Bright, Basketball Sized Meteor in Ontario

Researchers from Western University have released footage of a basketball-sized meteor that was almost as bright as the full moon.

The meteor lit up the skies of southwestern Ontario last week. Astronomers are hoping to enlist the help of local residents in recovering one or more possible meteorites that may have crashed in the area just north of St. Thomas, Ontario.

Meteorites may best be recognized by their dark and scalloped exterior, and are usually denser than normal rock and will often attract a fridge magnet due to their metal content. In this fall, meteorites may be found in a small hole produced by their dropping into soil. Meteorites are not dangerous, but any recovered meteorites should be placed in a clean plastic bag or container and be handled as little as possible to preserve their scientific information.

More details can be found at  http://meteor.uwo.ca/research/fireball/events/st_thomas/overview.html

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 Credit: The University of Western Ontario

4 thoughts on “Bright, Basketball Sized Meteor in Ontario”

  1. How can you say meteorites aren’t dangerous?
    Has there been an internal NASA memo that delegated Panspermia to the rubbish pile? 😀

    Even otherwise, the same irreversible chemical contamination (as opposed to reversible, physical contamination) of the meteorite that you’re worried about – reflected in the advisory asking people to carefully handle the specimens – those same reactions could be harmful to people, surely? The key word here being “could”. Or is the “ground contamination” you’re worried about simply a case of avoiding the headache of ruling out terrestial origins of that cyanide group signal in the mass spec (aka dirty meteorite, being hard to clean), as opposed to reactions with the meteorite material?

    I’m certainly not fear-mongering, or arguing against going space-rock hunting 🙂

    1. Hi Micheal –
      I checked with our Meteoroid Environment Office here at Marshall and was told that you can keep it if it falls on your property. It might be a good idea to ‘share’ your find with local experts to see if there is any commercial and/or scientific value. Thanks for the question!
      Kris

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