Eyeball On the
Fireball: Meteorite
Lights Up Colorado Night
By Andrew Bridges
Pasadena Bureau Chief
posted: 08:06 am ET
09 June 2000 Scientists from the Denver
Museum of Nature and Science are continuing to interview eyewitnesses about a recent
fireball that illuminated the Colorado night, dazzling holiday campers with an explosive
display of nature’s majesty.
The museum has recorded interviews with more than 200 people who witnessed the bolide
streak northward across the night sky before exploding in a shower of sparks, perhaps
showering meteorite fragments across a forested, mountainous swath of the western state.
"Anyone who was out camping that weekend was blown away by the sight," said
Laura Danly, the museum’s space-science curator.
Lucky viewers
Some viewers lucky enough to be outside for the event – which occurred around
12:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (04:45 GMT) on May 27 at the start of the Memorial Day
weekend – reported hearing the rare crackling of audio-frequency radio emissions
produced by the space rock’s steep, zippy passage through the atmosphere. Others told
scientists the bolide’s explosion produced a ground-shaking sonic boom, heard and
felt just minutes later in several counties across central Colorado.
"But if you could add them all up, people were most astounded by the light of the
event and second would be the color and the flames they saw coming off the back of
it," said Jack Murphy, the museum’s curator of geology and meteorite collection
manager. Several eyewitnesses reported seeing the fireball break into three pieces near
Fairplay, Colorado. Others told Murphy that they saw a shower of sparks fall after the
bolide exploded.
"People are so enthusiastic and they describe the event in such detail you feel
you saw it for yourself."
-- Jack Murphy, Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Murphy said the museum’s "meteorite posse" has tape-recorded interviews
with many eyewitnesses.
"People are so enthusiastic and they describe the event in such detail you feel
you saw it for yourself," Murphy said.
Far-flung fireball
Alert skywatchers as far-flung as Wyoming, Utah, Kansas and Nebraska reported
seeing the streaking rock, which many said brightened the entire night sky. The museum
team will continue with follow-up interviews this weekend.
U.S. Army Major Mike Birmingham, of the U.S. Space Command, said he had no reports of
any satellite debris falling to Earth that night, meaning the spectacular atmospheric
fireworks were undoubtedly natural in origin.
Murphy said that seismic and acoustic sensors in the state did not record any data from
the event. He added that he was unaware of anyone capturing the sight on film or video.
It is unknown if any meteorite fragments will be recovered from this event. Indeed,
given the rock’s steep entry into the atmosphere, it is more than likely it burned
up, leaving nothing to fall to Earth, museum staff said. |