![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Show.gif\")
<\/p>\nLast Sunday a\u00a0huge fireball lit up\u00a0Cranbrook’s\u00a0whole western horizon. \u00a0From high\u00a0up, first\u00a0a swiftly moving\u00a0ball of yellow\u00a0light caught the eye. \u00a0It rapidly gained brightness, until it turned into\u00a0a blue-white welding\u00a0arc. \u00a0A small\u00a0orange\u00a0globule\u00a0broke off and followed it\u00a0along its wake. \u00a0Then it suddenly flared and a spray of\u00a0brilliant white light\u00a0flashed out and lit all the sky for miles around and casting shadows on the ground. \u00a0A large blue-white\u00a0fireball\u00a0zipped out of that dazzling light, with one smaller orange fireball chasing after it, slowing down and dropping over the horizon into the smoke haze until it dimmed out of sight. \u00a0Minutes later, a dull rumbling sound\u00a0like thunder grumbled in the distance.<\/p>\n
In disbelief a\u00a0witness\u00a0in Crawford Bay “almost\u00a0ducked” as she\u00a0saw it\u00a0rocket close\u00a0overhead, the\u00a0eerie silent\u00a0blue-white fireball\u00a0and behind it\u00a0two smaller reddish-orange balls\u00a0falling away and arcing down not too far away to the North.\u00a0 There was a quiet pause as she looked North\u00a0wondering\u2014what was that?\u00a0 Then KRACK-WHAMMMM! recoiled\u00a0to the tremendous crash of a sonic boom–so loud she\u00a0felt it vibrate\u00a0inside her\u00a0chest, then a crackle and continuous waterfall of noise as the air tumbled back in to fill the tunnel of\u00a0low pressure air the supersonic\u00a0fireball had rammed through the sky. \u00a0For an endless twenty seconds this shook the house, rattling the windows,\u00a0the garage doors and even the ground before dying away. \u00a0For a second\u00a0she imagined\u00a0it was a nuclear bomb blast. \u00a0I’m not kidding, it was that loud! she said.<\/p>\n
Was it a small nuke? \u00a0NASA’s JPL website reported\u00a0a\u00a0monitoring satellite saw\u00a0an\u00a0air blast at 36km altitude equivalent to\u00a00.13 kilotons\u00a0of TNT.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Attachment KasloMeteor.gif above\u00a0is a GIF slideshow with frames displayed\u00a0every half second.\u00a0\u00a0When viewed in\u00a0webmail or on a web browser, it will play the animation.\u00a0 Moon at lower left. \u00a0Photo credit COTR meteor cam 4\u00a0Sep 2017.<\/p>\n
But videos show it\u00a0was a\u00a0meteor, a rock from outer\u00a0space, with pieces falling off as it went along.<\/p>\n
So, where did it hit the ground? \u00a0BC has a network of meteor cam\u00a0stations watching\u00a0to find where these hit. \u00a0The College of the Rockies has a meteor cam, and it tracked it\u00a0for about ten seconds, starting\u00a0from\u00a011:11:26pm. \u00a0 Six or more security cam\u00a0videos saw it. \u00a0One good\u00a0video\u00a0from Spokane\u00a0(near Gonzaga University) was used with the College video, and a photo from just South of Crawford Bay\u00a0near the marina, to triangulate where the meteor hit and was able to give us a good idea.\u00a0 Esko Lyytinen, a retired mathematician\u00a0of the\u00a0Finnish Fireball Network, kindly analyzed our video. \u00a0Summarized as follows:<\/p>\n
The main 50kg piece would have hit about 5km East of Kaslo\u00a0around<\/a>:\u00a0(49.8731\u00a0N, \u00a0116.8457\u00a0W).\u00a0 \u201cIt flew directly over Crawford Bay but not as far as Meadow Creek\u201d.\u00a0 The main piece\u00a0was last seen at\u00a049.7603 N, 116.8350 W, still\u00a018.9km\u00a0high\u200b.\u00a0\u00a0 The 100g sized\u00a0fragment from the brightest flash would have hit\u00a02.5 km South and 1km East of<\/em>\u00a0Riondel at around\u00a0(49.7381 N, -116.8393 W).\u00a0 The winds may\u00a0have moved the main fragment about\u00a0750\u00a0 m to the East and the 100 g fragments about 1.7 km to the East. \u00a0Thus the NE area of Crawford Bay would\u00a0probably be\u00a0favorable for finding\u00a0fragments.\u00a0 As well as from Gray Creek North to Crawford Bay along the road.\u00a0\u00a0 But fragments can veer in direction: after talking to witnesses, Dr. Alan Hildebrand is worried the main piece may have gone into Kootenay Lake.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n These fragmented meteors don’t make craters, craters are usually made by much larger solid nickel-iron ones. \u00a0This meteor was likely slowed down to around 200 km\/h by the time it reached “dark flight”. \u00a0\u200bIf the basket-ball sized 50kg chunk hit soft ground, it would have left a big dent about as deep as its diameter, then bounced up and landed on the surface again.\u00a0 \u00a0Unless it hit solid bedrock and shattered.\u00a0 The smaller fragments (100g would be around golf ball sized) would have just bounced like normal rocks.<\/p>\n Meteorites that strike the ground are not smoking\u00a0hot as depicted in Hollywood movies, so there is no need to worry about them starting a forest fire. They start off cold in outer space (about zero degrees C for meteoroids\u00a0around Earth’s orbit).\u00a0 Their outer surface gets\u00a0white hot as it compresses the air into a plasma sheath, but this blowtorch\u00a0heat is slow to penetrate the rock.\u00a0 This hot layer fuses and evaporates and is blown off as droplets, dust and vapour before it can heat the inside.\u00a0 So the inside remains cool during the brief 10 second fiery fall through the atmosphere. It\u2019s rare to find a hot or warm meteorite, some have\u00a0even\u00a0been found with\u00a0frost on them. \u00a0But the outside skin often has a one millimetre thick melted\u00a0“fusion crust” with thumb-sized worn\u00a0hollows.<\/p>\n Video\u00a0Frame at 11:11:34.066 seconds showing fireball and\u00a0pieces falling off along path (photo rotated). \u00a0Photo\u00a0Credit R.\u00a0Nowell, COTR Meteor Cam.<\/p>\n Judging from factors like\u00a0how high it fragmented,\u00a0porosity,\u00a0speed, cometary orbit from beyond\u00a0Pluto,\u00a0\u00a0Esko is\u00a0betting it\u2019s a common,\u00a0stony non-metallic meteorite, a “chondrite”. \u00a0These are the\u00a0most common types, they make up\u00a086% of meteorites that are recovered. \u00a0Formed of dust, clay and small sand\u00a0grains surrounding\u00a0“chondrules”: small beads of silicate minerals like\u00a0olivine\u00a0and\u00a0pyroxene.\u00a0 (Olivine is a magnesium iron silicate common on Earth but quickly\u00a0weathered). \u00a0May contain small amounts of magnetite, nickel-iron, or even flakes of metal. \u00a0 Density about 3.5 g\/cm^3 as heavy as basalt rock. \u00a0Very old, from primitive asteroids originating from the early solar system 4.5\u00a0billion years ago<\/p>\n Chondrite\u00a0Meteorite. \u00a0Polished face showing chondrules and metal flakes. \u00a0Dark shiny fusion crust.\u00a0\u00a0Photo\u00a0Credit\u00a0H. Raab, CC\u00a0Wikipedia article.\u00a0https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chondrite<\/a><\/p>\n Since it had a cometary orbit of about 50AU, Esko supposes it may even be\u00a0a carbonaceous chondrite with\u00a0lighter density. \u00a0That is a rare type of\u00a0primitive meteorite with organic compounds such as water, amino acids and hydrocarbons.<\/p>\n WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Chondrites<\/strong>: \u00a0 Look for rocks that a magnet will stick to.\u00a0 The surface may\u00a0have a thin grayish\u00a0fusion crust (a thin melted layer one or two millimetres thick) and scattered thumb sized hollows (worn away by atmospheric friction called regmaglypts). \u00a0Although rarer meteorites like the Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite meteorite looked like black charcoal briquettes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ignore<\/strong> layered sedimentary rocks (shale, limestone, dolomite) since these require an ocean to form, and this wouldn\u2019t be found on an asteroid in outer space.\u00a0 Also, if it has holes or bubbles inside (like pumice) that was likely from lava flows (basalt-magma) cooled with trapped volcanic gases, on Earth (although there are rare exceptions: a large asteroid like Vesta had volcanoes).\u00a0 Also, ignore rocks containing quartz or calcite, since they form in high pressure, hot watery solutions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Magnets:<\/strong> Since a lot of chondrite types contain iron oxides like magnetite, and some metal rich ones contain nickel-iron chondrules, a rare-earth magnet should stick to most.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Value:<\/strong> \u00a0If a hiker finds a piece, it could be worth a lot of bucks per gram or it may be disappointing. Common iron meteors are only\u00a0$.50\/gram to $5\/gram, rarer stony meteorites $2 to $20\/gram, and really rare ones $100 or $1000\/gram or more, depending if they have embedded gems or if they’re from Mars or the Moon. And some\u00a0meteors are dense and heavy, so they go a long way. For example, back in 2000, the rare carbonaceous chondrite meteor that landed on frozen Tagish Lake on the B.C.-Yukon border brought Jim Brook, the lodge owner who found it an estimated $850,000. The University of Alberta, with Canada’s second-largest meteorite collection, bought most of the meteorite.\u00a0 For sample\u00a0meteorite pricing, see http:\/\/www.meteorlab.com\/METEORLAB2001dev\/offering21o.htm<\/a><\/p>\n The Washington University in St. Louis has a great webpage showing all sorts of meteorites at http:\/\/meteorites.wustl.edu\/id\/metal2.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you do find a possible meteorite, send a photo to Dr. Hildebrand.\u00a0 Note that\u00a0American Meteor hunters have to report to the Canadian Customs, Canada has export restrictions on them.<\/p>\n [meteorite_flow_chart.gif]<\/p>\n Above is a flow chart guide designed by Deborah Guedes in Brazil to help identify a meteorite.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.lpi.usra.edu\/meetings\/metsoc2010\/pdf\/5357.pdf<\/a> \u00a0\u201cRegmaglypts\u201d are those worn-away thumb sized hollows in the surface.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The\u00a0College meteor camera has seen large fireballs or bolides of over\u00a0100 kg that hit the ground about four times in the past six years. \u00a0The last was: With shared videos from other ground stations in the BC Meteor network, like West Kelowna, Penticton, Courtney, Vancouver or Prince George, we can triangulate where these have impacted to within 2 or 3 kilometers. We then have a chance to find these rare meteorites and to find out what they contain.<\/p>\n College of the Rockies also belongs to the Sandia National Laboratory North\u00a0American meteor network, and we upload videos of fireballs to there.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n Rick Nowell Last Sunday a\u00a0huge fireball lit up\u00a0Cranbrook’s\u00a0whole western horizon. \u00a0From high\u00a0up, first\u00a0a swiftly moving\u00a0ball of yellow\u00a0light caught the eye. \u00a0It rapidly gained brightness, until it turned into\u00a0a blue-white welding\u00a0arc. \u00a0A small\u00a0orange\u00a0globule\u00a0broke off and followed it\u00a0along its wake. \u00a0Then it suddenly flared and a spray of\u00a0brilliant white light\u00a0flashed out and lit all the sky for miles around … Continue reading “2017-9-4 : Kaslo Bolide\/Meteorite – by Rick Nowell”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,86,32,67,169,84,82,4,167,76,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bolide","category-bright-meteor","category-college-of-rockies","category-cotr-observatory","category-cotr-observatory-station","category-fireball","category-image-video-category","category-meteor-news","category-station","category-video-detection","category-video-results"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":775,"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions\/775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Map_KasloMeteor.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/c34-066.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/bcmeteors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/StonyMeteorite2_NWA869_CC_HRaab.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
\n– December 20, 2014 over Canal Flats, BC hitting by Marconi Peak on White Swan Lake road. This was possibly a rare carbonaceous chondrite.
\n– September 26, 2011 over Banff, AB, hitting in the park.
\n– May 14, 2011 over Creston, BC, hitting by Duck Lake.<\/p>\n
\nAstronomy Lab Tech
\nCollege of the Rockies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"