects from outer space, but most burn up in the atmosphere and never reach...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)


Possible Peruvian meteor strike reported
LIMA, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Officials Thursday were investigating claims as many as 200 people became ill after a possible meteorite strike in a remote region of Peru.


Officials confirm meteorite struck Peru but question whether it sickened people
Author: MONTE HAYES Associated Press Writer
Date: September 19, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A fiery meteorite crashed into southern Peru over the weekend, experts confirmed on Wednesday. But they were still puzzling over claims that it gave off fumes that sickened 200 people.
Local residents told reporters that a fiery ball fell from the sky and smashed into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border Saturday morning. Jose Mechare, a scientist with Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute, said a geologist had confirmed that it was a...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)


Peru investigates reports that meteorite causing illnesses
Date: September 19, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Officials are investigating unconfirmed reports that a meteorite crashed in southern Peru over the weekend and caused dozens of people to become sick.
Local media have reported eyewitness accounts of a fiery ball falling from the sky and smashing into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border Saturday morning. Officials have said it was a meteorite. Jorge Lopez, director of the health department in the southern state of Puno, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that 200 people...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Correction: Meteorite story
Date: September 18, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
In a story Sept. 14 about the historic Willamette Meteorite, The Associated Press misspelled the first name of a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Her name is Siobhan Taylor, not Siobahn. ...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)


American Indian group says planned sale of meteorite piece is 'insensitive'
Author: LARRY McSHANE Associated Press Writer
Date: September 14, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The Willamette Meteorite is a sacred icon to the Oregon-based Clackamas Indians. The tribe has its own name for the massive space rock, Tomanowas, and holds an annual religious ceremony with the meteorite in its home at the American Museum of Natural History.
Now a chunk of the 10,000-year-old meteorite is up for auction, and the tribe is denouncing its sale. But the owner of the fragment, noting the vast majority of the 15.5-ton meteorite remains untouched, said his sympathy for the...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)


Debris from meteorite impact 1.85 billion years ago in Canada found in Minnesota
Date: July 15, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A forest fire has led to a chance discovery of debris from the impact of a meteorite 1.85 billion years ago, more than 450 miles away at Sudbury, Ontario.
Geologists had scheduled a field trip in May along the Gunflint Trail in northeastern Minnesota, but most areas they wanted to explore were closed because of a wildfire that charred more than 118 square miles. Geologist Mark Jirsa of the Minnesota Geological Survey went up the trail to scout new locations and, in a spot he had never...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)

The Almanac
UPI almanac for Saturday, June 30, 2007.

Object that fell from sky was a piece of space junk
Author: JANET FRANKSTON LORIN Associated Press Writer
Date: May 11, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home earlier this year was not a meteorite after all, but probably a piece of space junk, scientists said Friday.
The silvery object was made of a stainless-steel alloy that does not occur in nature and is most likely "orbital debris" -- part of a satellite, rocket or some other spacecraft, said Rutgers University geologist Jeremy Delaney. "There's huge amounts of...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Meteorite recovered after Kansas tornado
GREENSBURG, Kan., May 8 (UPI) --

UPI NewsTrack TopNews
News from United Press International, around the world around the clock ...

Chemist: Mystery rock from a meteorite
SEATTLE, April 27 (UPI) -- A University of Washington engineer said a mystery rock -- said to be from an unidentified flying object -- is probably a meteorite fragment.


Mammoth, meteorite or bezoar? Christie's is offering all 3 in unusual auction
Author: MARIE-LAURE COMBES Associated Press Writer
Date: April 16, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
For sale: a 15,000-year-old Siberian mammoth skeleton.
On Monday, Christie's auction house in Paris, which usually sells fine art and furniture, is hosting an unusual auction of paleontological curiosities, including several prehistoric mammals. Skeletons of a 10,000-year-old, 13.5-foot-long rhinoceros and a 7.5-foot-high cave bear are also going under the hammer. The skeletons are currently owned by a private collector, but buyers may include museums or artists, said...
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Flaming objects miss jet in air over New Zealand; experts say they were likely meteors
Author: EDUARDO GALLARDO Associated Press Writer Date: March 28, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Pilots of a Chilean commercial jetliner spotted flaming objects falling past their plane as it headed for a landing in New Zealand, airline officials said Wednesday.
U.S. experts suggested the objects were likely meteors burning up in the earth's atmosphere and questioned Australian media reports they were probably pieces of a falling Russian spacecraft. LAN Chile airline said in a brief statement that the pilot, who was not identified, "made visual contact with...
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Tyrannosaurus skull, 10-foot mammoth tusk auctioned in New York
Author: MARCUS FRANKLIN Associated Press Writer
Date: March 26, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The skull of a large carnivorous dinosaur and the tusk of a shaggy-coated mammoth from the Ice Age sold for a combined $372,000 at a natural history auction Sunday, auction officials said.
The auction, which also featured a meteorite and other items, brought in a total of $1.55 million. "This is the highest-grossing collection of natural history sold at auction since such sales figures began in 1995," said I.M. Chait Auctioneers' director of natural...
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ESA student winners identified
PARIS, March 20 (UPI) --

Research team seeks organist
LONDON, March 12 (UPI) --

Suspected meteorite crashes through bedroom window of home in Bloomington, Ill., experts say
Date: March 7, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
When Dee Riddle heard the breaking glass, she thought her bathroom mirror must have shattered.
What she found was quite different: A grayish metallic object about the size of a deck of cards had crashed through a bedroom window and into a computer table. Intrigued scientists from nearby Illinois State University said it was likely a meteorite.
"In my 36 years of investigating meteorite calls, this looks like the real thing," said Robert Nelson, a geology...
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Space station moves to avoid debris
MOSCOW, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. and Russian officials changed the International Space Station's orbit to keep it clear of debris from a satellite destroyed by China, a report says.

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Report says man causing global warming ... Prosthetic arm feels more real ... Woman dies after mammogram mistake ... Space station moves to avoid debris ... News from United Press International.

Meteorite goes on exhibit for a day
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A meteorite said to be "as old as the solar system itself" went on display for the first time since crashing into the roof of a New Jersey home Jan. 2.

It came from outer space; N.J. finds a meteorite in the bathroom
Author: CHRIS NEWMARKER Associated Press Writer
Date: January 10, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A hole in the roof, a bathroom full of debris and a strange, silvery rock near the toilet -- the Nageswaran family soon realized they needed an astronomer, not a contractor, to fully explain what damaged their house.
Scientists determined it was a meteorite that crashed through the roof of their central New Jersey home more than a week ago. While extraterrestrial rocks fall to the Earth with some regularity, it is rare for them to strike homes.
"The fact that...
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Object from sky ID'd as meteorite
FREEHOLD, N.J., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The mysterious object that came through the roof of a house in New Jersey, gutting a second-floor bathroom, was a meteorite, experts said Friday.

Scientists say object that fell into home in NJ is a meteorite; landed in homeowner's bathroom
Date: January 5, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A mysterious rocklike object that crashed through the roof of a home and landed in the bathroom was a meteorite, experts said Friday.
For now, scientists are calling the dense metallic object "Freehold Township" after the place where it fell. It's about the size of a golf ball but weighs about 13 ounces, as much of a can of soup. Magnets held near it are attracted to it. Rutgers University geologists Jeremy Delaney, Gail Ashley and Claire Condie and...
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Watercooler Stories
'Spaceship Earth' sculpture crashes ... Unusual rock may be a meteorite ... Professors accused of fast test taking ... Manatee rescued off Texas coast ... Watercooler stories from UPI.

Mysterious metallic object crashes through roof of house in New Jersey, puzzles police
Author: CHRIS NEWMARKER Associated Press Writer
Date: January 4, 2007 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Authorities were trying to identify a mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a house in eastern New Jersey.
Nobody was injured when the golf-ball sized object, weighing nearly as much as a can of soup, struck the home and embedded itself in a wall Tuesday night. Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft. The rough-surfaced object, with a metallic glint, was displayed Wednesday by police.
"There's some great...
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Unusual rock may be a meteorite
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J., Jan. 4 (UPI) --

2006 Meteor/Meteorite News UPI/AP newswires

2006 Meteor/Meteorite News-
Sources /text-UPI/ AP newswires


Turkmen president spread his name, portrait and musings throughout country
Author: The Associated Press
Date: December 21, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A look at some of the notable initiatives of the late Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled Turkmenistan for two decades:
-- Named himself Turkmenbashi, or "Father of all Turkmen." -- Also gave the name Turkmenbashi to a major Caspian port, the month of January, Central Asia's largest mosque, an amusement park, the country's highest mountain and a meteorite that landed on Turkmen territory.
-- Banned opera and ballet, and started a...
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Study: Samples of comet dust show a mix of materials from distant reaches of the solar system
Author: ALICIA CHANG AP Science Writer
Date: December 14, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Detailed observations from the first comet samples returned to Earth are debunking some of science's long-held beliefs on how the icy, celestial bodies form.
Scientists expected the minute grains retrieved from a comet Wild 2 to be made up mostly of interstellar dust -- tiny particles that flow through the solar system thought to be from ancient stars that exploded and died. Instead, they found an unusual mix of primordial material as if the solar system had turned itself...
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Scientists find unusual meteorite in Kansas field using technology that might aid them on Mars
Author: ROXANA HEGEMAN Associated Press Writer
Date: October 17, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists were excited when they pulled a 154-pound meteorite from deep below a Kansas wheat field, but what got them most electrified was the way they unearthed it.
The team Monday uncovered the find 4 feet under a meteorite-strewn field using new ground-penetrating radar technology that someday might be used on Mars. It was that technology which pinpointed the site and proved for the first time that it could be used to find objects buried deep in the ground and to make an accurate...
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Meteorites used to study solar activity
OULU, Finland, Sept. 26 (UPI) --

Unusual meteorite found in Antarctica
CLEVELAND, Sept. 19 (UPI) --

Meteorite plummets through Norwegian roof
MOSS, Norway, Aug. 9 (UPI) --


Ten years later, few experts believe Mars meteorite contains traces of life
Author: MATT CRENSON AP National Writer
Date: August 5, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
It was a science fiction fantasy come true: Ten years ago this summer, NASA announced the discovery of life on Mars.
At a Washington, D.C., news conference, scientists showed magnified pictures of a four-pound Martian meteorite riddled with wormy blobs that looked like bacterial colonies. The researchers explained how they had pried numerous clues from the rock, all strongly supporting their contention that microscopic creatures once occupied its nooks and crannies. It was arguably the...
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Meteorite dust showers Norway outhouse
OSLO, Norway, July 17 (UPI) --


Discovery astronauts to look for dings in shuttle caused by space junk
Author: SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer
Date: July 13, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Discovery's crew will check the shuttle's wing for damage from space junk or tiny meteorites in a first-of-its-kind procedure Friday, two days after a spacewalking astronaut accidentally let go of a spatula that now circles Earth with other orbital trash.
NASA said the spatula posed no risk to the crew, but it planned to use a 50-foot extension boom attached to the shuttle's robotic arm to look for damage from micrometeoroids, the dust-sized particles...
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Second meteorite in a month hits Norway
STAVANGER, Norway, July 10 (UPI) --

The Almanac

Norwegian meteorite impact site located
OSLO, Norway, June 12 (UPI) --

Large meteorite hits northern Norway
OSLO, Norway, June 9 (UPI) -- A large meteorite struck in northern Norway this week, landing with an impact an astronomer compared to the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima.


Meteor in Antarctica may have caused mass extinction 250 million years ago
Author: MICHAEL CASEY AP Environmental Writer
Date: June 8, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A massive crater in Antarctica may have been caused by a meteor that wiped out more than 90 percent of the species on Earth 250 million years ago, a geologist said.
The 300-mile-wide crater lies hidden more than a mile beneath a sheet of ice and was discovered by scientists using satellite data, Ohio State University geologist Ralph von Frese said Wednesday. Von Frese said the satellite data suggests the crater could date back about 250 million years to the time of the Permian-Triassic...
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Australian fossils offer evidence of life from 3.4 billion years ago
Author: SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer Date: June 7, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The best evidence yet for the oldest life on Earth is found in odd-shaped, rock-like mounds in Australia that are actually fossils created by microbes 3.4 billion years ago, researchers report.
"It's an ancestor of life. If you think that all life arose on this one planet, perhaps this is where it started," said Abigail Allwood, a researcher at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology and lead author of the new study. It appears Thursday in the journal...
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Soaring prices for meteorites as the space rocks penetrate art world
Author: PAT MILTON Associated Press Writer
Date: April 12, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A meteorite believed to have come from an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter sold for $93,000 at an auction of rare space sculptures.
The 355-pound chunk of iron, thousands of years old and discovered in the Campo del Cielo crater field in Argentina, was one of 10 meteorites that went for high prices at a Bonhams' New York natural history auction. The pristine meteorite, known as "Valley of the Sky," was purchased Tuesday by a private collector in...
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Lunar rocks suggest meteorite bombardment
CORVALLIS, Ore., April 12 (UPI) -- New studies indicate many of the lunar rocks returned by the Apollo space missions show signs of melting about 3.9 billion years ago.


Rare aesthetic meteorites set for auction block
Author: PAT MILTON Associated Press Writer Date: April 10, 2006 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The art world's interest in meteorites has skyrocketed, with collectors and curators buying up the outer-space rocks for display in museums, galleries or on a cocktail table at home.
Meteorite hunters will get a chance to bid for some of the world's most coveted extraterrestrial rocks when they go on sale Tuesday at Bonhams' New York natural history auction. Among the highlights are a small slice of the 15.5-ton Williamette, the crown jewel of...
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Mars rock study is inconclusive
CORVALLIS, Ore., March 23 (UPI) --

Largest crater discovered in Sahara
BOSTON, March 4 (UPI) -- Boston University researchers have discovered the remnants of the largest crater of the Great Sahara of North Africa.

Bacteria survived Columbia explosion
SAN MARCOS, Texas, Feb. 22 (UPI) --

Jockstrip: The world as we know it
Taking a leak could be less of a crime... Asian with rude-sounding name changes it... Students unmask fake duke... Thief gets sample of moon rock... Rubik's cube record set at 11.13 seconds... The world as we know it from UPI.

Thief gets sample of moon rock
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Jan. 16 (UPI) --

2005 Meteor/Meteorite News-UPI/AP newswires

2005 Meteor/Meteorite News-
Sources: UPI/AP newswires

DEC 2005-JAN 2005

Studies challenge notion that Mars once was warm and wet
Author: ALICIA CHANG AP Science Writer
Date: December 21, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two new studies are challenging the notion that the desolate Martian plains once brimmed with salty pools of water that could have supported some form of life.
Instead, the studies argue, the layered rock outcrops probed by NASA's robot rover Opportunity and interpreted as signs of ancient water could have been left by explosive volcanic ash or a meteorite impact eons ago. That would suggest a far more violent and dry history than proposed by the scientists operating...
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Only two larger ones of...
challenge notion that Mars once was warm and wet
Author: ALICIA CHANG AP Science Writer
Date: December 21, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two new studies are challenging the notion that the desolate Martian plains once brimmed with salty pools of water that could have supported some form of life.
Instead, the studies argue, the layered rock outcrops probed by NASA's robot rover Opportunity and interpreted as signs of ancient water could have been left by explosive volcanic ash or a meteorite impact eons ago. That would suggest a far more violent and dry history than proposed by the scientists operating...
Geologists: No Mars water, just meteorites
TEMPE, Ariz., Dec. 21 (UPI) --

DEC

Huge meteorite discovered underground in area of Kansas rich in space rock
Date: November 11, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A rare 1,400-pound meteorite was discovered seven feet underground by a collector in an area long known for producing prized space rocks. Using a metal detector mounted on a three-wheel vehicle, Steve Arnold of Kingston, Ark., found the huge meteorite two weeks ago in Kiowa County's Brenham Township in southern Kansas. The meteorite is classified as an oriented pallasite, a type noted for a conical shape with crystals embedded in iron-nickel alloy. Only two larger ones of... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

NOV

Meteorites may have caused ancient lava
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 28 (UPI) --

OCT

Meteorite unlocks solar system secrets
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 27 (UPI) --

SEP

AUG
Red planet may not have been hot
PASADENA, Calif., July 22 (UPI) --

UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News
Drilling set at Chesapeake Bay meteor site ... British butterfly popuation is decreasing ... U.S. healthcare costs are double Canada's ... Prostate treatment with low side effects ... News from United Press International.

Drilling set at Chesapeake Bay meteor site
BALTIMORE, July 18 (UPI) --

Norwegian fjords, world's largest meteorite crater among new U.N. protected sites Author: ALEXANDRA ZAVIS Associated Press Writer Date: July 14, 2005 Publication: Associated Press ArchiveNorwegian fjords and the world's oldest and largest meteorite crater in South Africa were among seven natural wonders added Thursday to the United Nation's list of protected World Heritage Sites. The additions were made at the 29th session of the U.N. Environmental, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage Committee, taking place this week in the South African coastal city of Durban. The vast crater southwest of Johannesburg was formed... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

JULY

JUNE

The Almanac

Meteorite momument in Scotland
GLASGOW, Scotland, May 21 (UPI) --

MAY
Scientists size up 'backyard' meteorite
CHICAGO, April 14 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists are studying a meteorite that literally landed in their back yard.

APR

In the Stars: A second chance for exolife?
WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- A weekly series by UPI examining new discoveries about the cosmos. This week: Dying stars go through a stage where they expand to many times their original size, and new research suggests this stage might be long enough in some cases for life to take hold

Residents report streak of light over southern Oregon, Washington state
Author: WILLIAM McCALL
Associated Press Writer Date: March 13, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Dozens of residents in the Pacific Northwest reported seeing a bright streak of light as it flashed across the sky, startling witnesses from southern Oregon to the Seattle area, according to officials. Scientists said the flaming object was probably a meteor, and that it likely disintegrated before any fragments fell into the Pacific Ocean. "It was like a big ball of fire," said Summer Jensen, who was in her living room Saturday night when she saw the flash of... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Meteorite dust sheds clues to solar system ST. LOUIS, March 4 (UPI) --

MAR

Living bacteria found in ocean sediments
CARDIFF, Wales, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Welsh scientists said they have found living bacteria inside sediments about 16 million years old and located about a half-mile below the ocean's surface.

Lady Luck watches over Mars rovers
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The spectacular success of NASA's twin Mars rovers is due obviously to the skills and determination of the scientists and engineers involved in the mission, but luck also contributed to an amazing degree.

FEB

Suspected Meteorite Hits Cambodia
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — An unidentified object that crashed to Earth in northwestern Cambodia (search) has some villagers believing it may have divine power, police said Wednesday.
The hard, black rocklike object, weighing about 9.9 pounds, fell from the sky into a field about 19 miles north of Sisophon early Monday morning, said Sok Sareth, the Banteay Meanchey province police chief.
Hundreds of villagers rushed to the site to pray, believing it had divine power.
Local police initially thought a land mine had exploded in the area — a former war zone. The object made a hole 15.75 inches deep and burnt nearby grass and leaves.
Sok Sareth said he transferred the object to his office for further investigation by geologists and land mine clearing experts, ignoring requests from villagers to return it.
"Some people said others who have been possessed by spirits told them that unless the object is returned to where it landed, people in the community will experience hunger or disease," he said.
"But I don't believe that. Some people just made it up to try to profit from it."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145536,00.html

Meteorite lands in Cambodian rice paddy
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Jan. 26 (UPI) --


NASA rover finds meteorite on surface of Mars, offering clues to how planet's surface changes
Author: JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press Writer
Date: January 19, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
NASA's Opportunity rover has determined that a strange bubbly rock on the surface of Mars is actually a meteorite, offering a new clue into how the martian surface is made and remade.
Scientists are not so much interested in the meteorite itself. Rather, they want to see if other objects nearby also are meteorites and how martian winds are reshaping the planet. If sand is continually blowing in and being deposited on the surface, burying things and building up terrain over...
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NASA rover finds meteorite on surface of Mars
Author: JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press Writer
Date: January 19, 2005 Publication: Associated Press Archive
In a stroke of luck, the NASA rover Opportunity has discovered a basketball-size metal meteorite sitting on the surface of Mars, the mission's main scientist said Tuesday.
Scientists believe the meteorite might lead to clues about how martian winds are reshaping the planet's surface. Opportunity came upon the meteorite last week while performing other tasks. Tests confirmed it was a nickel-iron meteorite, said Steve Squyres, a Cornell University scientist who is...
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JAN 2005

2004 Meteor/Meteorite News-UPI

2004 Meteor/Meteorite News-
Source: links and text-UPI/AP newswires

Streak of light startles central Florida
ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 19 (UPI) --

In the Stars: Titan's critical secret
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew closer to Saturn's giant moon Titan on Monday than any other device built by humans. The mission, in one of the far corners of the solar system, is attempting to answer a very large, critical question -- does life exist anyw

Colo. family finds softball-size meteorite
BERTHOUD, Colo., Oct. 12 (UPI) --


Residents report bright lights in sky over at least five states
Date: July 8, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A meteor shower Wednesday night lit up the sky from Texas to western Tennessee, prompting a flood of reports to law enforcement officers throughout a five-state region.
The lights flashed across the sky shortly after 9 p.m. in portions of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the spotting was a meteorite, probably several.
"The front part was fiery red and it had a greenish glow behind it and a...
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Meteorite-Washington
Date: June 3, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
SEATTLE -- Withhold BC-Meteorite-Washington. The identity of the source of the story cannot be confirmed.
The AP ...
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Flashes, booms reported over western Washington state; officials say meteor possible source
Date: June 3, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Bright flashes and sharp booms were reported in the skies over the Puget Sound area early Thursday, and experts said a meteor or falling "space junk" may have been the source.
Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests. Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said scientists were looking into the cause of the skybursts...
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Meteor lights up sky over western Washington state
Author: TIM KLASS Associated Press Writer
Date: June 3, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A meteor about the size of a computer monitor flashed across the Northwest sky early Thursday, setting off booms that stunned witnesses.
"There was some question as to whether it was a piece of space junk burning up, but it was not," said Geoff Chester, a spokesman for the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "As far as I've been able to figure out, it was simply a rock falling out of the sky, as they are wont to do on...
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Scientists find signs of ancient crater possibly linked to mass extinction
Author: RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer
Date: May 13, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Millions of years before the dinosaurs vanished, an even bigger mass extinction wiped out more than 90 percent of the species on Earth. Now scientists think they may have evidence of an impact crater that contributed to the "Great Dying."
The Permian-Triassic Extinction took place some 250 million years ago in a vastly different world from today. Scientists have debated its cause for years. The end of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago is widely thought to have...
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New mineral from the moon discovered, named
Author: RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer
Date: April 26, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A chunk of the moon that landed on Earth as a meteorite contains a new mineral, which scientists have named after a researcher who years ago predicted the unusual process that formed the material.
Grains of the material, made of iron and silicon, were found in pieces of a meteorite that was discovered in Oman on the Saudi peninsula, said Lawrence A. Taylor of the University of Tennessee, a member of the research team that reported the find. The process that led to the...
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Scientists say giant meteorite struck western Wisconsin millions of years ago
Author: JULIET WILLIAMS Associated Press Writer
Date: April 26, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The muddy brown hills and rolling farmland here look like others in Wisconsin. Tall grasses, cornfields and a bubbling brook yield to rocky outcroppings and rows of trees.
But scientists years ago saw something different about those rocks and concluded an ancient catastrophic event occurred here, although what type of calamity remained a mystery. They believe they have finally solved the puzzle: A 650- to 700-foot meteorite crashed into the earth at speeds up to 67,500 mph.
The...
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Robot rover on Mars finds evidence that rocks were soaked in water in past
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: March 3, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Mars may once have been a wet place where life could flourish, according to NASA scientists who say a robot rover has found evidence that rocks on the Red Planet "were once soaked with liquid water."
"The ground would have been suitable for life," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, the lead investigator for science instruments on the rover Opportunity. "That doesn't mean life was there. We don't...
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Robot rover on Mars finds evidence that rocks were soaked in water in past
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: March 2, 2004 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Water percolating through the soil once created a friendly environment that would have been ideal for life to flourish on Mars, NASA scientists say.
It not known how long this environment lasted or if any organism actually developed. But scientists directing robot rovers prowling the Martian surface said Tuesday the evidence now is clear that some rocks "were once soaked with liquid water." "The ground would have been suitable for life,"...
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2001 Meteorite News AP-newswire

Sugar compounds found in meteorites; bolsters theory that ingredients of life came from outer space
Author: ALEX DOMINGUEZ Associated Press Writer Date: December 19, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive Sugar compounds, an indispensable ingredient for life today, have been found in meteorites, bolstering the theory that chunks of rock from outer space delivered the materials that gave rise to life in Earth. Another key ingredient, amino acids, has already been found in meteorites. George Cooper of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., said that while it has not been proved that meteorites delivered the materials that led to life, the discovery means... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Researchers says NASA's Mars researchers have failed to prove case for bacteria fossils in Martian meteorite
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: November 20, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive A group of researchers say NASA scientists have failed to prove their contention that a Mars meteorite contains evidence of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. A group led by Peter R. Buseck of Arizona State University said that the NASA researchers have inadequate evidence showing that tiny crystalline structures in Mars meteorite ALH84001 were formed by bacteria billions of years ago as the rock was sitting on the Martian surface. A study with Buseck as the first author appears... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Asteroid photos show complex surface with dust 'ponds' likely formed after impacts, researchers say
Author: WILLIAM McCALL Associated Press Writer Date: September 26, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive Photos taken by the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid show a landscape littered with boulders, small rocks and other debris that appear to have partly eroded and settled into mysterious "ponds" of thick dust, researchers say. The photos taken by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft, called NEAR, add evidence to the theory that even the weak gravity of an asteroid can hold on to much of the flying debris created when struck by another object such as... Click here for complete article ($1.50)

Geologists scour Colorado countryside for remnants of meteor seen from Idaho to New Mexico
Author: JUDITH KOHLER Associated Press Writer Date: August 30, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive Geologist Jack Murphy is in hot pursuit of remnants of a fireball spotted in the Western skies. Murphy heads a team of meteor hunters at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science that is chasing reports of a white ball described as up to 40 times brighter than the moon. Data from an acoustic tracking system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico suggest the meteor weighed roughly a ton and plummeted toward earth at 11.25 miles a second on Aug. 17. ... Click here for complete article ($1.50)


Newly discovered Mars meteorite could be window into Red Planet
Author: ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS Associated Press Writer Date: June 16, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A fist-sized meteorite, one of only 18 rocks on Earth known to have come from Mars, has been found by Swiss scientists in the Oman desert -- a prize discovery that could help determine if the planet ever sustained life.
Scientists at the University of Bern announced the find Friday and said they are just beginning to examine the meteorite. Most of the other 17 Martian rocks have been snapped up by collectors, they said, so few are fully available for study. "I suspected from...
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Meteorites from moon, Mars found
Date: April 8, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Researchers have discovered two new examples of the rarest space rocks found on Earth: meteorites from the moon and Mars.
The two rocks are the 15th and 17th meteorites to be found from the moon and Mars, respectively, making them the least common among the estimated 22,000 meteorites discovered on this planet. News of the discoveries was announced this month and will be reported in the July 2001 bulletin of the Meteoritical Society, an international organization devoted to the study of...
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Meteorite disappoints scientists after a year-long study
Author: The Associated Press Date: April 6, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
To scientists' disappointment, a meteorite that fell on a frozen Canadian lake has been found to contain none of the organic ingredients believed necessary to have initiated life on Earth.
Many scientists believe that simple life arose on Earth more than 4 billion years ago after meteorites crashed through the atmosphere, carrying amino acids and other biochemical compounds from outer space. The fragments of a 220-ton meteorite that were sprinkled on Tagish Lake in British...
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Study: Crystal in meteorite proves life once existed on Mars
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: February 27, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A crystal found in a meteorite from Mars could only have been formed by a microbe and may be evidence of the oldest life form ever found, researchers say.
Scientists at the Johnson Space Center in Houston say that a crystalized magnetic mineral, called magnetite, found in a Martian meteorite is similar to crystals formed on Earth by bacteria. "I am convinced that this is supporting evidence for the presence of ancient life on Mars," said Kathie Thomas-Keprta, an...
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Researchers say crystal in meteorite proves life once existed on Mars
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: February 27, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A controversial finding that a meteorite from Mars might contain evidence of life has been boosted by the discovery of a magnetic crystal that researchers say could have been made only by a microbe.
In a study appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston say a crystalized magnetic mineral called magnetite, found in a Martian meteorite, is similar to crystals formed on Earth by bacteria. "I am...
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Astronomers find key ingredients for formation of life
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer Date: February 20, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Complex carbon molecules and water, which are key ingredients for life, have been found in the dust and gas around distant stars. The findings boost the theory that the cosmic stew of life is common in the universe.
Astronomers reported Monday that orbiting observatories probing the space around both young and dying stars have found vast waves of water vapor and clear traces of carbon molecules that can play a basic role in organic chemistry. "This strengthens greatly the...
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Japanese team finds 3,554 meteorites in Antarctica
Date: January 23, 2001 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Japanese scientists have found 3,554 meteorites in Antarctica during a three-week search, a collection that could yield clues about the rest of our solar system, a government official said Tuesday.
The finds were made around the Yamato mountain range about 186 miles from Japan's base on the rim of Antarctica, said Shigeru Kure of Japan's science ministry. A meteorite is a meteor that survives the destructive effects of a flight through the atmosphere and falls to...
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