Comments on: Meteorite found due to skycam

By: James H

James H — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:34:01 +0000

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone else saw the meteorite that my daughter and I saw last Thursday, November 19, 2009 over north central Oklahoma? It was about 6:50 PM, and it was the biggest fireball that I have ever seen. It lasted for about 2 minutes and seemed to be moving relatively slowly. It appeared to be coming toward us, which meant it was traveling toward the east. It broke into 3 different pieces which were all still on fire. One piece appeared to hit the ground very near to where we were just after it went out.

By: Messier TidyUpper

Messier TidyUpper — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:30:46 +0000

@ 37. Peter F Says:

Nearly every meterorite comes from a single asteroid?

Also @ 38. shane Says:

I don’t know. That’s what I interpret your quote to mean.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I know a *lot* of asteroids come from particular families that are “chips off the specific asteroidal rock” so to speak but I don’t think this is true of all meteorites.

There is a wide range of types & compositions of meteorites (iron, rock, stony-iron, carbonaceous etc ..) & a large number of different asteroid families and classes so its certainly not all from only *one* rock!

See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorites_classification

Belated comment & all but hope this helps anyhow.

By: shane

shane — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:00:19 +0000

I don’t know. That’s what I interpret your quote to mean.

By: Peter F

Peter F — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:03:39 +0000

Nearly every meterorite comes from a single asteroid?

By: shane

shane — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:05:51 +0000

@Peter F
Aliens play cricket?

Otherwise, most meteorites of this type come from one asteroid. This meteorite is different enough that it probably didn’t come from that asteroid. Or something.

By: Peter F

Peter F — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:15:11 +0000

Is it just me, or is that article really badly written and edited?

Can anyone explain what this section of the article was trying to say? Bluh…?

—

The Bunburra meteorite is about the size of a cricket ball and is an unusual type of basaltic igneous rock. Most basaltic meteorites are thought to come from one asteroid. However, the composition of Bunburra Rockhole means that it comes from a different asteroid.

This means that the process required to form this type of rock was happening in more than one place in the early solar system.

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:28:19 +0000

That is so cool!
@Dan Fischer, I watched the home security tapes of the meteor in South Western Ontario (Canada) from September 25 – but never heard more about the recovery! Can you give me a link? Thanks!

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:17:30 +0000

10. Plutonium being from Pluto Says:

Unfortunately, one cubic meter of plutonium would be a hyper-critical mass. The first big nuke we built with plutonium used only about 20 kg (about the size of a soft ball). I’m pretty sure neither I nor my neighbors (Atlanta) would appreciate the side effects(Great big boom). Besides, plutonium is an unstable element. It has to be manufactured by neutron irradiation of Uranium 238 in a reactor.

18. Malcolm Says:

Yeah. I expect it would strike earths surface at several hundred miles/hr and might make a sizable crater(maybe 10 meter in diameter?). Still, my yard is a quarter acre so I’d have plenty of room for it.

Most meteors are far less dense than platinum, so are more affected by atmospheric braking. Even a regular nickel/iron meteorite a meter in diameter would make a loud landing, though damage would be restricted to a very small, direct impact zone. What the heck, I’ll take what I can get.

I’m beginning to think Hoagland was just an unemployed geek, trying to make a living off the sheeple of the world. Cynical, but it appears, effective.

Gary 7

By: Melanie (Australia)

Melanie (Australia) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:12:24 +0000

Speaking of nakedness and our big empty spaces, if you do take the time to cross the Nullarbor you may even find the legendary Nullarbor Nymph!
P.S Watch where you walk – look down not up. There are very big unseen holes in that limestone!

By: Flying sardines

Flying sardines — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:54:38 +0000

@ Scott Edelstein again : (Others are free to read again too, natch! )

As for Hoagland links do try these :

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/hoagland/index.html

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/09/21/hoagland-still-wrong-about-face-on-mars/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/04/12/defacing-mars/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/12/17/hoagland-lose/

& just one more for you ‘coz its funny & true :

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/10/13/cartoon-beyond-belief/

Thanks BA!

By: MadScientist

MadScientist — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:43:56 +0000

Since you mention other cameras – how about a nice cheap webcam attached to a low-power dedicated ARM computer. The webcam may need to be repackaged so you can use a sapphire sphere as the lens and someone would have to write the software to deal with the severe distortion on the image – but I imagine after all the development work is done you can churn these out for under $1k each. Hmm … OK – so you still have to be a fairly avid amateur.

By: Flying sardines

Flying sardines — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:25:44 +0000

Oh alright Scott Edelstein, I’ll even help you out with your 2012 research – check out these sites from here :

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/05/19/2012-the-year-nothing-will-happen/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/07/15/because-2012-cant-get-any-dumber/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/08/28/disastrous-commercial/

There was also another really funny send-up of the ’2012′ movie trailer on the BA blog posted by the BA sometime months (?) ago but, alas, I can’t seem to find it ..

Off -topic & all I know but, hey, we are supposed to be educating folks here aren’t we?

By: Flying sardines

Flying sardines — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:55:18 +0000

@ 19. shane Says:

You’d be hard pressed to do naked eye astronomy better any where else. It is a bit of a drive though.

Good spot for doing plain *naked* (nude? naturist?) astronomy too!

@ 26 Shane :

More titbits about the Nullarbor:

Skylab fell there in 1979.

Did it? I thought that was more WA way? Over Western Australia north and west of the Nullarbour?

Not saying you’re wrong, just not where I thought.

@ 23 & 24 Scott Edelstein : Don’t worry – nothing terrible will happen in 2012 or, at least, nothing apocalyptic Mayan*-”prophecy” wise anyhow.

The BA has some good pages on the whole ’2012′ scare myth and even more on the literally in-credible (ie. not at all *credible*) Mr Hoagland. Basically, Hoagland is a whackjob and there is absolutely nothing behind the 2012 silliness. I’d advise you to type ‘Hoagland’ & ’2012′ into the search here for more.

—-

* Incidentally, the Mayan “world” has already ended when the European (specifically Spanish Empire conquistadors) came and conquered them back in the 15th century. Moreover, this was the same primitive “civilistation” that thought the Sun needed the blood of sacrificed prisoners to rise each morning. The Mayans were not exactly, shall we say, scientifically accurate in their weird & rather nasty beliefs.

By: shane

shane — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:52:03 +0000

More titbits about the Nullarbor:
It is the world’s largest chunk of limestone.
Skylab fell there in 1979.
The limestone caves at Cocklebiddy are awesome. Almost every rock you pick up has a fossil in/on it.
At the right time of year whale watching from the Nullarbor cliffs is fantastic. Otherwise watching dolphins and seals frolicking together is fun. The cliffs are amazing. It is like the continent just stops right there (I suppose it does really).

By: JB of Brisbane

JB of Brisbane — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:11:56 +0000

Jim Miller beat me to it. But just to expand a bit –

“Nullarbor” – from the Latin Null Arbor, meaning “no tree” (don’t worry; most Australians think it is an Aboriginal word). The Nullarbor Plain certainly is a desert, but it is not called the Nullarbor Desert.

By: Erik

Erik — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:42:01 +0000

@Scott Edelstein: Bear in mind the source of this programming. SyFy is the science *fiction* channel. I would not count this as a reputable news source. Now I will get out of the way of the others to tell you about Richard Hoaglund.

By: Scott Edelstein

Scott Edelstein — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:32:00 +0000

THEY ALSO QUOTE A FORMER NASA CONSULTANT CALLED RICHARD HOAGLAND AND HE SAYS THAT 2012 WILL BE THE END AND THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS HIDING THINGS FROM US(PEOPLE). THANKS PHIL I ADMIRE YOU AND THANK YOU.

By: Scott Edelstein

Scott Edelstein — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:30:54 +0000

Hello Phil,
ONE IMPORTANT QUESTION WHICH IS DRIVING ME NUTS AND MAKING NERVOUS..IS HOW REAL IS IT WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT TONIGHT IN SYFY CHANNEL ON 2012 IN WHERE SCIENTISTS ARE ACTUALLY BELIEVING 2012 AND HOW SOMETHING TERRIBLE WILL HAPPEN.

By: Tom Hill

Tom Hill — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:30:08 +0000

Dennis, I’ve conversed with Chris Peterson at Cloudbait Observatory. My post #12 has links to the North American Allsky Network, and a link to his allsky camera design. Just awaiting moderation…

By: Levi in NY

Levi in NY — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:45:26 +0000

According to the article they named the rock Bunburra Rockhole. A quintessentially Australian name.

Go Ozzies! Go science! Go Ozzie science!

By: Dennis

Dennis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:26:53 +0000

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has been running their All Sky Project for years, which encourages schools and individuals here in Colorado to do the same thing!

By: shane

shane — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:36:25 +0000

First I’ve heard of this so this is very cool. Thanks BA.
The Nullabor is one mighty fine place. Big though. It is worth a drive across at least once. Stay the night in one of the roadhouse motels and take in the milky way. You’d be hard pressed to do naked eye astronomy better any where else. It is a bit of a drive though.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:04:59 +0000

Gary, something tells me if a chunk of platinum roughly 1 cubic metre in size were to land in your back yard, it would cause some pretty significant damage…. however, the $934 million would likely do well to cover some of those costs, assuming you weren’t home at the time!

By: Tom Hill

Tom Hill — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:00:17 +0000

For this kind of watching, city lights don’t matter. A meteor that’s big enough to have a significant fall will be bright enough to see. Here’s a website showing cameras in the North America:

http://allsky.ca/NAdatabase.html

Here’s a website with the directions to build a camera. The owner of the website is the contact for the whole Colorado network. I recently searched for some of the parts on his list and they appear to be out of stock, but you can get the idea:

http://cloudbait.com/projects/allskycamera.html

The website also mentions software that does some of the work for you.

By: Lars

Lars — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:26:29 +0000

Why is this tagged as antiscience? I’m very dissapointed. I thought that the antiscience part of your blog was about IDers, antivaxxers and other kooks, but now I have to read about ASTRONOMY? Ok, this is it, I’ve had enough. I’m stomping out of here, and I ain’t coming back. Harumph.