You are at the A. Ol'khovatov www-page: http://olkhov.siteburg.com/gr1997.htm (original is at http://olkhov.narod.ru/gr1997.htm )
The last update: Feb 12, 2008.
The file size is about 500 kb (and more with picture's downloads)
This www-page is devoted to the phenomenon, which can be called "geophysical
meteors" (or "geometeors"). They are meteor-like luminous events, but of
non-meteoroidal (i.e. terrestrial) origin. Just two centuries ago every
meteor was thought to be of terrestrial origin, as "stones can not fall
from the sky", and those few, who said about stones fallen from the sky
considered as heretics.
Then it was discovered that stones can fall, and they are of extraterrestrial
origin (meteorites). The previous dogma was quickly forgotten, so the pendulum
has swung into the extreme opposite position, and a new dogma was born
declaring that every fireball/meteor/bolide in the sky is of meteoroidal
origin, and is caused by a chunk of extraterrestrial rock/ice, etc., or,
at least, manmade space debris.
Just recently, the pendulum began to move to the equilibrium position.
An article on the item appeared even in astronomical journal METEORITICS
& PLANETARY SCIENCE (you can read the
scanned article).
It seems that the Nature is used to keep the Truth in between!
The main problem with geophysical meteors (geometeors) is that, unlike
the meteoroidal meteors (astrometeors), their physical mechanism is not
known. We can just suppose that probably the origin has some resemblance
with a ball-lightning. But the latter one is a problem for modern scientists
too! Many scientists try to avoid the problem, just ignoring it, while
groups (not very large) of enthusiasts work hard over it. Wish them success!
Let's return to geometeors. Several examples of them can be found in
my tectonic Tunguska article. New ones are given
below. But I will begin with discussion of their possible physical mechanisms.
Here I want to propose the simplest idea of the physical mechanism of
geometeors. In my opinion geometeors are a result of a strong coupling
between atmospheric and tectonic processes. In some of them "classic" atmospheric
factors dominate, in other tectonic ones. The real physical mechanist is
not known, but probably is is associted with electromagnetic/electric
processes. Let me explain the probable origin
of the electricity. We begin with the "atmospheric side". There are
numerous stories of a "bolt from a blue"- type discharges, which points
to a possibility of a very strong electric fields far away from a "bad
weather". There is no conventional explanation for them still. I incline
to think that there can be 2 main sources of the atmospheric electric fields:
charged atmospheric aerosol layers caused by "pure" atmospheric processes,
and the "tectonic" one, caused by emanation of aerosol from the ground
and re-distribution of electric charge in the ground. As the first, "atmospheric"
aspect of charge formation is less, or more known, I will detail the "tectonic"
one.
I begin with famous French physicist F. Arago, who wrote that thunderstorms,
and bad weather can be accompanied with subterranean disturbances. Arago
gave many examples, as water in springs become muddy or "agitated", when
a weather changes for the worse. Moreover, sometimes this behaviour is
often a precursor of a thunderstorm. In other words, it means that atmospheric
processes are strongly coupled with subterranean ones, at least sometimes.
For example, a variation of atmospheric pressure changes loading to the
earth's crust (ground), and can increase stress and emanation (degassing)
from the ground. The emanated aerosol particles can change atmospheric
conditions due to their electric charge, formation of water droplets around
them, etc. In the most powerful way the influence of endogenic processes
on atmospheric ones happens during increased tectonic activity, and is
the most known in association with earthquakes, and partly considered in
my tectonic Tunguska article. So here I just
add that increased level of atmospheric aerosol, and of electric fields
are measured before earthquakes. So during upsurge of tectonic activity
the endogenic factor apparently is dominated over the atmospheric one.
The most interesting aspect is an ejection of large electric charge of
endogenic origin into the atmosphere. For example, before the Febr.4, 1975
Haicheng, China earthquake several groups of investigators measured telluric
voltage as high as 10 V between two grounded electrodes with spacing 50
meters. Till now no theory can explain it, but anyway, it was one of the
points, on which the earthquake was successfully predicted and many lifes
were saved! In some "earthquake lights" events "boiled" sand or burnt rocks
below the lights were discovered (very nice pictures of earthquakes lights
and "their" burnt rocks preceding the 1999 Turkish earthquake can be seen
here). It hints
on a role of powerful electric currents, which can produce the effect due
to their heating, or heating by secondary induced currents. And indeed,
Japanese scientists, Yiri Enomoto and Zhong Zheng discovered ( see also
"Geophysical Research Letters v.25, p.2721 (1998)) traces of electric current
flowing through the surface (where "earthquake light" was seen during the
Jan.17, 1995 Kobe earthquake) in order of 1000 A for about 10 seconds.
In other words, the total electric charge transfered was in order of 10
000 Coulombs. A source of the currents is a mystery. Anyway, for a comparasion,
the average charge of thundercloud is a couple dozens C. Even a small fraction
of the charge can significantly alter the atmospheric conditions. So the
earthquakes weather anomalies (described in the tectonic
Tunguska article) are quite reasonable. On the other side, it is known
that 'earthquake lights' have tendency to occur during cold front's passages.
Besides these factors, a powerful solar event, which can deposite charges
and alter electric conductivity in the middle atmosphere (i.e. especially,
probably solar proton event) can also contribute, but I incline to think
that its direct influence is less important, than "interior" atmospheric
and subterranean ones.
Thus we can see that the coupling between tectonic and atmospheric
processes can produce atmospheric electric fields (or, anyway, the ball-lightning
like formations, whatever their origin is).
Here I try to speculate how the mechanism can lead to geometeors.
Please, imagine that due to combination of the above mentioned factors
in some place on the ground or/and in atmospheric layer above it a large
electric charges was formed (deposited), which also can alter air conductivity.
In other words, it is something like a large electrified aerosol cloud.
In this case, in certain atmospheric conditions, various kinds of an
electromagnetic phenomena can develop between surrounding area and the "cloud",
as well as inside the "cloud". If the phenomena look like a rocket lightning,
or fast-moving ball lightning, that will be a geophysical meteor, probably
flying to/from the place. But again, it is just one of possible explanations,
on which I don't insist. Moreover, I even don't have such a task to work out
the physical mechanism. My task is to collect, summ up, and to analize data.
To check the possible relation geometeors with clouds, I investigated
cloudiness (and airpressure) data around times of geometeor's events.
Below is info, which I reported at the 5th International Conference on Cosmoparticle
Physics "COSMION-2001", held in Russia in May 2001.
Here is a graph of cloudiness level averaged over 7 the most reliable
geometeors events (a horizontal line marks days from a geometeor's appearence,
a vertical one marks total cloudiness in %).
Thus possibly a geometeor is a very specific form of electromagnetic phenomenon in
the finest aerosol. Unlike a typical/classic discharge in a laboratory
(well-known from school-days) between two electrodes, there is very important
role of self-organization processes in finest atmospheric aerosol in
geometeor formation.
This is just one of the proposed mechanisms, and I don't insist on it.
Possibly there are other ones, the future will show.
Anyway, till now everything points that the most important aspect of the processes is a formation of energetic localized region in atmosphere, which points to some remarkable forms of self-organization (compare it with tornado formation).
Interestingly, that despite modern science till now can tell nothing about how the forms work, it is already possible to say, that modern science can expect their presence! Indeed, now it is already more or less established that self-organization is used to take place in none-stable none-equilibrium conditions of physical medium (including gas and solid body). And meteorological conditions favorable for geometeors (see below) indeed correspond to none-stable conditions of atmosphere, whereas the favorable "tectonic" conditions correspond to instabilities in subteranean medium!
I would like to add a couple of probably unusual thoughts, "food for thinking". Couldn't the high level of self-organization realizing in atmosphere somehow be induced by tectonic processes? Maybe there is something like a law of conservation of [nega]entropy?...An intriguing aspect of geometeors is that there are rather strong
evidences, that, at least, sometimes they can transport some substance ("geometeorites").
I think that geometeorites in many cases are what is often called
'meteors wrong' (one of the most famous were Igast objects, some other
examples of 'pseudometeorites' can be read here, for example:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/bookman/meteorites/pseud.HTM).
It is one of their most puzzling properties. It
is known, that sometimes a lightning can throw away a heavy rock for many
meters. Moreover, some scientists think that a ball lightning can transport
some substance too (this idea was especially popular a century ago, as
many facts point to it. Here you can read one example:
the
April 9, 1879 Chicago event (demands DJVU-plug-in, or see below). And
sometimes many terrestrial things fall from a clear sky. But a high-speed
geometeor transporting some terrestrial substance is very exciting!
What forces could be responsible for the tornado-like actions?
Indeed sometimes geometeors are accompanied with localized gusts of
wind (it is interesting to mention that sometimes lightning strikes can be
mysteriously accompanied with gusts of hot air [see NATURE,v236,p.413]).
Maybe a
possible hint or even a key is in this intriguing electrostatic
"invisible wall" phenomenon?
Nowadays geometeors are on the modern science frontier, or maybe even
a little beyond it. As soon as we explain ball-lightning, probably we will
have a large progress in understanding geometeors. Anyway, based on their
empirical rules/theory I publically (i.e. by posting the info in internet etc.)
made several (about 5) predictions in "meteorite fall" events about
"non-discovery of meteorites" - and all of them were confirmed! Of course,
I was a little bit lucky, as due to sparsely data and often second-hands
accounts a possibility of a mistake is rather large, but anyway, the domination
of correct predictions of the geometeor's interpretation is remarkable already,
when the theory is just in a germ state!
Anyway, as Chinese say, a long road begins with the first step, and
I hope that this input can be this first step. Everybody is welcome to step
forward!
3. POSSIBLE, PROBABLE, AND EVIDENT CASES OF GEOPHYSICAL METEORS
A lot of info on the events, which are probably geophysical meteors can be discovered in UFO www-sites, newspaper articles, etc.. Unfortunately, their descriptions often are not good for any solid conclusions. Anyway, in many cases the geophysical origin is very probable, and sometimes even evident. Please, pay attention that some links below are opened in new browser's windows.
This www-page becomes too large as well as the number of associated files. So I have present most of info in linked big files.
This is the journal of the Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU), presenting UFO and paranormal cases from Spain, South America and the Caribbean
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Argentina: A Firestarting Bolide?
Source: El Eco Digital
Date: 02.06.2008
Argentina: A Firestarting Bolide?
Witnesses claim that a strange object started the formidable fire in the mountains
Presence of a strange object in the sky - theory gains increasing strength
Another fire was recorded last night near Rancho de Popy, which was controlled by local firefighters, who explained that it was normal for fires to restart. For this reason they continued monitoring the area. However, witnesses claim having seen a strange object in the area ravaged by flames.
At the same time that the firefighters struggled to quench the flames, the rumor spread along the Tandil sierras that "a UFO was to blame." Others said : "It was a fireball," and still others insisted: "No, no, it was a ball of many colors that fell right in the middle of the hill."
Thus, hours have gone by and eyewitness accounts have added up right after another, increasing in sensationalism and being added to other possibilities amenable to the popular belief system, considering what could have been responsible for starting such an early morning bonfire.
El Eco de Tandil had the chance to chat with a local who preferred to remain anonymous: "Otherwise I won't be able to go outside due to the joshing I'll be subjected to," he apologized, while recounting his amazing story which led us to Route 30 on the way to Buenos Aires.
"I was with my companion on a business trip to Buenos Aires. The sky was starry on a calm early morning, almost on the verge of sunrise. We felt privileged to be able to see the phenomenon that was taking place -- all lined up we could see the Moon, Venus and Jupiter. It was remarkable to see and we felt privileged." But all of this suddenly changed when a red light -- that did not fall into anyone's plan and had not been described by the local newspapers, who had announced the alignment phenomenon --- crossed the sky at high speed.
"It all lasted between five and ten seconds. The red light travelled at great speed toward Tandil and descended toward the ground, until it vanished from our sight. It all happened so quickly that we didn't have a chance to react. As soon as we saw the light we hit the brakes and pulled over in an effort to take photos or film it with the cellphone, but I didn't even have enough time to draw the cellphone from my pocket."
At this point, the traveler suggested that "it could have been a piece of space junk, because it wasn't a star or an airplane. And I don't believe in UFOs," he said in closing. But one must add the same thing that is said of witches -- they don't exist, but they're there.
Meanwhile, the national media has also picked up the story about the events that could have started the fire that blazed a thousand hectares of the Tandil landscape. On the internet, one of the most popular news mediums, we find the digital page of renowned journalist and broadcaster Chiche Gelblung, who put up an article on his website entitled: "Is it True That A UFO Caused the Fires in Tandil?"
The article goes on to say that "only two weeks ago, a researcher interviewed by Minutouno.com had forecasted it: A UFO flap was in the works. And this is what appears to have kicked off in Tandil. Various eyewitnesses alerted the media to the fact that they had seen an enormous fireball shortly before the fire that devastated hundreds of hectares in recent hours."
Wintesses claimed over the air that an unidentified flying object crashed on Cerro de las Animas around 4 a.m. on Monday. This was the hill that caught fire this morning. To these callers, the skyfall was the cause of the fire that caused severe damage and the evacuation of homes and a hotel."
"It was like an enormous fireball and it fell behind the hill," another local told this program. Immediately, others emerged to corroborate the report, among them a worker for a local metallurgical firm, who said that the UFO gave off an intense glow and its size was similar to the that of the full Moon.
With the coincidence of the start of the the most intense fire, many felt the temptation to tie up these loose ends. However, firefighters believe that the fire began before this odd phenomenon was reported. Meanwhile, the event has become the sole topic of conversation in the town," says the otherworldly report.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: El Eco Digital - http://www.eleco.com.ar
(Translation (c) 2008, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Christian Quintero, Planeta UFO)
And here is some follow-up from http://inexplicata.blogspot.com/2008/02/argentina-more-on-alleged-firestarting.html
This is the journal of the Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU), presenting UFO and paranormal cases from Spain, South America and the Caribbean
Monday, February 11, 2008
Argentina: More on the Alleged Firestarting UFO
Source: Radio Tandil and Planeta UFO
Date: 02.10.08
Argentina: More on the Alleged Firestarting UFO
According to a metallurgist eyewitness, last week's fire in the hills of Tandilia, Province of Buenos Aires, were caused by a UFO.
Newspaper reports from Tandil suggest that a worker in the Ronicevi metallurgical plant was reporting to his shift at 4 a.m., and he claims having seen a UFO that gave off a considerable brightness and had a size similar to
the full Moon.
"It was like a giant fireball and it fell behind the hill," said the local, whose testimony was corroborated spontaneously by other people. According to the story, this object fell around four o'clock in the morning on the summit of Cerro Las Animas.
The wildfire devoured a broad region, causing serious damage and the evacuation of homes and one hotel. It is said that the fire did not start on Monday, but rather on Sunday, when a new outbreak occurred.
Two weeks ago, a ufologist claimed that a UFO flap was underway. The fact of the matter is that the authorities have been able to confirm the source of the fire, and did not find the remains of the object seen by locals.
(Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)
And here is some background discussion from UFO-viewpoint.
http://inexplicata.blogspot.com/2008/02/argentina-background-on-firestarting.html
This is the journal of the Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU), presenting UFO and paranormal cases from Spain, South America and the Caribbean
Monday, February 11, 2008
Argentina: Background on Firestarting UFOs
Argentina: Background on Firestarting UFOs
A fragment of the article "Fires of Unknown
Origin" by Scott Corrales (FATE Magazine, 2006)
When is a fire not a fire?
As night settles over the Pampa – the vast expanse of Argentinean flatland that transcends the confines of the province named after it – strange sights are seen by those who make it their business to be up after dark: hunters lying in wait for large boars to appear out of the darkness, lonely truckers making their way along unlit roads to make much-needed deliveries in small towns, and farmers looking for stray animals. The farms known as estancias pepper the emptiness much like stars filling the night sky, separated by many miles between and invisible to each other.
Sometimes, the impenetrable cloak of darkness is broken by an unearthly sight: the sudden appearance of a large dome of light that emerges from the short, scrub trees, casting a blood-red glow over the emptiness, suggesting the sudden start of a prairie fire that will devour the scrub vegetation in a matter of minutes, trapping the hapless observer in a wall of flames.
This is exactly what was reported by a group of hunters in the Pampa in August 1996: after witnessing the unearthly glow and the bloody flames, they thought their fate had been sealed by a rogue prairie fire, but as they sought a means of escape, they realized that they could not hear the trademark sign of a fire despite the approaching glow. This caused them to pause and look at the luminous dome at the center of the conflagration, which despite its reddish glow and yellow-orange core, did not produce any smoke: “the fire that is not a fire”, as it is known.
Julio Orozco, a deputy sergeant with the La Pampa police, witnessed many of these “unfires” throughout his life, mainly near his hometown of 25 de Mayo. In 1995, according to a report provided by Gaceta Ovni magazine (www.gacetaovni.com) Orozco and an assistant were patrolling some government offices in this empty region when both men noticed what appeared to be a large, raging fire in the distance. “…I saw a light that glared brighter than hell. Ordering my assistant to load shovels into the truck to fight the blaze, I phoned the firefighters in 25 de Mayo come to the scene. As I changed out of my uniform, my assistant came over to say the conflagration had put itself out. I thought it was a joke or that we had all gone crazy; a fire of that magnitude simply doesn’t snuff itself out.”
Yet Orozco struggled in vain to find the least ember of the massive dome of fire that had prompted him to call for help. After phoning the fire brigade once more to report a false alarm, he headed toward where the dome of light had been seen for a closer look.
“We went to Medanitos, to the oil fields, but saw nothing. We headed for the petrochemical plant to see if one of the burners had gone off, but nothing. No sooner did we get out of our pickup truck, a group of workers ran over to us asking if we’d seen the fire. According to them, it had been some six kilometers distant. They attested to the fact that none of the refinery’s burners were in operation at the time.”
Villagers have reported that huge trees known as ombus (phytolacca dioica) have been seen burning from their lofty crowns, consumed from above by a fire that does not involve combustion; one such tree in the province of Entre Rios was burned to the ground in such a manner, with no traces of a fire anywhere in evidence.
But strange objects have also been seen causing vast conflagrations: the fields on the city of Londres, Rioja Province, in the Andean foothills, were torched by the maneuvers of a “firestarting UFO” that disgorged a fireball on the fateful night of August 13, 1982 while two police officers looked on in utter disbelief from their patrol car. It was suggested that the unidentified object had deliberately waited for gale-force winds to blow down from the mountains before releasing the gout of flame, causing fire to devour the vineyards and groves of this largely agricultural region. The Buenos Aires’ Clarin and La Cronica newspapers covered the shocking story. Curiously enough, the ancient cultures of the Andean valleys had worshipped the fire god Pachacamac. Could the deity have come to collect his long overdue share of the harvest?
Startling though it may seem to us, the phenomenon of sudden fiery masses descending from above has been going on for centuries: La Vision de los Vencidos, the compilation of Aztec chronicles that recounts the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors and the strange omens that heralded the end of Aztec civilization include a strange account involving a "tongue of flame" (not a lightning bolt) descending from a clear night sky onto the straw-roofed temple of Huitzilopotchli, leveling the shrine and spreading panic among the citizens of Tenochtitlan. The Bible also offers us episodes in which sudden torrents of fire would descend from the heavens-- either consume a sacrifice or destroy an enemy.
In Chile, during a UFO flap that lasted from the April 25 to May 25 1977, the residents of the village of Vilcun looked on in terror as an immense "flying saucer" approached their homes at low altitude. The vehicle spun furiously on its axis and launched tongues of flame at the ground, making an "unbearable din" as it did so. The case's authenticity was verified by the GIFE (Grupo Investigativo de Fenomenos Extraterrestres). The investigators detected a sharp rise in radiation throughout the area.
In April 2006, the Institute of Hispanic Ufology reported a case involving a UFO – allegedly witnessed and photographed by police officers – that hovered over a scorched region of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi that burned to ashes as a consequence of an overwhelming conflagration.
Cattle ranchers in the vicinity of Tamuin were bewildered by the saucer-shaped craft, which hovered in plain sight for an unspecified number of minutes. Whether the unknown object was inspecting its handiwork or just happened to be attracted by the devastation is unknown; the fact remains that the blaze on March 10, 2006 torched a thousand hectares of pastures and the small peasant settlements with their respective small farms and ranches. The losses in livestock and farm equipment were equally high.
Strange fires were also unleashed that day in Valles, San Vicente, Tamasopo, El Naranjo, Ciudad del Maiz and other municipalities, causing temperatures to rise to nearly 45 degrees Centigrade.
There was no loss of human life in any of the cases mentioned above. This, however, has not been the case in every single event of this nature…
posted by Inexplicata at 3:29 AM
The event took place near the Brazilian town of Santo Antonio de Jesus ( 13.0S, 39.3W) about
22.20 UTC on March 6, 2006.
Here is a summary of the witness's accounts based on the abovementioned sources.
Some families in the region met the dawn without a sleep with fear of what they had seen.
An immense fireball crossed the sky. After it fell a fire reached at least 30 meters of height.
Initially, the residents thought that a small airplane had fallen in the region, provoking the fire that burnt part of the vegetation.
After searching the area, military policemen had evidenced that the accident had been provoked for the fall of a meteorite.
"The impact was so great that trees had been broken and five holes had appeared in the ground", said lieutenant David Borges, who commanded the operation. The fall area is in dense bush.
The agricultora Paulina de Jesus, who saw the fire during the fall of the meteorite, said to the policy that she was very scared. "Vi with clarity an immense fire ball crossing the sky, close to my house. When it fell, everything was very fast, and soon the fire reached at least 30 meters of height."
Two astronomers of the Antares Observatory (from the not-far-away town of Feira de Santana) had searched the area for the meteorite, but has found no any meteorites.
According to some accounts the fireball splitted/divided into two. One of
them had fallen over trees and bushes and started a large fire at once. The other one kept flying and disapeared over a hill, leaving behind the site where the first fireball had fallen.
Now let's look at the associated cloudiness data.
Below are GOES-12 satellite infrared (band 4) pictures for the region (taken from www.class.noaa.gov) centered at the fall point.
9.45Z, March 6
13.15Z, March 6
17.45Z, March 6
18.45Z, March 6
19.15Z, March 6
19.45Z, March 6
20.15Z, March 6
20.45Z, March 6
21.15Z, March 6
21.45Z, March 6
22.15Z, March 6
22.45Z, March 6
23.15Z, March 6
23.45Z, March 6
00.45Z, March 7
01.15Z, March 7
01.45Z, March 7
02.15Z, March 7
03.45Z, March 7
07.15Z, March 7
10.15Z, March 7
It can be seen that a border of a large cloud's formation was just to the west of the area of the event at about the time of the event.
From:
http://www.theomahachannel.com/news/4672177/detail.html Fairbury Man Says He Was Nearly Hit By Meteorite NU Professors Examining Rock The Omaha Channel (Nebraska) June 30, 2005 FAIRBURY, Neb. -- A Fairbury man was watering his yard last week when he had a very rare and close encounter with a possible meteorite. Brad Kinzie was out watering his yard in the wee hours of the morning Saturday -- trying to avoid the hottest period of the day -- when an object whizzed by his head and landed. "It came over my head, probably, about a foot and a half. I could feel the breeze," Kinzie said. "It was silver and it kind of had red and black on the back of it and smoke." The object landed about 65 feet from where Kinzie was watering. "I stood ... here looking at it, 'cause it was still glowing. I says, 'Wow,'" Kinzie said. Kinzie left it there to cool off, and made two wishes on his falling star. "One of my wishes came true. My oldest brother wasn't speaking to my sister for two years. They got back together," he said. Kinzie is checking with University of Nebraska astronomy professors to see if it is a real meteorite. If it is, Kinzie is in very rare company. The chances of this close of an encounter are one in 100 billion, expert said.. "I just been busy, people calling me on the phone," Kinzie said. Kinzie wouldn't say what his second wish is. After all, he said, it hasn't come true yet. "Only once in a 100 billion years, and it will probably never happen to me again," he said. Kinzie said if it is a meteorite, he will probably sell it. Collectors have been known to pay thousands of dollars for rare meteorites.And here is the follow-up:
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/08/26/local/doc430e8e857fc80624684544.txt Expert: Object is no meteorite By JONNIE TATE FINN Lincoln Journal Star (Nebraska) August 26, 2005 Brad Kinzie's life was changed when something glowing and smoking whizzed over his head in the early morning hours of June 24. The 50-year-old Fairbury man thought it was a meteorite. Others thought something just might have hit him in the head. Local TV news crews and radio talk show hosts speculated on the object's authenticity, while representatives from NASA and universities across the country called to confirm Kinzie's story. He stood by it. "They made jokes about me on the radio," Kinzie said. "But I didn't care. What? They think someone just threw a burning rock at me in the middle of the night?" Kinzie believed the meteorite theory so much he stored it in a safety deposit box at a Fairbury bank. "I heard it could be worth thousands," Kinzie said. "You only live once. That's why I want to see if I can sell it, you know, after I get it tested at the university." So Kinzie scheduled an appointment to have the rock analyzed by a technician Thursday at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This was to be the object's first test. But after Kinzie drove the 70 miles from Fairbury, the small, porous object was not examined as he was told it would be. Instead, UNL emeritus professor Sam Treves, who studies the structure, composition and classification of rocks, told Kinzie the technician who was to test the specimen was on another assignment. But Treves prodded the object, examined it under a hand lens and concluded Kinzie's sample was probably not a meteorite. He showed Kinzie examples of genuine space rock. "See," said Treves, holding up the smooth, heavy form of an iron meteorite. "The external features on a meteorite are very distinctive, because they're ablating as they enter Earth's atmosphere and that creates that smooth surface." Treves said Kinzie's object closely resembled volcanic rock because of its porous and glassy look. However, volcanic rock doesn't drop from the sky and isn't found naturally in a place like Fairbury. "I can tell you where to get other opinions," Treves told Kinzie, handing back the rock. "The fact that it was a fall and not a find is very important. "One thing is for sure: It's not an iron meteorite. I'm sorry." Treves said technicians would still analyze the specimen to see if it's a stony meteorite. A sample will be cut from the rock and ground down to 30 microns - really thin. They will look for chondrules, which are grainlike structures embedded in some stony meteorites. "I'm going to find out for sure if it is or isn't," a disappointed Kinzie said as he walked out of Morrill Hall. "It just has to be."
Here is a couple of the regional maps
Local weather from the nearest meteo-station is here for:
June 24,
and June 25
GOES-12 satellite infrared (~ 10 micron - band 4) pictures (taken from www.class.noaa.gov)
show that the event
occured when the place was near a border of a cloud's field. Below are the pictures
centered at the place and taken at about:
20.40 Z, June 24
00.45 Z, June 25
03.31 Z, June 25
04.31 Z, June 25
05.31 Z, June 25
05.45 Z, June 25
06.15 Z, June 25
06.31 Z, June 25
06.45 Z, June 25
07.01 Z, June 25
07.15 Z, June 25
07.31 Z, June 25
08.31 Z, June 25
09.31 Z, June 25
12.45 Z, June 25
15.25 Z, June 25
Reading a news item abute falling of a suspected
shooting star, I commenced researching on the topic.
Investigate it hardly fortunately, my native friend
(Reza Tayyeb Taher) sent me the considerable results.
What happened in "SHUSHTAR" - KHOZESTAN province - in
the South West of Iran - in "SHO'EY'BIEH" area.
(31'.51''N-48',51''E) ?
On April.19, around 5 a.m, household woke up suddenly
with a harsh, shocking explosion noise.
Begin shocked and confused, they found the adjacent
room in the blaze.
After while the fire was put out, but the roof
collapsed.
Though investigating the rains, they could find
nothing as a cavse.
Not hint of any blow to the roof, curvature, melting,
etc was discovered.
What did the witness see?
A man who lived in a neighboving home said: he was
sleeping in the yard, when he saw a shining object of
diameter 15cm which passed about 8 meters from above
his head and moved quickly towards that room in
horizontal direction.
According to his statement, the object pass the wall
then exploded and set the room in fire.
The eye witness described the aforementioned object as
follow:
a) It was a shining, hit ball-like with a dark light
which did not attract the eyes.
b) It also caused a whistle sound and moved very fast.
c) The man managed only two observe ten meters of the
ball's route.
d) It is estimated intensity of the light that was
around -6.
e) After entering the room the ball blows up and caved
the fire.
Differences between this event and the event in
"BABOL":
1- Unlike this case in which the speed was hight, in
Babol event the speed was too low and the ball was
almost floating above the ground and spread some
sparkles around.
2- The ball size of Babol's event was about 30cm.
3- It was reported movement of ball in Babol's case
was in vertical direction.
On my request Iman Naderi also sent me some meteorological data.
The weather report of the event day is follow: Location HVAZ (20Km) HUSHTAR (10Km) SHO'EY'BIEH Date 19.Apr 19.Apr 19.Apr Time 7:30am 7:30am 6:30am Air pressure(hPa) 1011.7 1006.0 --- emperature(dry)(Deg. C) 19.2 21.0 13.4 Temperature(wet)(Deg. C) 13.2 13.0 12.2 Cloudy 0% 0% 25% Humidity 46% 34% 87%
Here are my comments. First, it is nice to know that Iranian researchers got
interested in such phenomena. By the way, this also shows that such phenomena
may be not rare.
Please pay attention that in the West the town is used to be known as Shooshtar
(32.04 N, 48.86E). Here is some more weather info for nearby towns:
Ahwaz (31.3 N, 48.7 E)
Ali-Goodarz (32.4 N, 49.7 E)
Masjed-Soleyman (32.0 N, 49.3 E)
Safi-Abad Dezful (32.3 N, 48.4 E)
Below is cloudiness in the region averaged for
18-24 Z, April 18
0-6 Z, April 19
6-12 Z, April 19
12-18 Z, April 19
As can be seen, the cloudiness gradually raised after the event, but I can't say that the upsurge was strong. Possibly the most important is that the event took place at the time of high relative humidity. If so, this could explain why reported "not-bad weather" events (see also the Babol event of Jan.2, 2004) in Iran happened in the very early morning, as local temperature often has a minimum at that time, and so relative humidity is often the highest.
Here is from http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2004/sep/m17-013.shtml
Source: El Sureno http://www.surenio.com.ar/index.php?s=ARligwdw$$diarios/veo$WWW514sykpc3vct Date: September 15, 2004 Witnesses Claim Seeing Fireball Crash Behind The Martial Glacier ***In Ushuaia*** This occurred last night and could be seen from various parts of the city. A witness who was able to see the phenomenon is a scientist with CONICET. The possibility of a flare was dismissed due to its size. Numerous phone calls were made to Civil Defense. USHUAIA - Several residents of the city of Ushuaia saw a fireball fall from the sky last night after 20:00 hrs., resulting in an incessant number of phone calls to emergency services centers. One of these witnesses happneed to be Dr. Rogelio Acevedo, a geologist who is a scientific researchers with CONICET, whom at the time was taking his son to School No. 13 and saw the "bolide" at the level of the Martial Glacier but behind it. The scientist said that it was a mass of white, green and yellow hues, although this is the least important aspect. Regarding the possibility that it could be a flare, he dismissed it on account of its size. But this man, an expert in the field, was not the only witness to the space phenomenon. Although many people contacted the Municipal Civil Defense to ask questions, they said the colors were of different shades. Again, not a significant consideration. A resident of the outskirts of Ushuaia maintained that he can determine the area where this object fell, since he has cattle in the area. The man claimed having heard an explosion after seeing this object fall. The possibility that it could have been a meteorite has not been dismissed. The possibility of a rescue group visiting the site to ascertain the nature of the object was being discussed last night. Translation (c) 2004 Scott Corrales IHU Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez - Planeta UFOAnd here is from http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2004/sep/m22-018.shtml
Source: El Sureno (newspaper) Date: September 17, 2004 Unlikely Objects Found in Area Where 'Fireballs' Fell The elements were recovered by members of the Special Services Division of the Police, who took photographs of the Valle de Andora region. Experts from CADIC shall try to ascertain their origin. USHUAIA -- Unlikely objects were found in the forested area located behind the Le Martial Glacier, where the luminous objects reported late Tuesday and Wednesday allegedly fell. The objects were recovered by personnel of the Special Services Division of the provincial police, who scoured the area. The objects and some photos taken in the area shall be submitted for analysis by experts of the Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientificas (CADIC). No details on the items found were put forth, but it was learned that they did not correspond to the characteristics of the area. The survey in Valle Andorra and the Le Martial Grlacier - indicated as the sites of the fireball impacts - will continue today, weather permitting. Strong winds are forecasted for today, according to the weather report issued by official agencies. The new projected expedition may include scientists from CADIC interested in discovering "in situ" the conditions under which the strange elements were found, and which drew the attention of police researchers. It is worth noting that Dr. Acevedo, a member of this research center, was one of the witnesses to the fall of strange luminous bodies over the skies of Ushuaia. Acevedo suspects that the objects could be the remains of a meteorite or otherwise of a satellite tha burned out upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Readers will remember that on Tuesday night, almost at the same time -- between 20:30 and 21:00, over a hundred residents of Ushuaia alerted the Civil Defense and the Police about "fireballs" falling behind the Martial Glacier. The phenomenon was also seen on Wednesday by residents of the city of Rio Grande. There were even rumors yesterday that new luminous objects had fallen from the sky around 9:00 o'clock at night. Translation (C) 2004 Scott Corrales IHU Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO
And from http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2004/sep/m22-019.shtml
Source: El Sure=F1o (Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego) - Argentina Date: September 19, 2004 **Behind Le Martial Glacier** Part Of Forest Destroyed By Mysterious 'Fireballs' Traces of destruction in a forested area measuring 150 square meters: that is what was found in the area in which the mysterious "fireballs" impacted. Sheared pastures were found in another area. The most curious detail, which was made known yesterday, is that the damage was caused in the upper part of the trees -- some eight meters above the ground -- and that no prints were found on the ground that could serve as evidence for the collision of some strange object. This appeared in a report broadcast by the "Botella al Mar" news portal based on an expedition conducted by two individuals to the alleged "fireball" impact site. The report mentions Fernando Garc=EDa and Roberto Ceballos, who were in a forested area located behind the Le Martial Glacier and who took photos of the damage inflicted upon some 40 trees. The expeditionaries ascertained the existence of some "thirty or forty uprooted trees, some of them broken in half and others exploded, all of them lying on the ground in a south-north direction." It should be noted that a group of policemen from the Special Services Division also took photos at the site where the "fireballs" allegedly fell. It is reported that pasture areas appear as though having been cut by a lawnmower, and that the imprint of a long trail was left behind, as if an object had been dragged along several meters. Translation (c) 2004 Scott Corrales Institute of Hispanic Ufology Special thanks to Christian Quintero, Planeta UFO
And here is from http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2004/sep/m22-001.shtml
Source: La Otra Realidad Date: September 20, 2004 Argentina: Shattered Trees Found At Impact Area Expedition found no craters and the mystery increases 9-20-2004 - (17:05) - The strange object that fell from the sky a few days ago behind the mountain range of the Martial Glacier, and which was seen by at least a dozen residents of the city of Ushuaia, caused damage to at least 150 square meters of forested area within the National Park, but no visible marks were found on the ground following the impact. This has increased the mystery surrounding the celestial event that caused wonder among the Fuegian population. The "fireball", described thus by the press to counter act the lack of scientific details on the nature of the phenomenon, destroyed a considerable number of trees as it feel toward the Earth's surface, converting the impact site into a tree-clearing location. Some trees were sheared off at a height of some eight meters. But researchers would like to double-check this information and shall set out tomorrow toward the site that was first surveyed by a police patrol that took photos and some soil samples. One of the investigators to visit the site will be Daniel Acevedo, a witness to the episode that captured the public's imagination. He plans to collect samples of the local sandstone to ascertain if there are pieces of metal or any material foreign to the Fuegian geography. Acevedo will visit the epicenter of the crash accompanied by a forestry engineer who will determine if the condition in which the trees were found, in an area measuring "more or less forty meters across", as described by witnesses, correspond to human intervention, wind action or the consequences of the phenomenon being investigated. For the time being, scientists have dismissed the possibility that it could have been a meteorite, since the impact would have involved a rock that usually leaves unconceivable traces of its impact against our planet. Nor have they discarded the possibility that Earth may have traversed the path of some comet and that these "fireballs" could be part of the evidence. The survey headed by experts from the Centro Austral de Investigations Cientificas (Cadic) shall be essential to define the characteristics of the event and put an end to this week- long mystery. A five-hour long expedition on foot conducted by Fernando Garcia and Roberto Ceballos, authors of the photographs published in today's issue of Botella al mar, verified the existence of "thirty to forty uprooted trees, some shattered in half and others exploded, all of them lying on the ground in a south- north direction." It would seem that Garcia and Ceballos reached the same spot discovered by a local police patrol, but with a difference of a few meters. This means that there are at least two impact sites and this increases the number of traces of the event to be confirmed. It should be recalled that residents of Ushuaia witnessed - on two consecutive nights - how two strange objects fell to the ground. Numerous phone calls were made to the Municipal Office of the Civil Defense and the Police to report the sighting, which was described at the time as "a multicolored fireball that fell behind the Martial Glacier." Translation (c) 2004 Scott Corrales Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU) Special thanks to Jose Mart=EDnez E.
And here are several pictures of the area taken from
http://www.infobae.com/notas/nota.php?Idx=141808&IdxSeccion=100459
and a couple of larger pictures from
http://www.botellaalmar.com.ar/detalle_nota.php?Id=270&tipo=4
Picture1
Picture2
It looks like the area of damaged trees shown is larger than reported
150 square meters, but it is hard to judge from the pictures.
And here is from http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2004/sep/m23-002.shtml
Source: Botella al Mar.com Date: 9-22-04 Fireball Crash Site: "There's a rage in that place" One of the expedtionaries who walked to the site where the strange objects fell from the sky on Tuesday and Wednesday last week held an extensive chat with a journalist from Botella al Mar. Fernando Garcia described his journey to the mouth of Caaadon Negro in Valle de Andorra and the discovery of a 150 square meter area with trees found in positions that are hard to interpret. While the conclusions reached by CADIC scientists who also visited the impact site are expected, the following is the transcript of the interview with the Ushuaia resident. What made you go to the alleged crash site? Like everyone else in the city, I heard the story of lights falling from the sky last Tuesday and Wednesday. The fact is that I didn't give it much importance. On Saturday I heard a journalist explain that the police officers who'd visited the site hadn't found anything strange, but had indeed found flattened trees. And that was strange to me. Then I phoned my friend Roberto (Ceballos) a backwoodsman who knows the area well, and asked him to come with me. Just out of mere curiosity? Exactly, nothing more. Above all because the toppled trees intrigued me. Why did that suprise you? It gave the story a certain veracity. If people saw fireballs come down and there are toppled trees, then there is a certain coherence [to the story] and it was necessary to take a look. That's why on Saturday night we got everything ready and we went out on Sunday at 7:30 a.m.. Which is the exact site? It's the mouth of Canadon Negro en Valle de Andorra. I wouldn't like to give much more detail until the scientists have been. How long did you walk to get there? Once you know the place you can get there faster. We had no clues to go by and were just looking for something strange. But I figure that we walked some two and a half to three hours. Can the site be clearly made out? Clearly. The sensation upon reaching the site is that a plane crashed there, and you're expecting to see bits of metal plating dangling from the trees. That's the image. What's incredible is that when you penetrate the place, there's nothing at all to be found. There's nothing strange within the strangeness. Only 150 square meters of toppled woods. Imagine four walls and in the middle, all of the trees are overturned, fallen, all of them piled exactly from north to south. All of them toward the same place. In the north, where the object presumably fell, the tree trunks are sheared off at a height of six to eight meters, from greater to lesser, as though the object came in at a slant. Your opinion is that an object fell? Yes, yes, but it's odd, because the fallen trunks are in perfect state, as though the object hadn't quite finished falling yet. Their bark is intact. There is no trace of anything being burned, no dust, nothing. Could the wind have toppled the trees? I don't think so, because in one of the photos I took, and in which I asked my companion to stand beside a trunk as a reference, it can be seen that the trees had diameter of 70 centimieter. If there had been wind, it is hard to understand the direction of the gusts. The site isn't like a letter "U", with an entrance leading to the valley. It's an enclosure. It's as if a giant dinosaur had placed its giant foot in the middle of a forest, but never quite finished setting it down. The only possibility I can think of is that a tornado or whirlwind entered the area, caused the damage, and retreated in the contrary direction. A tornado? Yes, but that wasn't it, because it would have scattered branches everywhere, not piled from north to south. If the wind was responsible, the ground vegetation would have been damaged, and it was in perfect conditions. Would it be easy to see the area from the air? Of course, because it is easy to see that the breaks in the trees are no more than four days old. In some parts you could see tree sap, because the trunks had exploded. For this reason the collapse of tree-trunks in a domino-like arrangement would have to be discarded, because the trees are very close to each other. The first one can fall to the side and strike a second and then a third, but that's where the chain reaction stops. This is different: there are tree-trunks that appear to have been blown away from within by a stick of dynamite. All of the trunks are frayed on the same side. If there was such great external pressure, at least the roots would have moved. None of that happened. Translation (c) 2004 Scott Corrales Institute of Hispanic Ufology Special thanks to Christian Quintero, Planeta UFO
And here is some development from http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/2004/sep/m27-014.shtml
Source: Las Ultimas Noticias (LUN) Date: September 26, 2004 Talk of tornadoes, fallen satellites and saucer crashes Mysterious Treefalls in Patagonian Forest Sunday, September 26, 2004 The forest woke up on the ground. That simple, that strange. All of the trees occupying a space equivalent to a city block in that forest near Ushuaia had been uprooted, piled from north to south as if pointing toward the same location. Of course, speculation on what could have caused the strange phenomenon commenced immediately, according to INFOBAE.com According to the first explorers to reach the site, it seemed as if an aircraft had collided, with the exception that there was no fuselage lost among the branches. Locals told of having seen fireballs plunging from the sky days earlier, which - according to them - could have been the answer to the mystery. But none of the trees is burned. In the northern part of the now-mysterious site, the tree trunks had been severed at a height of six to seven meters, which validated for several witnesses the theory that the impact had been something - meteorite, UFO, satellite - falling from the sky. The Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientificas tried to appease the excitement saying it could have been a volteo (overturning), in other words, "a kind of tornado that uproots trees," according to the explanation given by Rogelio Acevedo. But Acevedo acknowledged that research must go on, since the winds in the area weren't strong enough to uproot the trees. Translation (c) 2004 Scott Corrales IHU Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO
Let's check whether meteorological situation was favourable for geophysical
meteors. Here is averaged and smoothed total (including all heights)
cloudiness for
18-24 Z September 14
0-6 Z September 15
The pictures show that the cloudiness decreased after the event,
which points to favourable conditions for geometeor's appearence.
I can't say that the meteorological situation was very favourable, as the
drop of the
cloudiness was not as sharp as in some other cases of geometeors, however
it is remarkable that the place of the event was in a local [spatial] minimum
of cloudiness after the event.
Data from Ushuaia meteorological station confirms the cloudiness decrease
and reveals such details as that the event took place during the cloudiness's
decline (in pdf-format and so demands free Adobe Acrobat Reader):
for September 14
for September 15
for September 16
So, what it could be?
From the limited data I have, for me the next explanations are the most
probable:
- The forest-fall was not related with the fireball and was caused "just
by wind". As it is seen in the data of the Ushuaia meteo-station, there
was a wind blowing from NNW to SSE at about
the time of the event. This is in agreement that the trees put down from
N to S. But the problem is that the wind registered was too weak to
produce such a damage and that the damage was very localized. So
it should be proposed that there were some very strong and very localized
streams inside the wind. A shortcoming of the latter proposal is that the
meteo-station did not reported strong gusts of the wind, which are to be
expected in such case, and moreover such wind would produce many similar
forest-falls in the region. With the limited info
I have, it looks like this was not.
So while such a possibility can't be ruled out
completely (with the limited info I have at least), it makes the idea not
very likely (while a possibility of a solitary/rare strong localized
downdraft like so called "burst swath" etc. should be checked by a
meteorologist).
- The forest-fall was related with the fireball. The only practical
realization of this idea is a geophysical meteor. In reality this
explanation is not very far from the wind's one, and overcomes shortcoming
of the latter. Indeed, as observational data shows, a geophysical meteor
could be related with localized gusts of wind. It this case, probably
both phenomena are manifestations of some poorly understood processes
in the atmosphere.
By the way, it is important to mention that a ball-lightning
could cut out trees (sometimes without any visible traces of a burn).
What to do?
- I think that it would be important to calculate a trajectory of the
fireball from the witness'accounts to check whether it is in agreement with
the forest-fall position. If it is in the agreement, it could be a crucial
argument in favour of the geometeor explanation.
- Also the aerial survey
of the forest-fall and the region is very desirable to understand details of
the forest-fall, as well as presence or absence other similar forest-fall in
the region.
- It would be reasonable to check conditions of the trees damaged
to estimate the wind speed which could do the damage.
- It would be plausible if an experinced meteorologist check whether
meteorological sitiation was favourable for the downdrafts (as "burst swath",
etc.).
Hoping that this could help to find the answer.
Here is from http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2004-July/142363.html
I live in Casselberry, Seminole County, Florida. Whilst visiting my daughter on Sunday, July Fourth, 2004, and during a terrific lightning and tropical rainstorm, the lightning had died down, when suddenly, at about 8 p.m., a HUGE thundering sound rattled all the windows! It had been preceeded by an extremely bright light, that was golden instead of the usual whitish glare that is typical of a lightning bolt. A meteorite about the size of a VW (?) hit two miles West of our location, on Dog Track Road, near Highway 17-92, in Longwood, Seminole County, Florida. It hit in an open lot, but, the blast caused all of the glass in surrounding homes to blast out of the frames. Luckily, no one was injured! Finally, this morning, July 8, 2004, WDBO AM radio mentioned the 'big boom' on the Fourth of July, in their traffic report at 07:35 a.m.! We noted that lots of FBI agents had blocked off the area, and that it wasn't until Tuesday, July 6th, that NASA came in from the East Coast, and started poking around with their radiometers, in their decon suits. I cannot find any info anywhere on the Internet, local news channels, or on Cable TV! Doesn't anyone care? Last week, a meterorite the size of a bowling ball crashed into a yard and THAT was all over the news!
Patrick Berry, USAF (Retired) http://www.af.mil
Registered Linux User #65411 http://lugww.counter.li.org
http://knopper.net/knoppix http://distrowatch.com http://sourceforge.net
http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/KnoppixCustomizations
http://www.gpstudio.com/stux/downloads.html
News-story appeared soon afterwards
(http://www.wesh.com/news/3537421/detail.html):
Did Meteorite Strike Central Florida?
wesh.com
July 16, 2004
CASSELBERRY, Fla. -- Speculation about a July Fourth meteorite strike in
Seminole County has many area residents searching their yards for answers.
From Oviedo, to Maitland, to Casselberry, witnesses claim to have heard
a large boom and saw bright flashes of light across the evening holiday
skies, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.
It's creating a meteorite buzz on local radio stations, WESH NewsChannel
2 reported.
"I saw this crazy light, and it was really bright," said Casselberry
resident Diana Felise. "The entire house was rattling. We thought the
pictures were going to fall off the wall."
If a meteor did strike the area, it is believed to have hit somewhere
around Red Bug Road and state Road 434, but Casselberry police officials
said they're convinced it was nothing more than a big bolt of lightning
since there was a severe storm in the area that night.
"Lightning, thunderstorms, welcome to Florida," said Lt. Dennis Stewart
of the Casselberry Police Department.
Many residents, however, still believe it was a meteorite. Rick Wega
shot video of the bright lights and remains convinced it was not a
storm-induced effect.
"The way it shook the ground isn't like no other lightning," said Wega,
"I've been around a lot of lightning."
Experts, on the other hand, said that until someone finds a piece of a
meteorite in the area, it will remain an unsolved mystery.
A meteorite is a small particle of matter that falls to Earth, and the
last one to reportedly strike the area hit in Lake County in 1918.
Because of such rarity, meteorites are very valuable, and in some cases,
one gram of a meteorite can be valued at $10,000.
Analysis of meteorological data (see here)
shows that meteorological situation was favourable for geophysical meteors.
It would be interesting to check seismic station's data (whether some
seismic disturbance was detected), and data of a lightning detection network.
Here is electronic (a little bit cleaned up) translation from Russian into English from Russian news-agency http://www.newsinfo.ru/?a=radio&sa=view_new&id=48229&y=x
Below is info I was able to collect in the Peruvian mass-media. As the later
is in Spanish, I translated it into English electronically by
http://babelfish.altavista.com/.
Please, pay attention, that in some of the info also an appearence of a
large hole/crater in the ground is mentioned. The latter one took place in the
near-by (to the place of the Febr.2 event) province of Peru on January 31,
and later the crater's appearence was determined to be of karst-like origin.
Also I marked some interesting places of the info by bold letters.
They do not find meteorite signs
WITH HOPE. Minaya engineer trusts the
settled down coordinates and equipment GPS to find the place of the impact.
MARCELO RODRIGUEZ In the next days will return with other equipment to
install a camping bases APLAO. It is necessary to walk six hours to find the
supposed meteorite that - according to witnesses Monday 2 fell the past in
annexed the Castle. The group of specialists who traveled to the zone to
confirm the fact could not arrive the last Friday at the place determined by
the coordinates settled down from an earthquake from 3.8 Ritcher degrees.
Integrated by engineers of the Geophysical Institute of the Peru and the
Geophysical Institute of the National University of San Agustin the team of
four people it was divided to cover the area with the help of GPS without
being able to obtain his objective, in spite of the will and to the unfolded
physical effort. After surpassing hills and hills, the specialists,
accompanied by journalists, they met in Aplao (Castile), where engineer
Arming Minaya, director of the Institute of the UNSA raised the necessity to
retake the search in days. "It will be necessary to return, but this time
with equipment and elements necessary to establish a camping base that, in
at least two days, allows us to investigate", it needed Minaya.
==============
http://www.elcomercioperu.com.pe/Noticias/Html/2004-02-06/Nacional0105399.html
They discard that meteorite has caused forado
ASI QUEDO. La presencia de aguas subterraneas produce vacios en el interior
de las areas sedimentarias. Ello habria provocado el hundimiento. BERNABE
CALDERON/ARCHIVO
In Arequipa the authorities still do not confirm supposed meteorite fall
The presumed fall of a celestial body in the cultures of the sector of
Chillapuquio, the last Saturday, was discarded yesterday by specialists of
Civil defense, who attribute the forado formation to him of the enormous one
of about thirty meters of length to the establishment of the ground, due to
the water presence in the subsoil.
Guido Huaman, geologist of the mentioned organization, indicated that the
subsoil of the small farm of the farmer Miguel Huaman presents/displays
filter galleries that have generated establishments. This phenomenon would
have given origin to the enormous hole that is observed.
The specialist, who directed the studies of evaluation in Chillapuquio,
bases her conclusions on the fact that were not indications of scents,
temperatures and own burns of a meteorite.
Nine years ago in the same zone they appeared forados that were consequence
of filter galleries, remembered the engineer. Huaman does not discard just
that by this zone similar phenomena take place, in this season of rains.
Of another side in Arequipa, until the closing of this edition it had not
returned the equipment of specialists of the Geophysical Institute of the
National University of San Agustin, that traveled to the district of
Huancarqui, in the province of Castile, to verify the supposed fall of a
meteorite the last Monday.
According to the version of the inhabitants of the place, that day they
observed a luminous body, simultaneously who felt an earthquake.
==================
http://www.elcomercioperu.com.pe/online/html/2004%2D02%2D05/onlnacional0104811.html
Presumed meteorite causes to alarm in town arequipeno
What it happened afternoon of Monday in a small town of the department of
Arequipa never will be forgotten by the hundreds of inhabitants of the zone.
According to Luis Alfredo Chavez Yanes informed, mayor of the province of
Aplao, 300 families of the town of Castile, to 8 kilometers of Aplao, agreed
in affirming that they had seen fall what would be a meteorite in the center
of two hills difficult and that it is to several hours of way.
In declarations to Confirmed of TNP, Chavez Yanes he said that after the
impact one took place polvareda tremendous. It added that according to the
Geophysical Institute of the National University of San Agustin at that
precise moment a small earthquake took place.
Finally, it said that Anita Arguedas, female leader of the Civil defense of
Arequipa, indicated that today, Thursday, an equipment of the University of
San Agustin would arrive at Castile to move to the place where the supposed
meteorite would have fallen.
Also, agency EFE informed that the director of the Geophysical Institute of
of the university arequipena of San Agustin, Arming Minaya, said that
Peruvian scientists investigate if the luminous object could cause the
earthquake at the time of crashing.
Sources of the Geophysical Institute of Peru confirmed that to the 12,30
hours of that Monday an earthquake of 3.5 degrees of magnitude in the scale
of Richter was registered to 16 kilometers to the south of the rural
districts of Huancarqui and Aplao, in Arequipa.
After the telluric movement settler of small villages bordering they called
to the authorities of the university of San Agustin to affirm that they had
seen in the sky a "incandescent ball" that hit in an uninhabited one and
caused "tremendous polvareda".
The director of the Geophysical Institute of of the university San Agustin
said to EFE that as a result of the testimonies was decided to send to two
scientists to the zone to confirm if the sighted object were a meteorite.
Also, it said that today, Thursday, will leave to a group formed by other
two geologists and two geophysicists to that region, to which is only
possible to be arrived at foot after six hours of long walk.
On the other hand, representatives of the Geophysical Institute of Peru
asserted that the characteristics of the earthquake do not correspond to a
movement caused by an impact, but to one related to a geologic fault that
there is in the zone, but they admitted that is possible that the impact of
an extraterrestrial object of great dimensions can activate the geologic
fault.
HLT/Elcomercioperu/EFE
=========================
http://www.elcomercioperu.com.pe/Noticias/Html/2004-02-04/Nacional0104692.html
Presumed meteorite causes alarm
Authorities and specialists are transferred to Huancarqui to confirm the
fact
Shocked two thousand settlers of the district of Huancarqui are about, in
Castile, due to the supposed fall of a strange body from the firmament, the
same one that would have hurried - according to they say surrounded in
flames.
The fact - that it would have been observed by a reduced group of people it
happened at noon of the last Monday and would be unnoticed pass of not being
because at that precise moment an earthquake of 3.8 degrees in the scale of
Richter felt, that was registered by the Geophysical Institute of the
National University of San Agustin.
Huancarqui is a town of healers and wizards. His mayor, Jhonny Cardinal red,
said yesterday that he had perceived the earthquake and received the
versions of the supposed fall of the strange body, reason for which
communicated the fact to Civil defense and the police. A police contingent
went to the zone where apparently the object fell, but yesterday did not
find sign some. Sources of Civil defense indicated that not they had
information on the matter, whereas a technician of the University San
Agustin needed that he could be a meteorite, although denied his relation
with the earthquake.
This last one discarded the fire fall, because it would have caused a
nonsingle disaster and an earthquake. Civil defense, the police and the own
university will send personnel to the place to determine the veracity of the
facts.
=======
http://www3.larepublica.com.pe/2004/FEBRERO/pdf5/locales.htm
(Febr 5 issue)
Fire ball falls in hill of Arequipa
By GESSLER OJEDA
Arequipa. - The settlers Scientific Martin Fernandez show fragments of a
meteorite. they saw an enormous fire ball that broke through thick by one
and dark mass of clouds in the sector of the Castle, district of Aplao,
province of Castile. The strange object hurried at great speed and hit in a
distant hill causing a powerful roar and the terror of the settlers.
Remezon
felt. It was like an earthquake, said the villagers when they appeared in
the police station of Aplao, capital of the province, to report the strange
phenomenon. Others called to the Geophysical Institute of the National
University of San Agustin (Unsa) to investigate more on the fact than it
happened Monday to 12:30 the past hours. The Geophysical Institute informed
that they cannot affirm nor discard that is a meteorite, but accept that the
ivestigacion is handled in that sense. The data of the Scientific Department
of the Unsa are not contradicted with the versions that arrived from Aplao.
REMEZON OF 3.8 DEGREES Registered in their censors a seismic movement of 3.8
degrees in the scale of Ritcher to 12:30:38 hours of last Monday. The
place - according to the Geophysical Institute 111 km to the northeast of
the university base are located, in the province of Castile, to little
kilometers of Aplao.
DATA AGREE Most of data agrees with the versions of the settlers. The
scientists need that the data make suppose that it would be a meteorite that
managed to exceed the atmosphere and to make contact with enemy with the
terrestrial crust. Personal
POLICIA OF APLAO of the police station of Aplao received the information and
it immediately tried to arrive until the place. He left to 3 of afternoon
and advanced near 10 km, but he did not find anything. Passed the 6 of
afternoon, because it grew dark, it could not advance more and the
expedition was suspended. Yesterday in Aplao, the authorities and the
population were organized in groups to look for the precise place where the
strange object would have fallen.
==================
http://www.frecuencialatina.com.pe/90segundos/detalle.asp?Catid=88&NewsId=2981
(TV, Febr.4)
Meteorite falls in Arequipa causing fear in the population
The settlers of the province arequipena of Castile, are scared by the fall
of which according to them it is a meteorite. According to a report of the
Geophysical Institute of Characo of the University San Agustin, Monday last
when mediating the noon fell a meteorite in the district of Huancarqui and
that caused a tremor of 3.6 in the scale of Mercali. Other towns that also
assure to have seen the fall of the meteorite were those of Aplao and Tipan.
The authorities of these towns immediately requested the support of Civil
defense and to the government of the region.
===================
http://www.frecuencialatina.com.pe/90segundos/detalle.asp?Catid=88&NewsId=2994
(TV, Febr.5)
Another meteorite falls in Peruvian territory
A second luminous object has fallen in less than four days in Peruvian
territory. Monday was Arequipa and this Thursday touched to the Cusco. In
this last case, the correspondent of 90 Seconds, and many people have been
able to arrive until the place that is to only 45 kilometers of the Imperial
City in the province of Anta. In the place it has been left an impressive
one forado, which according to they indicate the settlers of the place,
would have been caused by a meteorite that fell in night of Wednesday. The
orifice formed in the Earth has a dimension of 20 meters of diameter and 50
meters of depth. The meteorite fell in the community of Chillapucyo to 45
kilometers, to the north of the city of the Cusco, in the denominated sector
Chacan province of Anta. At the time of taking place the fall of the
celestial object, the settlers assure to have felt that the Earth shook as
if an earthquake to regulate intensity was tried. Soon a deafening noise was
listened to. Some witnesses informed that two years ago also it happened a
similar case in the district of Chincheros. The authorities of the
department of the Cusco, in their eagerness to avoid misfortunes, surrounded
the zone with a red tape, nevertheless, the peculiar ones do not let go to
the place where the enormous hollow is located where some arrive walking and
others in vehicles.
==========
http://www.frecuencialatina.com.pe/90segundos/detalle.asp?Catid=89&NewsId=3016
(TV, Febr.6)
After the happened thing in Arequipa and Cusco, 90 Seconds everything
informs to him on meteorites
In this week two meteorites in the South zone of the country have fallen.
The scientists consider that it is not necessary to be alarmed because daily
thousands of them fall on the planet. But as an equipment informs into 90
Seconds, the meteorites, celestial bodies that fall in the Earth every year
are able to change the course of the history of the universe. In Germany, a
group of scientists has concluded who makes 65 million years, the fall in
Mexico of a meteorite of 14 kilometers of diameter triggered an explosion
that caused the extinction of the 70 percent of the species animals, among
them, the dinosaurios. After the catastrophe the human species arose. It
does few days, in Aplao, Arequipa, the comuneros assured to have been
present at the fall of a meteorite. In the locality of Chillapucllo in
Cusco, the Earth shook and soon it appeared a crater. Nevertheless, there
were no greater damages. One would be small meteorites, that do not cause
any climatic change or greater damage if it is than does not hit in
populated places. By his speed, it is impossible to predict when and where
exactly a meteorite will fall. Nevertheless, the scientists are conceited
that greatest, those than weigh more than one ton, hurry to the Earth each
four million years. The Moral geologist Guillermo has in his power a segment
of which was discovered greater meteorite in Peru in the decade of the 60.
It is a mixture of Nickel and Iron, found it in Ayacucho and weighed 141
kilograms. It is presumed that there is more in our country than they fall
every year, but the evidence by lack of specialized investigation is not
had. In its orbit around the sun, the Earth happens through zones with
dispersed particles that by the rubbing, penetrate to the atmosphere,
becoming meteorites. They travel to 39,600 kilometers per hour. Some are
shining like which they were seen in Spanish sky at the beginning of
January. A few undo in the sky, but others fall on the terrestrial surface,
leaving to craters ten times greater than their length. Hopefully no never
causes damages in populated places.
==========
http://www.24horas.com.pe/noticia.php?id=20040207009
(TV, Febr.7)
Geologists initiate search of possible meteorite sighted in Arequipa
Four engineer geologists of the National University of San Agustin,
initiated the search of a supposed meteorite that would have fallen last
Monday in the province of Castile of this region, inquired today. Arming
Minaya, head of the Geophysical Institute of the National University of San
Agustin, has initiated with his work group the search of the meteorite,
having used the coordinates generated by a registered earthquake the same
rememberance day of the space object. The celestial body was seen by tens of
settlers of the district of Huancarqui, who also are collaborating with data
for their location. "we have determined the coordinates with the purpose of
locating this body, that has hit the Earth. We hoped to arrive at the zone
since they indicate to us that he is rustic ", commented Minaya. It
indicated that the reference coordinates have been determined in 72.3709 of
west longitude 15,9885 South latitude, to calculated data on the base of
stations of the university San Agustin. It recommended the settlers of the
place who have had the possibility of sighting the object to move away of
the place because the element could contain radioactive elements and affect
the human being.
===========
http://www.24horas.com.pe/nacionales/2004/02/06/013.php
(TV, Febr.6)
Another presumed meteorite falls in the Cusco
For the authorities one would be water filtrations. The settlers of the
Cusco do not leave their astonishment. The farmers of the communities of
Chacan and Huallpapuccllo assure that the enormous crater that appeared in
its earth must to the impact of a meteorite. The inhabitants of the zone do
not know how to explain in that circumstances the forado one of twenty
meters of radio took place enormous and three of depth. The zone is
well-known as Chillapuccllo and is located to only 50 kilometers of the city
of the Cusco. The comuneros are frightened by the finding and they attribute
it to a meteorite that fell of the sky. Nevertheless, the authorities are
conceited that it is a collapse problem by the water filtration. According
to his settlers, days ago they felt a slight tremor that remecio the zone.
When they were until the place they encontaron enormous the forado one.
=============
http://www.24horas.com.pe/nacionales/2004/02/05/033.php
(TV. Febr.5)
Fire ball falls in hill of Arequipa
An enormous fire ball that broke through by a mass of clouds fell in a hill,
in the sector of the Castle, district of Aplao, Arequipa. The strange object
that alarmed the settlers precipitated in a distant hill causing a powerful
roar. The Geophysical Institute informed that they cannot affirm nor discard
that is a meteorite, but accept that the ivestigacion is handled in that
sense. The personnel of the police station of Aplao received the information
and tried to arrive until the place. He only crossed 10 kilometers, but he
did not find anything.
Let's consider two probable explanations of the event:
1) It was a large iron (or stony-iron, at least) meteorite. Arguments
against this are:
- just a very large meteorite could produce M=3.8 earthquake (for a
comparasion: several kt-of-TNT-sized surface explosions are to produce
such earthquakes with football-field crater left). Such giant meteoroid
would produce various numerous manifestations, which were not reported.
- the earthquake signal does not conform with an impact. This argument
alone is enough to rule out the meteorite fall;
2) It was a geometeor, which in this case can be called as an earthquake light. Indeed, as it can be seen here geophysical situation was very favourable for a geometeor.
So all known info points to a geophysical meteor.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A meteorite has hit northern Iran causing minor damage to property but there were no immediate reports of casualties, state radio has said.
It said the impact sent locals in panic onto the streets in the northern town of Babol in Mazandaran province.
"A meteorite which hit Babol on Friday morning caused only some minor damage to residential units," radio said, without giving further details or citing any source.
It said the impact was felt up to one kilometre away.
Iranians are currently mourning at least 30,000 people killed by an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale which struck southeastern Iran on December 26.
Tehran, Jan 4(IranMania) - The fall of a comet on a residential unit in Babol, Northern Iran on Friday morning spread a wave of fear in the entire district.
A member of the family on whose house the comet fell tells the story:
"I woke up in the morning and suddenly saw an amazing light which was moving toward the house, just then I heard a horrible crash and when I came to myself I found our house totally destroyed."
Following the incident, the house of this Baboli family was ruined and damages were inflicted on the neighboring houses.
However no casualty has been reported.
Soon I got an e-mail from Mr.Pouria Nazemi (Jam-e-Jam Daily Science
Journalist www.jamejamdaily.net, Nojum Magazine News Editor www.nojum.net,
Tel: +98 (021) 737 97 44, P.O.Box:16535-479 , Tehran,Iran). Pouria helps
me a lot to obtain info on the event.
According to the Pouria's info (e-mailed on January 3, 2004), at about
5:30 Friday morning (2 a.m UTC) a
great explosion happened in the big house in the Moalem kelay in north of
Babol. There are 9 people live in this home and one of them waked up before
this event. She said that she had seen a very bright white light IN and out
of house and she had heard an increasing sound and then a great shake
happened. Other people in the house and other neighborhoods woke up in
panic and thought that an earthquake happened. The people felt this shake
in a radius of 1 Km from the house and many glasses were broke in a few
100 meters around. In the house there are some sign as if a great source
of heat acted, but every gas lines and electric instruments are good and
don't have any problem. Also no fire happened.
Some people saw a great fire ball that passing sky from top to the house.
It is very important that source of explosion must be in the house
because of direction of destroyed instruments to out of home. One of
Nojum reporters that visited the place said that it is like that you put
an unlimited energy in the room and closed all the doors and this energy
would like to free itself. This reporter is an active amateur astronomer
and recorded and photographed all meteor showers.
Another important thing, according to Pouria, that the reporter
can't found ANY EVIDENCE OF METEORE REMINDS OR IT'S CRATER. There is no
hole on the roof or walls. Also it wasn't from normal explosion like gas
or oil or other things like this ( there is no fire reported).
Pouria also e-mailed me photos from this place which his friend
Iman Naderi took on January 3 (thanks to Iman Naderi for his permission
to use them here!). You can see the photos below. Naderi went there with
the order of government for searching the place.
Finaly Iman, Pouria and
me compiled the following preliminary brief description of the event
(below), based on witness' accounts.
WITNESSES WHO WERE IN THE HOUSE SAID THE FOLLOWING:
On January 2, 2004 a woman in the house woke up before 5 am local time (1.30
am UTC), because her baby was crying and she was going to get milk to him.
After a short time she saw that the space of room became bright, but
she did not see the source of the light. She inclines to think that it was
outside her home. She says that her impression is that the source of the
light was approaching the ground and closer to her house with increasing
of illlumination in her room (however there is some possibility that the
illumination of the room at least partly was caused by glowing of the air
inside the room, but currently this can not be proved now).
After she saw the light for about 2-4 seconds, the ground became to
shake. About 2-3 seconds later the shaking increased significantly, and an
explosion occured, which damaged the house.
Other people in the house (a family of 8) woke up with the explosion
(they said that they were thrown up from ground with the power of the
ground shaking).
When a father of the family and his great son woke up and felt that the
ground continued to shake, they guided other members of family out of the
house. Within 4-5 seconds the great son ran to the yard before other family
to switch off gas, and other members of the family followed him in a few
seconds.
In the yard they saw a very bright red fireball (about 2 meter in
diametre) that was firing in the yard at the height of 1.5 to 2.5 meter
above the ground ground. It looked like a small volcano, and many small
bright particles were falling out from it.
Also they felt a kind of heat on their faces. The great son, who was the
first in the yard felt it especially strong (they can't remember feeling of
the heat being inside the house, because they were in shock). The feeling
of the heat continued with the great son for several days later at least.
The great son felt heat on his face like a kind of sunburn.
The ground shaking continued in the yard too. Members of the family who woke
up with the sound of the explosion said that ground shake accompanied with
low sounds continued for about 10 sec. in total. And no any smell.
Finally the shaking stopped, and the fireball disappeared.
WITNESSES WHO WERE OUTSIDE THE HOUSE SAID:
Research discovered only two persons who saw this event from out of the
house and what is one of them said. His house is about 500 meter far from
the main (damaged) house. He was sleeping when his wife woke up him with
squeaking 'earthquake!'. Then they heard a loud sound of an explosion and
felt that shaking of the ground increased after the explosion. So in
3-5 second after the explosion, he ran on a balcony of his house, and from
there he saw a bright object that was falling down vertically with high
speed into approximate position of the above-mentioned 'main' house.
Apparently he can saw the last part of this object moving for about
1-2 sec. The fireball fall was accompanied with continuous monotonous loud
sound without increase or decrease. The fireball left no trail. (There is
also another witness who saw the fireball fall, accompanied with the sound.)
DAMAGE:
Many hoses at the distances up to several hundered meters from the 'main' one were slightly damaged (glasses broken, etc.). Damage of the 'main' house is seen on the photoes. It should be marked that there are numerous signs of a heat in the 'main' house and in the yard. For example, many plastics tools were crumpled.
Also, it is interesting, that no damage on electric and radioelectronic devices was discovered. No apparent damage was discovered in an antenna attached to the house, and in a small transistor radio, which was in the house.
And a map of the damage in the house (e-mailed me on Jan.4 by Pouria) is
below.
The description of the event is in an agreement with an idea that it was a geometeor event. And indeed geophysical circumstances were favourable for geometeor's appearence.
And here is some follow-up (possibly is still here: http://www.nojum.net/news/newse.asp?newsid=34 ):
PRESS-RELEASE: Feb 8, 2004
CONTACTS: Mr. Pouria Nazemi,
Tel: +98 (021) 827 0029
E mail : news@nojum.net
On January 2, 2004 a report appeared about a meteorite fall on the town
of Babol, Iran. A group of Iranian experts associated with Nojum (Astronomy) magazine began to investigate. The group consisted of Mr. Pouria Nazemi, who has a large expertise in seeking scientific news and contacted many organizations to collect more information and also a science journalist (Mathematics BSc.), Miss Mohaddesseh Azimlu who was looking for physical explanation for such events since the previous one in some months ago (Physics Ms.)
Mr. Iman Naderi, a serious amateur astronomer who didn't miss a moment to reach the place and make early report and photos, Mr. Siavash Safarianpour who organizes a daily live TV program in popular astronomy and Mr. Oshin Zakarian, a nature and night sky photographer.
Witnesses reported that the event started with seismic, and sound phenomena,
which were followed by unordinary light inside house and explosion with a loud sound and ended by falling of a fireball which threw out sparks and was described as a " suspended lightning "about 2 meters in diameter and disappeared spontaneously. The boy who came out first and saw the ball had burnt his face, but nobody else was hurt.
Despite that the investigation continues, already now it is possible to state that the event had nothing to do with a fall of an extraterrestrial body, and evidently was of geophysical origin.
Investigation of damage in the town caused by the event reveals that a house, which was in the epicenter of the explosion, was badly damaged by the explosion, and many houses within several hundred meters from it have some minor damage. No traces of meteorite or any other object fallen were discovered. The damage of the house partly was as caused by some energy source inside the house, while possibility of a gas explosion etc. can be excluded.
After coming to conclusion that the event was caused neither by a
meteorite, nor by any known made object, the Iranian experts contacted
Dr. Andrei Ol'khovatov from Moscow, Russia.
He has a special web-page ( http://olkhov.narod.ru/gr1997.htm ) , devoted to similar unexplained fireball falls, which have nothing to do with meteorite falls, but are of geophysical origin. Dr. Ol'khovatov prefers to call them geophysical meteors or just geometeors. According to him, these events are poorly known, and little plausible physical mechanism was proposed for them yet, but observational data points that geometeors in many aspects resemble an energetic high-speed "ball-lightning". Anyway, a statistical analysis conducted by Dr. Ol'khovatov revealed that geometeors have a tendency to occur in some special geophysical situations.
So Dr. Ol'khovatov has joined the group of Iranian researchers in investigation of the Babol event. One of the tasks was to check whether geophysical situation of the Babol event was favorable for geometeors, especially in an aspect of cloudiness development in the region. It was checked through satellite meteorological diagrams and however it didn't show any cloud in the region, but starting changes in weather condition.
The Babol fireball was neither the first nor the last one in Iran. Some months ago Nojum received a report about observing a fire ball on May 23, 2003 in Marzanabad, in North of Iran. It was in a rainy evening and big thunders occurred continuously. Witnesses saw a high speed fireball hit two old big trees, broke them with a very loud sound and continued its way. The electricity broke in village for a few hours.
On January 21, 2004 another fireball came to visit an Iranian village in North West, near MeshkinShahr in Ardabil state. It was again a stormy night that a white fireball, bigger than full moon appeared in the sky and after few minutes disappeared. Simultaneously electricity broke in the whole area for several hours and a house was damaged. A part of roof covering was disappeared and a wall and door was broken with a loud sound.
As both these two events have happened in stormy weather with thunders and lightning, investigators come to conclude that they should be ordinary "ball lightnings" that may be produced in such conditions. During natural lightning a part of air molecules become ionized (which is called plasma) and shine as a flash in a moment and come back to ordinary state (we saw it as the path of lightning); but in rarely conditions that we still don't know completely this plasma is caught in a ball shape and if hits anything may release a lot of energy like a lightning with same loud sound and destruction. We know very little about natural ball lightnings, but can make them artificially in very small size in laboratory.
Anyway, the investigation continues, as those events and specially that one in Babol gives a rare possibility to get a lot of data about such poorly known meteorological or geophysical phenomena.
Group members are also waiting for your reports about any similar observations at news@nojum.net.
Here I would like to add some comments on other mentioned in the press-release events (thanks to Pouria Nazemi and Mohaddesseh Azimlu for additional info).
The May 23, 2003 event took place at about 36.5 N and 51.3 E at about 11.30 UTC (=Z)
Comparing averaged and smoothed cloudiness maps for
6-12 Z and
12-18 Z clearly
shows that the event took place during upsurge of cloudiness, and the "weather
worsening". The latter is especially well-seen on the precipitation (rain)
rate maps for
6-12 Z,
12-18 Z and
18-24 Z.
A neighbouring region can be seen on NOAA POES satellite infrared
pictures taken at appr.
9.50 Z,
12.00 Z,
13.40 Z,
The "damaging" fireball was indeed a sign of a bad weather!
Now about the January 21 Meshkin Shahr (or Meshgin Shahr), which took place
at 38.4N; 47.67E at about 18 UTC (see a map below).
Formally it was not a geometeor, as it was not seen fast moving. Possibly
we could call it as a "classic ball-lightning". Anyway,
as term "fast" isn't well-defined, let's check cloudiness. Cloudiness is
below on infrared images of METEOSAT-5 satellite:
16.00 Z,
17.00 Z,
18.00 Z,
19.00 Z,
20.00 Z,
It looks like in this case also the event took place when diffused edges
of cloud cover passed over the place of the event.
And now about what happened. Here is THE DAILY WORLD article (WA, USA) ( http://www.thedailyworld.com/daily/2003/Jul-15-Tue-2003/news/news1.html ) on the item:
ELMA - Elma High School Senior Brian Reed was bored,
just taking a night drive through Elma's dark, deserted
streets. Closing on 1 a.m., he, his cousin Scott Reed and
fellow Elma Senior Dan Raney hadn't found any more
excitement after midnight than before it.
Then, Reed says, a meteor tore open the night sky.
"We were just driving down the road, and I just saw this big,
bright flash," the 18 - year - old said. "At first, I thought it
was a shooting star or a falling star or something.
"It looked like fireworks, but it had a tail about six or seven -
feet long."
Reed said the falling rock appeared to break apart as it
approached the earth, exploding before impact.
The young men decided to investigate, and headed from the
freeway toward Elma High School, where they believed the
fragments struck.
"We went out there and started looking around, and we saw
a bunch of divot holes in the sand of the track out there,"
Reed said. "We looked for a while, then we went and got a
couple of cops."
Raney, 17, said he tried to pick up a piece of the still - hot
rock and burned his hand.
Soon police joined the young men's investigation, examining
the pock - marked asphalt and dinged ground.
Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer
and meteorite researcher, said Reed's description of events
matches with the stories told by others who have seen falling
meteors.
"It sort of has the hallmarks of being a classic meteorite fall,"
Smith said. "It's actually very rare (to see a meteor strike
the earth), but, as the population density grows, we get more
people reporting seeing this type of thing.
"These types of meteorite fall are reported about once or
twice a year."
After flagging down a Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Deputy,
Reed called his mother and contacted the Elma Police
Department. Working a graveyard shift, Elma Officer Travis
Bealert took the call.
According to Elma Police sources, the officer arrived at the
scene to find the young men searching for pieces of rock.
After examining the site himself, Bealert apparently
continued on his patrol.
Bealert's shift ended early Tuesday and attempts to contact
him were unsuccessful.
Though more than 20,000 tons of material strike the earth's
atmosphere annually, Smith said nearly all of it burns up
before it strikes the ground. Very rarely is material that
actually strikes the earth actually seen.
If the Elma meteorites are extraterrestrial, Smith said he
believes it may be the first meteor strike witnessed in
Washington's history. Six other meteorites have been
recovered in Washington.
Smith said a similar strike was witnessed near a Chicago
suburb last year.
"These things are seen to happen," he said. "Meteorites are
very, very rare things, but a lot of them fall."
The astronomer said meteors passing through the earth's
atmosphere usually burn and deform, leaving a dark, glassy
skin on the rock.
"It really looks like a burnt crust. That's usually a dead
giveaway," Smith said. "If they have the crusts on them,
there's a very good possibility that these could be
meteorites."
Until the rock has been examined, however, Smith said it is
difficult to be certain of its origin.
But, how do three young men of Elma top off their out - of -
this - world night? Snacks, of course.
"We went down to the store behind the bowling alley ... and
got something to eat," Reed said. "We were still pretty
excited."
ELMA - There's an out of this world mystery in Grays Harbor County.
Three teenage boys saw a fireball plummeting to Earth early Tuesday morning. Now their meteor, or the story of it, is the biggest thing to hit Elma.
"I looked over and I saw this bright streak through the sky," says Brian Reed. "It had a tail that was probably six or seven feet long and at the end it was glowing red. It was good size."
Brian's cousin Scott Reed also saw it. He says they watched the fireball disappear in the direction of their high school and then saw a cloud of dust go up in the air.
"We came down here and looked," explains Scott, "and all there was, was little holes and craters. We just started digging around right there, moving gravel, and we found little pieces that looked different."
The boys collected handfuls of tiny black rocks. One was so hot, it burned their friend Dan's thumb and finger.
The story of the meteorite crash spread through town, and soon everyone was sifting through the gravel looking for evidence.
"I never would've expected an asteroid or meteor would land in Elma," said one young girl.
And it's starting to look like one didn't.
Meteorite hunters from the Seattle area came to Elma after hearing the story, and they delivered bad news.
"We don't have a sample of it yet," says collector Blake Johnson. "If it stuck to a magnet I'd get pretty excited."
"They might be picking up the wrong rocks," adds collector Adam Hupe. "There might be some real meteorites mixed in there. I don't know. We've got to look at every single one."
The glassy black rocks could be worn asphalt or pieces of the old high school track. Any promising samples will go to scientists at the University of Washington to see if they're genuine.
But even if they're not, imaginations are free to run wild.
"We'll still think that it's awesome," smiles Scott Reed. "We'll still have it in our minds that we started something really big here."
And he adds, "I think it was a meteorite."
KOMO 4 News also received a handful of e-mail from other independent viewers saying they too saw the fireball streak across the sky shortly before 1 a.m.
ELMA - A meteorite is a seductive thing. It draws people towards it, pulls the obsessed to distant corners of the world.
Meteorites have drawn brothers Adam and Greg Hupe from their home in Renton to Africa and Europe. Tuesday they were drawn to Elma to examine the rocks three young men found early Tuesday morning after seeing something they believe to be a meteor heading toward the Elma High School athletic fields.
Unfortunately for Elma residents who've caught meteorite fever, the Hupe brothers had little good news.
"It doesn't look good at this point, but that doesn't mean you won't find something," Adam Hupe told the three young men.
Hupe said he will pass the rocks on to University of Washington professor Tony Irving, a former research scientist with the NASA who often works with the brothers, for further testing. He doesn't, however, hold out much hope that the small, black rocks are of extra - terrestrial origin.
Speaking with the three might - be witnesses, the Hupes said nothing to the young men to cast doubt on what the teens say they saw, only that the rocks they believed to be meteoritic were not.
It was a welcome change for Elma Senior Brian Reed, who said he feels many onlookers believe he and his friends are "full of it." To the critics and cameras, Brian Reed, his cousin Scott Reed and friend Dan Raney could do little but repeat their mantra - "We know what we seen."
While driving on Vance Creek Road just after 12 a.m. Tuesday, the three bored teen - agers saw a fireball with a tail streaking out of the sky followed by a flash. It looked like it was headed toward the Elma track and the young men went for a look.
Once there, they say they examined the apparently pock - marked shotput pit with a tiny, squeezable flashlight. They found glassy black rocks they thought were space rock. Excited, Brian called his mother, then the police for assistance.
Now, it appears those rocks were not out of this world, but the Hupes encouraged the young men and other would - be meteorite hounds to keep searching.
The area where the young men grabbed what they thought were meteorites was swarming with children and adults from all over the Harbor. They sifted through the pea - gravel and combed the grass looking for the extraordinary.
The brothers showed the searchers sample meteorites from other expeditions, hoping to give locals a better picture of their quarry.
It's the same routine they went through last March, when a meteorite came down in Chicago's southside neighborhood.
Hours after hearing about the strike, Adam was on a plane on his way to Chicago. A meteorite had smashed through residents' homes, breaking windows and piercing roofs.
Once on the lookout, locals started bringing in everything from gravel to large chunks of asphalt.
"We went to Chicago and about 90 percent of the rocks people brought to us weren't meteorites," he said.
"But once we showed people what real meteorites look like, they started bringing them in.
"That's what we're here for, to show people what to look for."
Greg Hupe said he and his brother do similar "show - and - tell" demonstrations when they travel to Saharan Africa, training nomadic Bedouin to search for the world's oldest rocks.
Dan Raney said the Hupes impressed him a great deal.
"Those guys are cool," Elma Senior Dan Raney said. "They're just awesome, really laid back."
After spending hours talking about treasure hunting with them, the Hupe brothers gave the three young men small meteorites.
Their cores sparked with elemental iron, the matte black rocks have a strangeness about them. Taking the thumb - size meteorites, the young men carefully pocket them only a little less entranced than when they saw what they saw two nights before.
1) The fireball was extraterrestrial/meteoroidal origin, which flew away, and
the remnants discovered have nothing to do with the fireball (they were
accidental artefacts of some industrial/human activity, etc.).
This interpretation has several large problems:
a) What kind of the alleged acitivity could produce the numerous hot rocks
spread in the area?
b) As the small rocks were so hot that they even burnt skin, so the
alleged activity must seized immediatedly before the event, which occured
after local midnight.
c)As I know, some rocks hit a set of aluminum bleachers and made small
dents. Other rocks hit the asphalt walkway and melted. And one even was
embedded into a telephone pole.
I can not imagine any possible industrial/human activity, which could explain
this - and what about you?
2)It was a hoax. It is "the last chance" explanation, which is often being put forward, when there are problems with other explanations. In the Elma event, taking into account the above-mentioned, I can not imagine, how great number of people must be involved. I consider this very unlikely. Anyway, if anybody has any real evidences of the "plot", he must state them, otherwise, the "hoax-explanation" is not worth to consider.
3) It was a geometeor. Or in other word
