Tips for first-time meteorite hunters.
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Are you thinking about hopping on the ATV and heading to the Marsden area to search for a piece of the meteorite that came down last week? Here's a great link on how to identify space rocks and the latest info on the official search from the University of Calgary. One comment in the U of C info that you should remember..."meteorites are the property of the landowner where they fall" Happy Hunting!!
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Brent could you have the U
Brent could you have the U of C researcher Alan Hildebrand talk about the amateur video that aired on CTV of the meteorite that crashed into a mountain outside of Banff . It shows the concussion knocking the person filming the event to the ground.
Were any pieces of that strike recovered?
Did they ever find out who made the video?
Was the video a hoax?
I had taped the CTV clip, but lent the tape out never to be returned. Ask CTV to air clip again.
Over a 100 years ago there was such a devastating explosion that flattened 800 square miles of a desolate forest in the Tunguska river valley in Siberia.Why not this time? Why so many hitting SK./Alberta?
Size DOES matter!
Without sounding too fresh, BJ, it's the size and angle that matters most.
I've read a great deal about the devastation in Tunguska. While the actual size of the meteor is open to speculation, it is generally agreed that the meteor entered the atmosphere at roughly a 90 degree angle. This caused the maximum amount of friction that resulted in an eventual explosion of the meteor. Even though it is thought that the meteor exploded at an altitude of several miles, the downward blast flattened an area of over 800 square miles.
By contrast, the meteor(s)? that we saw a few nights ago entered the atmosphere at a more severe angle. It is also estimated that the AlSask meteor was significantly larger than the one at Tunguska. Most visible meteors don't even make it into the lower atmosphere, simply burning and then skipping off into space. We were fortunate enough to have a large meteor hit the atmosphere at the best angle of entry.
I hope that everyone who witnessed this didn't forget to make a wish!
Saskatchewan Meteorite Impacts
It's odd that most folks in SK. are unaware of the impact craters here in our own back yard.
According to the Observer's Handbook published annually by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada there are no less than 6 meteorite impact structures in our province alone.
The largest is Deep Bay at the far end of Reindeer Lake in northern SK. which is 13 km in diameter. By way of comparison the Barringer meteorite crater in Arizona that is world famous is only 1.2 km in diameter.
I've been scuba diving in that crater....truly impressive all the impact shatter material is something to see.
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